JD wades into auto finance with start-up investment

A visitor at the stand of JD Finance at a mobile Internet conference held in Beijing in April 2015. [Photo/China Daily]

BEIJING - Chinese online retailer JD's financial arm extended an undisclosed amount of funding to Meili Finance, a Beijing auto credit company, Meili said on Wednesday.

The investment allows JD Finance to extend its consumer credit business into auto finance, which usually requires a license from the banking regulator.

Meili has been working exclusively with a second-hand car sale market in Beijing, said to be the largest in China, offering loans. It has delivered a total of 250 million yuan credit to 30,000 auto buyers.

Meili will have access to JD Finance's risk control and credit checking expertise, the company said in a statement.

In November, the company announced a $65 million input from investors including Bertelsmann Asia Investments, Morningside Ventures and Banyan Capital.

Automobile ownership in China has hit 172 million units. Second-hand auto sales are expected to overtake new sales in the near future, with transaction volume estimated to hit 2 trillion yuan.

Guazi.com, an online used-car market backed by 58.com-Ganji, said a week ago that it had completed a $204 million funding round that valued it at $1 billion.

Another online used-car market Renrenche counts Tencent and smartphone-maker Xiaomi's founder Lei Jun among its backers. JD Finance, launched in 2013, is now valued at around $7 billion.