BEIJING, CHINA, June 15, 2004 -- Baidu.com, Inc., a leading Internet search engine in mainland China, today announced that it has closed a strategic round of financing co-led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson ePlanet Ventures and Google Inc. Additional participants in the financing were current investors Integrity Partners and Peninsula Capital; and new investors Bridger Management, China Equity, China Value, and Venture TDF.
"Baidu is a leader for search in China and at the forefront of new technological innovations for search and related services," said Robin Li, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Baidu. "Today's announcement is a testimony to our strong growth and relentless execution in the Chinese market. With our new investor support, we plan to continue expanding our presence in China with additional services and extending our reach into new markets."
"Since its inception, Baidu has gained significant market share in mainland China with its products and services," said Asad Jamal, Founder and Co-Chairman of DFJ ePlanet Ventures. "The founders and the management team of Baidu continue to demonstrate extraordinary execution capabilities in delivering new products and attracting more users to their service."
Baidu, headquartered in Beijing, China, has seen its business burgeon since it launched its search service in 2001. Today, it ranks as the 6th most highly trafficked site in the world, according to Alexa.com. In a market survey conducted by iResearch in December 2003, Baidu ranked number one as the most frequently used search engine in China, accounting for almost 50 percent of user's choices.
Baidu, which means a "hundred times," offers the world's largest Chinese web page index comprised of over 300 million pages. The company also offers a pay-for-performance search, which allows businesses to be prominently displayed in search results by bidding for key words. This service has grown to support 35,000 businesses ranging from real estate to retail to automotive.
China MarketAccording to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), China increased its Internet users by over 35 percent, or more than 20 million users, in 2003. Today, with more than 80 million Internet users, China is expected to reach 100 million users by the end of 2004, making China the second largest on-line market worldwide. If this growth rate were to continue, the Chinese market is expected to surpass the US market for Internet users within a few years.
About Draper Fisher Jurvetson ePlanet VenturesDraper Fisher Jurvetson ePlanet Ventures is a global venture capital firm focused on early-to-late stage investment in the information technology and life sciences sectors in Asia (China, India, and Pacific-Rim), the United States, and Europe. DFJ ePlanet was founded in 1999 by ePlanet Ventures chairman Asad Jamal in partnership with the leading Silicon Valley based venture capital firm, Draper Fisher Jurvetson. For more information visit,
www.dfjeplanet.com.About BaiduBaidu's services include algorithmic search, pay-for-performance, enterprise search, and a host of specialized services which include news, MP3, and image search. Founded in 1999 by Robin Li and Eric Xu, Baidu is the leader in China with the world's largest Chinese web page index of over 300 million pages, providing the fastest, most reliable and relevant search results, and offering a wide variety of search-related products and services for businesses and consumers. Baidu is headquartered in Beijing with offices throughout China. For more information, visit
www.baidu.com.
Contact :Shernaz Daver
Baidu USA
925-279-1221
-email- Robin Li
Baidu China
011-86-10-8262-1188
-email-Copyright 2004 Baidu.com, Inc. Baidu is a trademark of Baidu.com, Inc. All other trademarks, service marks and company names are the property of their respective owners