HONG KONG--Hong Kong-based e-commerce company Alibaba.com has completed its first round of institutional fund raising, and today officially launched its Web site, which it describes as an online marketplace for international business.
Joseph Tsai, the company's chief operating officer said they had raised about US$5 million from a group of institutional investors led by Goldman Sachs, and including Transpac Capital and Investor AB of Sweden.
The Web site allows companies to trade goods by posting buy and sell notices. According to chief executive Jack Ma, the site currently has 140,000 members from 147 countries. He added that they were getting 200 new members a day.
At present, the site is not generating any revenue. However, Ma said they planned to add banner advertising and online auctions next year. He said for now their main aim was to build up a user base.
He also said their research team, based in China, was working on a new revenue generating service. However, he did not reveal any details.
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