Aibaba Group said Monday it will inject a further $2 billion into Southeast Asian online shopping giant Lazada as part of the group’s ongoing effort to accelerate the region’s e-commerce development.
The latest move will deepen Lazada’s integration into the Alibaba ecosystem and brings Alibaba’s total investment in the e-commerce platform to $4 billion. In 2016, Alibaba acquired control of Lazada with an investment of $1 billion and boosted its stake to 83 percent in 2017 with another investment of $1 billion.
“The investment underscores Alibaba’s confidence in the future success of Lazada’s business and the growth prospect of the Southeast Asian market, a region that is a key part of Alibaba’s global growth strategy,” said Alibaba in a statement.
