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Lashou.com operates as a prominent group-buying platform within the Chinese e-commerce landscape, enabling online-to-offline commerce for its users. The company provides a digital marketplace offering deeply discounted deals and coupons across a wide array of local services and products, encompassing restaurants, beauty salons, and entertainment venues. Its technical approach leverages location-based services and social commerce functionalities to connect consumers with local businesses seeking to attract customers through bulk purchasing incentives.
The company was founded in March 2010 by Bo Wu. Wu established Lashou.com based on the insight that aggregating consumer demand could unlock significant discounts from local merchants, creating a powerful value proposition for both buyers and sellers in China's rapidly expanding internet economy. This model aimed to capitalize on the burgeoning trend of collective buying to drive traffic and sales for local businesses.
Lashou.com primarily serves individual consumers looking for cost savings on everyday expenditures, while simultaneously acting as a crucial marketing and sales channel for small and medium-sized local enterprises. The company’s long-term vision centers on fostering a dynamic ecosystem where local commerce thrives through accessible digital platforms, continually connecting a broad consumer base with diverse service offerings across China’s urban centers.
Lashou.com has raised $270.0M across 3 funding rounds.
Lashou.com has raised $270.0M in total across 3 funding rounds.
Lashou.com is a Chinese technology company that operates as a location-based social commerce platform, specializing in group-buying services for discounted local deals on restaurants, hair salons, movie cinemas, hotels, and physical products across over 300 cities in China.[1][2][3] It pioneered the online-to-offline (O2O) model by integrating online marketing with offline consumption, serving web and mobile users seeking everyday lifestyle services at reduced prices.[1][2][4] The platform addressed the early demand for collective buying to unlock merchant discounts, raising $170M in funding before being acquired, though it faced intense competition in the group-buying space.[3]
Lashou.com emerged during China's 2010 group-buying boom, inspired by models like Groupon, quickly expanding to claim leadership with services in hundreds of cities.[3] It filed for a $100M US IPO in late 2011, highlighting its scale amid rivals like 55Tuan also vying for the top spot.[3][5] Headquartered in Beijing's Chaoyang District, the company rode the wave of thousands of similar sites launched post-2010, many of which consolidated or failed by 2014; Lashou reportedly turned profitable by end-2013 but shifted strategies, including launching Wowo Mall for higher-commission lifestyle e-commerce.[3] Specific founders are not detailed in available records, but it operated under Lashou Group (拉手网), with Shanghai Lashou Information Technology Co. Ltd. providing technical support.[3][6]
Lashou rode China's explosive 2010s group-buying trend, fueling the O2O shift where digital platforms drove physical spending and reshaped local services.[3][4] Its timing capitalized on rising smartphone penetration and urban consumer demand for deals, amid a flood of copycats that winnowed the field by 2014, paving the way for survivors like Meituan.[3] Market forces like intense competition and low margins pressured pivots to sustainable models, influencing China's e-commerce ecosystem by proving O2O viability for daily needs.[3][4]
Post-acquisition and with outdated public momentum (last major updates pre-2014), Lashou's influence has likely waned in China's matured O2O space dominated by giants.[3] Next steps may involve deeper integration into parent ecosystems or niche local deals, shaped by trends like super-apps and instant commerce. Its early scale humanizes the high-stakes startup battles that built China's tech commerce powerhouse, underscoring resilience amid disruption.[3]
Lashou.com has raised $270.0M in total across 3 funding rounds.
Lashou.com's investors include Milestone Capital, GSR Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, Reinet Investments, Remgro, Tenaya Capital, Kevin Hartz, Addition, Craft Ventures, DAG Ventures, Foundry Group, Khosla Ventures.
Lashou.com has raised $270.0M across 3 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $110.0M Series C in April 2011.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 11, 2011 | $110.0M Series C | Milestone Capital | GSR Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, Reinet Investments, Remgro, Tenaya Capital |
| Feb 1, 2011 | $110.0M Series C | Kevin Hartz, Addition, Craft Ventures, DAG Ventures, Foundry Group, Khosla Ventures, Launchpad Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, Spark Capital, SV Angel, Tenaya Capital, Uncork Capital, Jawed Karim, Joe Greenstein, Michael Birch, Nir Eyal, Saran Chari | |
| Nov 1, 2010 | $50.0M Series B | Kevin Hartz, Addition, Craft Ventures, DAG Ventures, Foundry Group, Khosla Ventures, Launchpad Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, Spark Capital, SV Angel, Tenaya Capital, Uncork Capital, Jawed Karim, Joe Greenstein, Michael Birch, Nir Eyal, Saran Chari |
