Physix Frontier
Alibaba Group
Funding History
- IPOUSD 22B — IPO price: $68.00; Market cap at listing: approx. USD 230B; Shares issued: approx. 320M ADSs (including over-allotment, later expanded); Lock-up period: standard 180-day lock-up | Source: Prospectus/Exchange disclosures
- Series E RoundUSD 6.3B — Amount: USD 2B (2011-09) + USD 4.3B (2012-08); Total approx. USD 6.3B; Led by Silver Lake / CIC (separate rounds). These two rounds were financing preparations for the 2012 buyback of Yahoo's stake. In 2012, Alibaba bought back half of Yahoo's stake (~20%) for approx. USD 7.6B, funded by these private placements plus syndicated loans. During the same period, Alibaba's B2B business was privatized and delisted from HKEX (2012-06). | Source: Zheshang Securities
- Series D RoundUSD 1B — Amount: USD 1B + all assets of Yahoo! China; $1,000,000,000 (cash portion); Post-money valuation: Approx. USD 2.5B (calculated based on 40% economic interest); Led by Yahoo! | Alibaba acquired all assets of Yahoo! China, simultaneously receiving a USD 1B investment from Yahoo! and exclusive rights to use the Yahoo brand and technology within China. This was the largest single foreign investment in Chinese internet history at the time, and also the starting point of Alibaba's seven-year entanglement with Yahoo (Alipay VIE incident, buying back half of Yahoo's stake for USD 7.6B in 2012). | Source: 360 Baike / Public reports
- Series C RoundUSD 0M — Amount: USD 82M (also recorded as 'USD 60M + USD 22M'); Approx. USD 82 million; Led by SoftBank | At the time, this was the largest private financing round in China's internet sector. This capital supported the founding and expansion of Taobao and Alipay—Taobao launched in May 2003 competing against eBay EachNet with a 'three-year free' strategy, and Alipay was introduced in December 2004. It can be said that the USD 82M bought an entry ticket to the Chinese e-commerce market. | Source: Zheshang Securities / 360 Baike
- Series B RoundUndisclosed — closed its Series A round; Amount: USD 20–25M; led by SoftBank (Masayoshi Son). The classic meeting between Masayoshi Son and Jack Ma reportedly resulted in a USD 20M investment decision after only six minutes. The timing of this funding was critical—the NASDAQ peaked in March 2000, followed by the dot-com bubble burst. Had SoftBank's money arrived half a year later, Alibaba might not have survived the capital winter of 2000–2001. Source: 360 Baike / Public Reports
- Series A RoundUSD 5M — Amount: $5M; $5,000,000; Led by: Goldman Sachs | Goldman Sachs led an investment in a Chinese B2B company one year before the peak of the dot-com bubble, which was an extremely bold emerging market bet at the time. This $5M helped Alibaba survive its toughest first year and established credit backing for SoftBank's subsequent entry. | Source: Zheshang Securities / 360 Baike
- Founder Self-FundingUSD 0M — Amount: RMB 500K; approx. USD 60K; led by Jack Ma and 18 founders | Jack Ma gathered 18 people to start a business in his apartment at West Lake Garden in Hangzhou. The first website was the English global wholesale trade market Alibaba.com, followed by 1688 for domestic wholesale. This RMB 500,000 was the starting point for all subsequent developments—compared to other internet companies at the time, Alibaba's startup capital was extremely small, resulting in a very high equity retention ratio for the founding team. | Source: 360 Baike / Zheshang Securities