(Yicai Global) Aug. 24 -- China's internet giant Alibaba Group Holding will arrange its meal delivery platform Ele.me and classifieds application Koubei under the same ownership to deepen collaboration and fend off rivals such as Meituan-Dianping's food courier Meituan and listings app Dianping.

Alibaba will set up a new holding company that will run Ele.me and Koubei, online news outlet Sina Finance reported, adding that the units will remain independent in their business operations. Investors including Alibaba and SoftBank Group, Japan's institutional investor, have agreed to offer USD3 billion in funding for the new company.

An expert within the industry said that such an act promoted by Alibaba will further combine the timely delivery of Ele.me with the service system of Koubei in order to beat their competitor Meituan-Dianping in a collaborative manner.

The ownership tie-up does not come as a surprise as shortly after Alibaba acquired Ele.me with USD9.5 billion in April, the delivery app and Koubei began to share their account data, which involved cross-platform vouchers called 'red packages.'

Editor: Emmi Laine