Alibaba investing an additional $2bn in Lazada

Alibaba Group will invest an additional US$2 billion in Lazada Group to accelerate the e-commerce platform's growth plans in Southeast Asia, and deepen its integration into the Alibaba ecosystem.

According to a statement today, Lucy Peng who is already chairman of Lazada would take over as chief executive officer.

Supported by huge revenue and rising prices of Alibaba's shares, its new financing at Lazada underscores the ambitious global drive to secure a larger share of the billions of dollars of a rapidly expanding online trading market.

Alibaba's stake will increase to an undisclosed amount following the latest investment, a spokeswoman told Reuters. Alibaba's first investment helped save Lazada from the brink of bankruptcy, and the partnership between the two has been extremely beneficial for Lazada's growth in the last few years.

Alibaba has further stated that its association with Lazada will fulfill its business objective of becoming a huge player across the Southeast Asian eCommerce market.

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Alibaba initially acquired a controlling stake in Singapore-based Lazada in 2016 for an investment valued at $1 billion, then increased its stake further with another $1 billion investment past year, raising its total to $4 billion.

Lazada founder Max Bittner, who has served as CEO since 2012, will take on the role of senior advisor to Alibaba. Peng was one of Alibaba's 18 founders and a senior partner at Alibaba Partnership.

Peng knows this too well, saying in a statement that due to the "young population, high mobile penetration and just 3 percent of the region's retail sales now conducted online", Alibaba is extremely confident in its decision to double down on the region.

Alibaba's doubling down in Southeast Asia comes just three months after Amazon launched its Prime service in Singapore.

The Lazada acquisition also invites a showdown against fellow Chinese retailer JD.com Inc., which last fall formed a $500 million joint venture with Thailand's top retailer Central Group to boost its e-commerce presence in the region.