Wed, 06/11/2008 - 19:02
58.com receives $5.78 mln investment from SAIF Partners
Beijing. June 11. INTERFAX-CHINA - SAIF Partners, an Asian private equity firm headquartered in Hong Kong, recently made its second investment of RMB 40 million ($5.78 million) in 58.com, a lifestyle information service provider in China, local media reported today.
Yao Jinbo, CEO of 58.com, told Interfax that the company would spend over RMB 10 million ($1.44 million) of the investment on marketing.
A Shanghai Securities News report said that SAIF Partners previously invested $5 million in 58.com in 2006.
Xu Zhe, vice president of SAIF Partners, told the paper that the company saw categorized advertising - the ability to target ads to specific sections and users of Web sites - as having a huge potential market among China's 23 million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Web sites such as 58.com are an ideal advertising platform for SMEs, which need advertising but lack large budgets, he said.
Founded in 2005, 58.com provides localized lifestyle information for over 100 cities in China. Its information covers food, clothing, housing, transportation, entertainment and education, among other topics.
-CG
