Russia and China to partner on e-commerce site
Wed 31 Aug 2016
The Russian Far East Development Fund announced today that it has reached an agreement with China’s LeEco to create a new e-commerce platform. Called LeLive, the new platform will promote the sales of Russian agricultural products in the Chinese market.
“LeLive is created as a full-cycle platform for the creation, promotion, distribution and sales of Russian agribusiness products, which meet high environmental standards, to Chinese end-users,” the announcement from the fund states.
LeLive will be a new platform for Chinese citizens to purchase Russian goods, including staples such as flour, butter, and honey, as well as processed foodstuffs like beverages, confectionery, and canned meat. It will run on the existing Le Ecosystem, LeEco’s existing internet content platform, which has a reach of over 350 million monthly users in China, and recently expanded to India and the United States.
The Far East Development Fund will provide administrative and organizational support to LeLive, connecting the Chinese e-commerce site with agribusinesses in the Eastern district of the Russian Federation. Logistically, exports to Asia from the Eastern district will be simplified once the newly announced $6.5 billion railway is completed, creating an effective transport corridor for the region.
The Far East Development Fund is a state-financed development group created by the government of Russia to promote the investment in venture and infrastructure in the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. The Fund has a chartered capital of 15.5 billion rubles, or $24 million. The Fund is focused on the growth of GDP and jobs through infrastructure investments.
LeEco started as a digital content provider, and was originally known as the ‘Netflix of China.’ However, LeEco has since expanded its scope to music streaming, mobile phones, cloud storage, and film distribution. It also partnered with Aston Martin to provide the Internet of the Vehicle in-car entertainment system.
LeEco plans to begin selling smartphones in Russia before the end of this year, according to Liu Hong, co-founder and vice-chairman of LeEco, who went on to state that Russia, the US, and India are the company’s key overseas markets and that globalization would be the company’s priority for the last half of 2016.
LeEco also made headlines last month, when it acquired television manufacturer Vizio for $2 billion.
