China's O2O sector set to see more 'unicorpses'
Funding is drying up as inflated valuations of unicorns - or startups valued at over US$1b - deter investors
Beijing
THE Beijing offices of Shequ001, a startup delivering supermarket goods booked via smartphone, stand almost deserted. Leaflets lie scattered on the floor.
Nearly 400 former employees, of a workforce that in March topped 2,000, have joined a social network clamouring to get their unpaid wages. Zhang, who gave only his family name, is one of fewer than three dozen workers left at a company that last year was worth two billion yuan (S$438 million). "We just wanted to build the market, so we burned through our money," he said, adding he hasn't seen the firm's chief executive since March.
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