Taobao gets funding from its parent company

A RMB5 billion (US$732 million) investment will be made into Taobao, China's largest consumer e- commerce company on the part of its parent company, Alibaba Group over the next five years to further strengthen the Taobao marketplace as the shopping destination of choice for Chinese consumers.

As reported by the company the funding will be used for creating a world-leading platform for merchants and providing the best online shopping experience for consumers while offering free services to buyers and individual sellers.

As of today Taobao is the most trusted online commerce platform for Chinese consumers with 76% of all online shoppers in China purchasing items on Taobao. Since its founding in 2003, Taobao has created an e-commerce ecosystem consisting of 80 million registered users and over 1 million sellers, as well as third-party service providers in payment, logistics and verification and a network of 400,000 web publishers in its affiliate marketing program.

Offering 200 million items in selection Taobao gives Chinese consumers the most comprehensive product choice on the Internet.

In near future the company is set to introduce a technology platform to independent software vendors (ISVs) to develop applications for Taobao's substantial user base, including advanced product display and special visual effect functionalities.