Alibaba has poured $845 million into its Southeast Asia-focused e-commerce platform Lazada, according to a Wednesday report by Tech in Asia, raising the Chinese tech giant’s bet to nearly $6 billion in the region since gaining control of Lazada in 2016. Lazada is currently under the operation of Alibaba’s spinoff Global Digital Commerce Group, which got its board’s green light to seek external financing for further business expansion in May. The latest capital injections came just three months after the previous investment of $5.99 billion, and the report noted the funds are expected to bolster support for local merchants to cope with fierce competition in a region where Tencent-backed Shopee retains the position of largest online retailing platform. [Tech in Asia]
