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.

　　在线团购业务估价飞涨的趋势已经蔓延至中国。作为Groupon（团购业务始创者）众多的模仿者之一，拉手网(Lashou.com)宣布，该公司在最近一轮融资中估值高达11亿美元。

　　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.

　　这轮1.1亿美元的最新融资，使得拉手网的融资总额达到1.7亿美元，标志着在电子商务行业发展最为迅速的团购领域中，地盘争夺正在进一步加剧。拉手网去年3月才上线。

　　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.

　　去年晚些时候，Groupon曾试图买下拉手网的控股权。据一位知情人士透露，如果成功，当时的出价将这家中国公司估值为5亿美元。但在那之后，Groupon已经转而携手中国互联网公司腾讯(Tencent)在中国推出了自己的业务。

　　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.

　　拉手网最大股东——金沙江创业投资基金(GSR Ventures)创始人林仁俊(Richard Lim)表示，拉手网在上线后最初几个月的增长速度，比Groupon成立之初还要快。他补充说，按拉手网去年12月的业绩计算，该公司的年收入已达1.5亿美元，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上线后的第一年中，几乎占领了整个市场。然而，拉手网却要面对五六个资金充足的本地竞争对手。林仁俊表示，竞争使得拉手网的毛利率处于20%至30%之间。这远远低于Groupon当年50%的利润率，不过外界广泛认为，这家美国公司也将由于竞争加剧而出现利润下滑。

　　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.

　　拉手网的估值仅仅在几个月内就迅速攀升，而与此同时，投资者们正在更普遍地推高中国电子商务公司的价格。不断上涨的股价已经勾起人们对于十几年前美国互联网泡沫的记忆，不过风险投资者们称，这一轮繁荣还会持续很长一段时间。

　　“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.

　　资本管理公司(Doll Capital Management)董事合伙人赵克仁(David Chao)说，“最终，（估值）将稳定下来。不过，估值是增长的一个因素，而这些公司正在经历超高速的增长。” Doll资本是最早投资于中国互联网企业的风险投资公司之一。

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

　　他补充说：“我觉得，（中国团购市场）将面临洗牌，只是程度没有美国（互联网泡沫破裂时）那么深。”