Yesterday, Chris Keane, the General Manager of OpenSky announced that OpenSky is now acquired by the Alibaba Group. OpenSky is a network of businesses that empower modern global trade for SMBs and help people discover, buy, and share unique goods that match their individual taste.
OpenSky will join Alibaba Group in two capacities:
- One of OpenSky’s team will become a part of Alibaba.com in North America B2B to serve US based buyers and suppliers.
- The other team will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alibaba Group consisting of OpenSky’s marketplace and SaaS businesses.
In 2015, Alibaba Group acquired a minority ownership on OpenSky. In 2017, they collaborated with Alibaba’s B2B leadership team to solve the challenges faced by small businesses.
According to Chris, both the companies share a common interest, which is to help small businesses:
“It was thrilling to discover that our counterparts at Alibaba share our obsession with helping SMBs. We’ve quickly aligned on a global vision to provide access to markets and resources for businesses and entrepreneurs, opening new doors and knocking down obstacles.”
In this announcement Chris also mentioned that they will be coming up with powerful concepts to serve small businesses everywhere, in the near future.
To know more, read the official announcement on LinkedIn.
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