Hong Kong, September 29, 2016

Hong Kong, September 29, 2016 – The Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund (the “Fund”), a not-for-profit initiative of Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE: BABA), announced today the investments in three rising companies based in the city. This is the second round of investments made into exciting early staged companies since the Fund was established in November 2015.

The three companies selected to receive minority investments are Grana, a fashion e-commerce retailer that offers wardrobe essentials created from quality fabrics sourced around the world, with the mission to offer genuine quality clothing accessible to everyone; NOSH, an O2O food delivery company that prepares and delivers fresh, ready-to-eat meals that are each under 550 calories and packed in biodegradable materials, catering to health-conscious, eco-friendly consumers; DayDayCook, a leading creator of food and lifestyle content in Asia, which produces bilingual cooking videos with recipes and step-by-step instructions for a wide range of cuisines.

At different stages of development, the three companies have managed in a short time to establish a substantial local operation and reached the point of looking for early-stage investment.
Mrs. Cindy Chow, executive director of the Fund, commented: “Over the past few months, we are thrilled to discover and get in touch with so many talented and visionary entrepreneurs who are starting their businesses in Hong Kong. The three selected companies in this round impressed us particularly with their unique value propositions, innovative business models, growth potential and their team members’ entrepreneurship.”

“We are also excited to see that Hong Kong has become an increasingly attractive city for global talents to start their businesses,” added Ms. Chow, “That’s why we see entrepreneurs, like the founders from Grana and NOSH, choose Hong Kong as the hub to launch their businesses and realize their startup dreams. Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund is committed to supporting the healthy growth of Hong Kong’s startup ecosystem with our local partners.”

The Fund, fully managed and run by the Alibaba Group, was established with a mandate to engage with the startup community in Hong Kong and select companies that stand out in terms of innovation and unique value proposition for direct investment. As well as supporting and developing entrepreneurship, the Fund seeks those who would most benefit from the resources offered by Alibaba’s ecosystem in e-commerce, logistics, mobile platforms, cloud computing and financial services. With the fund’s investment, aspiring entrepreneurs from around the world can establish their foothold in Hong Kong and make use of the Alibaba platform to scale up their operations both in Hong Kong and in the world.

Luke Grana, CEO and Founder of GRANA said: “Our success is a testament to the amazing and talented in-house team, who have dedicated themselves to making quality products and creating a brand that drives so much word-of-mouth and online advocacy for us. We’re honored to have Alibaba as a lead investor and the continued support from existing investors as strategic partners.”

Maximilian von Poelnitz, Founder of NOSH, said: "The partnership with Alibaba gives NOSH access to world class inventory management software, logistics best practices, and a venture capital investor that can help with fund raising in the future. With Alibaba we will be able to scale up our already thriving business both in Hong Kong and abroad.”

Norma Chu, Founder of DayDayCook, said: “DayDayCook specialises in content creation. Lifestyle and products are seamlessly blended into our content and with Alibaba’s investment, there are significant synergies from data analytics to stock keeping unit expansion to traffic support. This marks an important milestone for DayDayCook's expansion into content e-commerce.”

This is the second batch of investment from the Fund, with the first round having taken place in May 2016 when the Fund invested in YEECHOO, Shopline and GoGoVan. Since its establishment, the Fund has received more than 500 applications from entrepreneurs whose companies are in different stages of development but all with their roots in Hong Kong. After this latest success, the Fund will continue with its mission to look for, and engage with, promising entrepreneurs both in Hong Kong and those based overseas who are interested in setting up and growing their company operations in the city.

Parties interested in learning more about the investment program may visit www.ent-fund.org for details.