The soaring valuation of group-buying services on the internet has spilt over into China, with Lashou.com, one of several Groupon copycats, announcing that it had been valued at $1.1bn by its latest fundraising round.

　　在線團購業務估價飛漲的趨勢已經蔓延至中國。作為Groupon（團購業務始創者）眾多的模仿者之一，拉手網(Lashou.com)宣布，該公司在最近一輪融資中估值高達11億美元。

　　The extra $110m investment takes the total raised by the company, which was launched only in March last year, to $170m, and marks an intensification of the land-grab under way in one of the fastest-growing corners of e-commerce.

　　這輪1.1億美元的最新融資，使得拉手網的融資總額達到1.7億美元，標志著在電子商務行業發展最為迅速的團購領域中，地盤爭奪正在進一步加劇。拉手網去年3月才上線。

　　Groupon itself sought to buy a controlling stake in Lashou late last year, in a deal that would have valued the Chinese company at the time at $500m, according to one person familiar with its bid. It has since launched its own service there, alongside local internet company TenCent.

　　去年晚些時候，Groupon曾試圖買下拉手網的控股權。據一位知情人士透露，如果成功，當時的出價將這家中國公司估值為5億美元。但在那之后，Groupon已經轉而攜手中國互聯網公司騰訊(Tencent)在中國推出了自己的業務。

　　Lashou has been growing in its early months at a faster rate than Groupon achieved, said Richard Lim, a founder of GSR Ventures, the Chinese company’s largest shareholder. Based on its revenues last December, the company was already seeing annualised revenues of $150m and doubling every eight weeks, he added.

　　拉手網最大股東——金沙江創業投資基金(GSR Ventures)創始人林仁俊(Richard Lim)表示，拉手網在上線后最初幾個月的增長速度，比Groupon成立之初還要快。他補充說，按拉手網去年12月的業績計算，該公司的年收入已達1.5億美元，并且每8周就翻一番。

　　While Groupon had the market largely to itself in its first year, however, Lashou has faced a handful of other well-funded local competitors. That has resulted in a business with a gross profit margin of 20-30 percent, according to Mr Lim–considerably lower than the 50 per cent margin of Groupon, though the US company is also widely expected to see its profitability decline as it faces more competition.

　　Groupon上線后的第一年中，幾乎占領了整個市場。然而，拉手網卻要面對五六個資金充足的本地競爭對手。林仁俊表示，競爭使得拉手網的毛利率處于20%至30%之間。這遠遠低于Groupon當年50%的利潤率，不過外界廣泛認為，這家美國公司也將由于競爭加劇而出現利潤下滑。

　　The escalation in Lashou’s valuation in a matter of months comes as investors have pushed up the prices of Chinese e-commerce companies more widely. The rising share prices have aroused memories of the US dotcom bubble of more than a decade ago, though venture capital investors argue that the boom has a long way to run.

　　拉手網的估值僅僅在幾個月內就迅速攀升，而與此同時，投資者們正在更普遍地推高中國電子商務公司的價格。不斷上漲的股價已經勾起人們對于十幾年前美國互聯網泡沫的記憶，不過風險投資者們稱，這一輪繁榮還會持續很長一段時間。

　　“Eventually [valuations] will settle down – but valuation is a factor of growth, and these companies are experiencing super-high growth,” said David Chao, a partner in Doll Capital Management, one of the earliest venture capital firms to invest in Chinese internet companies. Doll.

　　資本管理公司(Doll Capital Management)董事合伙人趙克仁(David Chao)說，“最終，（估值）將穩定下來。不過，估值是增長的一個因素，而這些公司正在經歷超高速的增長。” Doll資本是最早投資于中國互聯網企業的風險投資公司之一。

　　“I think there will be a shake-out, though not as much as there was in the US,” he added.

　　他補充說：“我覺得，（中國團購市場）將面臨洗牌，只是程度沒有美國（互聯網泡沫破裂時）那么深。”