China’s e-signature software company Esign has raised about USD 100 million in a Series C round led by Alibaba’s affiliate Ant Financial, marking the largest fundraising round in the country’s e-signature sector.
Other investors include venture capital Gobi China and Eminence Ventures, according to Tianyancha, a local company registration information provider. Ant Financial confirmed the investment when contacted by KrASIA, without providing further details.
Founded in 2002 by Jin Hongzhou, a former Alibaba’s employee, the Hangzhou-based firm started as a provider of electronic signatures and has recently been shifting to become an enterprise technology company that helps organizations digitalize business processes such as signing, verifying and archiving agreements and contracts.
The DocuSign-alike platform currently works with partners such as Alibaba, Suning, Huawei and Geely. The company said that it has offered its services to more than 2.9 million corporate users and 200 million individual users in industries like real estate, mortgage, government, insurance, and technology, as of June 2019.
China’s e-signature service industry has secured positive cash flow and the rivalry has been growing. Shangshangqian, or “Mysign,” another top player, closed its Series C round in August last year, snagging about USD 53 million from investors including Tiger Global Mauritius Fund and Matric Partners China. In addition, it acquired competitor Zhongqian, “51Signing,” in July.
Previously, Esign raised about USD 21 million in Series B round at the beginning of last year.