FruitDay gets $70 Million Fresh Capital To Sell Fruits And Vegetables Online

JD.com, e-commerce site in China and major competitor of Alibaba is investing in online fresh vegetables and fruits seller FruitDay, as it led in a $70 million Series C round funding for FruitDay.

FruitDay, a six-year-old online produce company and touted as the biggest in China, has also received additional funds from previous investors Susquehanna International Group (SIG) and ClearVue.

In an statement, FruitDay relaysed its plan to utilize the new capital to improve its logistics and infrastructure, for general business development and hire new management.

It looks like Fruitday has hit a jackpot in the deal. More than receiving fresh capital from JD.com, the two firms also agreed to "a strategic alliance" which will let FruitDay to tap into JD.com's own logistics and fulfilment network all over China to support its expansion.

JD.com, although oftentimes compared to Alibaba, is actually different in many ways. The firm, which is listed on the Nasdaq and backed-up by Alibaba's major competitor Tencent, follows the Amazon delivery model, including building its own warehouses, an exact opposite of what Alibaba does.

JD.com has put in over $1.5 million on said network and, as this agreement with FruitDay shows, it has the competency to manage some e-commerce verticals more efficiently than what Alibaba can do at this stage. Of course, Alibaba is not taking this sitting down, as it already has an affiliate that currently builds a logistics network that has a capability to deliver within 24 hours in China.

To make things more interesting, JD.com already has a store in WeChat, which is part of the company's infrastructure efforts with the messaging app, owned by Tencent. The WeChat store allows purchases without closing the app, and it could be a remarkable marketplace for buying fresh fruits and vegetables.