Online fruit seller completes round of financing

Leading Chinese fresh fruit online seller Fruitday.com completed a new round of financing led by ClearVue Partners to expand its business, the private equity firm said on Wednesday.

The total financing amount this round was tens of millions of dollars, according to the statement.

"We believe there is strong and increasing consumer demand in China for the freshest, high-quality fruits from around the world," said Wang Wei, founder and CEO of Fruitday.com, in the statement.

"We believe that online shopping for fresh fruit in China is a new and fast-growing consumer trend," said Harry Hui, a managing partner of ClearVue Partners.

In China, total consumption of fresh fruit in the urban market is estimated to have been worth 400 billion yuan ($64.5 billion) in 2013, with an annual growth rate of about 15 percent, according to ClearVue Partners.

Driven by an increasing customer demand for high-quality fruit, the imported fruit sector is growing even faster with an annual growth rate of over 40 percent, especially in mega-cities such as Shanghai and Beijing.

ClearVue Partners is targeting fast-growing and promising consumer companies in China.