As the vicious battle between Alibaba and Tencent intensifies in China, most of the country’s technology startups are inevitably spilt into two camps as the two internet giants become active investors in the private equity and venture capital markets.
But there is always an exception.
Xiaohongshu, a Shanghai-based social media platform which targets young female users, is one of the few startups able to attract investments from both Alibaba and Tencent. Alibaba led the firm’s $300 million series D funding in June last year, two years after Tencent led an earlier funding round of $100 million in 2016.
With over 200 million daily...