China’s most valuable startup ByteDance has fully acquired Xingfuli, an app that help users find properties that are for sale or rent, Chinese media outlet IPO Zaozhidao reported on Tuesday, citing changes in corporate registration information.
An investment vehicle of ByteDance paid RMB 1 million (roughly USD 145,000) as registered capital on August 1.
KrASIA found on Wednesday that information from Xingfuli, whose name means “a happy place,” is being promoted in the most prominent position in the property section of Jinri Toutiao, ByteDance’s content aggregator app.
Xingfuli, which went online late last year, is similar to Beike, which closed its Series D financing round in March to collect USD 800 million from Tencent. At the moment, Beike has a much larger user base than Xingfuli.
The acquisition is a reminder of ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming early entrepreneurial days. In 2009, he started a search portal for real estate information called Jiujiufang, then eventually resigned as CEO in 2011.
As ByteDance diversifies its business, it is opening new fronts for competition. The company just launched its own search engine in a challenge to Baidu, and is reportedly expanding into hardware by working on a phone.
ByteDance has yet to respond to KrASIA’s request for a comment.
