Alibaba has increased its shareholding to 63%, having already acquired a majority stake in the logistics platform, also backed by Fosun and Intime Retail Group, two years ago.

China-based logistics services provider Cainiao Smart Logistics Network has received RMB23.3bn ($3.33bn) from e-commerce group Alibaba, TechCrunch reported on Friday.

Alibaba increased its stake from 51% to 63% through the investment, which included both newly issued shares and a secondary transaction of undisclosed size and involving an unnamed shareholder.

Cainiao was co-founded by Alibaba, which owned a 48% stake at launch, diversified conglomerate Fosun and retailer Intime Retail Group in 2013. TechCrunch said a range of logistics firms also owned shares in Cainiao, though it did not offer additional details.

The company runs a logistics platform that connects delivery drivers, goods and warehouses with each other to facilitate e-commerce deliveries.

Alibaba previously increased its stake in the business to 51% by investing $798m in 2017.

Cainiao had earlier collected $1.54bn in funding from Singaporean government-owned investments firm Temasek and sovereign wealth fund GIC, as well as Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional and investment firm Primavera Capital in 2016.

Thierry Heles

Thierry Heles is the former editor-at-large of Global University Venturing and Global Corporate Venturing, and was the producer and host of the Beyond the Breakthrough podcast until December 2024.