China's LinkedIn, Ushi, eyes big growth over next 2 years

Ushi, China's answer to LinkedIn, hopes to have 10 million users in two years and to raise USD 5 million in its next round of fundraising, its chief executive said on Monday.

Ushi, which means outstanding professionals in Chinese, is the dominant professional-social networking site in China with more than 300,000 users. Its website is similar to LinkedIn and has features that allow users to add connections, introduce contacts and send messages.

"We're aiming to ultimately serve a very large portion of China's 40 million Internet users who are white collar or entrepreneurs. Call it 10 million in two years," Dominic Penaloza told Reuters.

Launched late last year, Ushi is backed by Milestone Capital, Richmond Management, Li & Fung private equity and Simon Murray & Co. The firm is hoping to raise USD 5 million in its next round of fundraising due to close at end of June.