local-services

Alibaba, Ant Financial invest jointly in local business

Alibaba Group and its affiliate Ant Financial will invest nearly $1 billion in a joint venture that they can tap China's fast-growing local services market, focusing at first on food delivery. Local services, also known as online-to-offline (O2O), have been booming in China, with some of the country's most valuable startups operating in this area. Apart from calling cabs, these apps link smartphone users with offline businesses to offer things like delivery and nearby food and leisure deals.