Wandoujia poised to become search engine

Wandoujia, also known as SnapPea, one of China's leading Android app stores, is poised to become a search engine and provide?mobile Internet content.

The Beijing-based start-up company, which recently secured $120 million in funding, said on Wednesday, that it will expand from an app store to an integrated search platform that provides millions of products ranging from apps and mobile games to videos and e-books.

Wang Junyu, founder and CEO of Wandoujia, said the world has officially entered the era of mobile and that searching is "an unavoidable demand".

He sees an "opportunity to change the landscape of the mobile Internet sector" through entertaining content.

"We believe that entertaining content drives search demand in the mobile era and we will continue to invest and develop in that direction to help users," Wang said.

The new strategy was announced by Wandoujia on Wednesday — the same day the company launched its 4.0 version, which allows users to search videos, games, wallpapers and e-books, as well as apps, on the same platform.

It was just two days after Wandoujia received its series B funding, which is led by SoftBank Corp and joined by DCM and Innovation Works Development Fund.

The investment is a major boost for Wandoujia, which received $8 million in series A funding in 2011.

The growing popularity of smartphones in China has made app distributors like Wandoujia influential powers in the country's rapidly growing mobile Internet market. Last year, Baidu Inc acquired 91 Wireless Websoft, a mobile app store, for a record $1.9 billion as the search provider pursues a greater presence in the emerging mobile Internet industry.

With Wandoujia landing its series B funding, the competition in China's app distribution market will be fiercer. It will be more challenging for those small independent app distributors to survive if they don't have "enough cash to burn", according to analysts.

Founded in April 2010, Wandoujia is among the top three app distributors in China. The company claimed that it has more than 300 million users. According to a report from Analysys International, Baidu's app distributing channels, including 91 Wireless, were the dominant player in the sector, taking up more than 40.6 percent of the app distribution market in the third quarter of 2013.

Qihoo 360's app distribution platform runs second with 24.8 percent of the market. Wandoujia is third with 12.4 percent.