LinkedIn Of China, Expects Up To 5 Million Users In 2012
Ushi.com, a LinkedIn -like online networking service for Chinese professionals, expects to have up to five million users signed up by the end of next year, compared with 600,000 today, co-founder Dominic Penaloza said in on the sidelines of the “Silicon Dragon” conference in Shanghai last week.
Founded in October 2010, Ushi.com, which means “outstanding professionals,” emphasizes its contacts from the investment industry. Among its charter members are executives from Strategic and Executive Search, Dupont, Microsoft, and GSR Venture Capital.
Speaking at the conference, Penaloza disclosed that the Shanghai-headquartered company had been visited twice by LinkedIn since it was step up. Penaloza didn’t elaborate on what was discussed.
Ushi raised $3 million this summer, led by a strategic corporate investor, Gerson Lehrman Group. Successful social networking companies in China can attract users rapidly, tapping the country’s world-leading Internet and mobile phone user base.
They have had a harder time making money, however. Just last week, social media titan Renren reported a third-quarter loss.