14 DAY TRIAL // Alibaba.com is not exactly a household name, but it is one the largest web companies in China. And it has had its sights set on the broader market, particularly the US. Now, it has made its second US acquisition, buying Auctiva, a company specializing on offerings services for eBay sellers.
Alibaba has been very interested in the US market and has set aside a $100 million budget for acquisitions there.
The financial details of the acquisition have not been made public, but Alibaba says that it still has enough from the initial sum to buy several more companies.
Auctiva provides several tools for businesses to manage their sales using e-commerce sites like eBay. Small companies use the services to manage their listings on the auctions site.
The company is said to have 170,000 customers already and handles transactions worth about $5 billion every year. Auctiva will become a part of Alibaba's AliExpress arm which handles US businesses.
"Joining Alibaba.com and connecting our buyers to the vast supplier base on Alibaba.com and AliExpress.com is the perfect way to help them grow and thrive in an increasingly competitive environment," Jeff Schlicht, founder and CEO of Auctiva, said.
"Many small business owners never even thought that they would be able to source their products from overseas, as they didn't have the staff or technological resources to do so," David Wei, CEO of Alibaba.com, said
"We are bringing both sides of the equation together to make international sourcing as easy as possible for any business," he added.
The acquisition fits in nicely with Alibaba's long term strategy in the US. Alibaba handles solely business-to-business transactions enabling small companies to trade more effectively by making it easier to find one another.
The company now wants to do in the US what it has done in China and make it possible for small US companies to buy directly from Chinese suppliers.
Alibaba made a very similar acquisition a couple of months ago when it bought Vendio, a company very similar to Auctiva, but with a smaller user base.