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Meituan-Dianping, a leading Internet platform providing local service platform, announced on October 19 that it has received a USD 4 billion investment, which has boosted its valuation to USD 30 billion. Tencent is the lead investor, and The Priceline Group joins in as a new strategic investor in this round of financing. Priceline is the third largest shareholder of Ctrip holding 4% stake, or up to 9% if taking into account the convertible bonds. Tencent has been a critical long-term strategic partner to Meituan-Dianping and will continue to help the company invest thoughtfully, expand the business, and remain the industry leader in China. If Meituan works on a full scale with Priceline's subsidiaries, including Booking.com, Agoda, Kayak, Rentalcars, Opentable, it can gain access to their supply of hotels, car rental, air tickets, catering and booking services overseas, and will inevitably pose a threat to Ctrip. Apart from Tencent and Priceline, the funding round has also attracted other well-known investment institutions including Sequoia Capital, GIC, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Trustbridge Partners, Tiger Global Management, Coatue Management and China-UAE Investment Cooperation Fund. The funding round will give Meituan-Dianping more resources for the R&D of cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence and drone delivery, enabling the use of practical technological tools to further upgrade the modern service industry. |
