Ele.me operates a mobile and online food-delivery platform based in Shanghai. The company matches consumers with restaurants for on‑demand food delivery via its app. According to reports, Ele.me secured over $1 billion in funding that will value the company at $6 billion once finalized. The financing, led by Alibaba and its financial services arm, is intended to strengthen Ele.me’s market position. The round is framed as a move to help Ele.me compete head-to-head with Meituan-Dianping. The articles note broader market tailwinds from online-to-offline services and mobile payments driving growth in China’s on‑demand economy. Ele.me is a Shanghai-based food-delivery service operating a restaurant delivery marketplace. The company is a major participant in China's O2O (online-to-offline) market and partners with restaurants to fulfill on-demand orders. According to Crunchbase, Ele.me has previously raised about $1.09 billion in total, including a $630 million Series F announced in August. A reported $1.25 billion investment from Alibaba would make Alibaba the company's largest shareholder and further integrate Ele.me into Alibaba's O2O strategy. Ele.me's investor list includes major Chinese tech companies such as Tencent and JD.com, underscoring its strategic backing and competitive landscape. TechCrunch cites Caixin and notes that Alibaba and Ele.me were contacted for comment. Ele.me operates an O2O food-delivery platform and claims to be operating in 260 cities across China. The company’s business model is described in the article as burning cash rapidly and being geographically overstretched. A recent reported funding claim of $630M has been publicly disputed by a source who said the total was less than $400M and that the valuation is around $1.5B rather than $3B. Ele.me defended the reported figure, saying “the figure is correct” and dismissing contrary reports as rumors. The source also said incoming capital is being delivered in tranches tied to milestone achievements, which the article frames as a negative sign. Existing investors Sequoia Capital and Matrix Partners are noted in the coverage and did not respond to requests for comment. Ele.me is a Shanghai-based food delivery service operating throughout China via mobile apps and web. The platform serves 250 cities, lists 200,000 restaurants, and has 20 million users. In 2014 its total order volume reached 110 million renminbi, with 75% of orders made through mobile apps. The company raised $350 million in a Series E round. Investors in the round include CITIC, Tencent, JD.com, Dianping.com, and Sequoia Capital, and Ele.me said it will continue to operate independently. The investment aligns Ele.me with Tencent, JD.com and Dianping and could support broader online-to-offline (O2O) integrations, including potential use within Tencent's WeChat.

Total raised

$3.2B

Funding rounds

4

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Jun 2017