Over the last two years, Alibaba has been writing big checks to a span of U.S. tech startups in everything from gaming to mobile search to luxury goods eCommerce. And now, Alibaba’s going big investing $200M investment into Snapchat at a $15B valuation. Yes – Snapchat is now a decacorn.
Fellow Chinese technology company, Tencent also invested in Snapchat (in an earlier round – Series B). Alibaba and Tencent are two of the most active international investors in US tech startups.
But interestingly, the two companies have never done a startup deal together – until Snapchat. An analysis of CB Insights’ Business Social Graph reveals that Snapchat would be the first startup that both of the Chinese Internet giants share in terms of investment.
Alibaba and Tencent have had portfolio companies merge (Kuaidi-Didi-Dache) as well as portfolio companies acquire other portfolio companies (Alibaba-backed Kabam bought Tencent-backed TapZen), but Snapchat would be the first shared investment among the duo’s many deals. Interestingly, Tencent reportedly refused to re-up in Snapchat as its valuation has extended into ‘decacorn’ territory. The Business Social Graph visualization above maps Alibaba and Tencent’s investments and acquisitions over time and shows the lack of overlap outside of Snapchat.
Below are some of Alibaba and Tencent’s US tech investments from our prior comparison of the two.
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