CHINA'S leading online community, 51.com, said it has received US$10 million in second-round venture capital funding and plans to sell shares on New York's Nasdaq market within three years.

The Website said the new funds came in recently from heavyweight investors Intel Capital, Redpoint Ventures, Sequoia Capital China and SIG.

The new capital will be used to expand system capacity, improve service and enlarge markets, according to a 51.com statement. In May last year, 51.com secured US$6 million in investment from Sequoia and SIG in its first-round of financing.

This came at a time when many international venture capital firms were pouring money into Chinese social networking Websites. It also followed Google Inc's purchase of video sharing site YouTube in the global market.

Online social networking sites allow users to share videos, music, photos and blogs.With 60 million registered accounts, Shanghai-based 51.com claims to be the top blog community in China, the world's second largest Internet market by users.

Source:佚名