Alibaba has made a commitment to support the startup community first in Hong Kong with a $129 million fund and now in Taiwan with a $316 million fund. The startup community helps Alibaba grow its AliCloud business and sell/use additional Alibaba services.
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group is firming up details on its second venture-capital fund, which targets startups outside of mainland China. Alibaba said Monday it has earmarked 10 billion New Taiwan dollars (US$316 million) to invest in entrepreneurs from Taiwan who are starting and growing their businesses through Alibaba’s online platforms. The latest investment comes after Alibaba, in early February, disclosed plans to set aside 1 billion Hong Kong dollars (US$129 million) to invest in Hong Kong startups and help entrepreneurs build businesses via Alibaba platforms. Chairman Jack Ma unveiled his intention to fund Taiwanese mobile-commerce startups during a forum in Taipei early December. He said that young Taiwanese people are hard working and creative, and he hoped such funds will help kick-start these projects.
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/03/02/alibaba-to-invest-316-million-in-taiwan-startup-fund/