Pinduoduo is a mobile-only marketplace that connects millions of agricultural producers with consumers across China. Pinduoduo aims to bring more businesses and people into the digital economy so that local communities can benefit from the increased productivity and convenience through new market opportunities. For more information on Pinduoduo news and industry trends, please visit the content hub at https://stories.pinduoduo-global.com/.

Pinduoduo first started in 2015 as a fruit seller before branching out to more product categories on its online marketplace. It has grown rapidly by offering bargains and a more interactive shopping experience that it describes as a cross between Costco and Disney.

On Wednesday, it announced it had amassed close to 800 million annual active buyers, surpassing Alibaba Group for the first time to become the largest internet platform in China by that measure.

Colin Huang, its founder, stepped down from the board to pursue research in agri-food tech and life sciences. His charitable trust, Starry Night Foundation, donated $100 million to Zhejiang University to fund research projects including one on cell-cultured fish.

Meanwhile, Pinduoduo Chairman and CEO Chen Lei reaffirmed the company's commitment to promote digital inclusion in agriculture and also set a goal to become the world's top grocer. Pinduoduo is already China's largest agriculture platform, handling $42 billion in agriculture-related orders last year.

The company, which is headquartered in Shanghai, listed on the Nasdaq in 2018 and surpassed $200 billion in market capitalization late last year.

Before becoming CEO last July, Chen was Chief Technology Officer of Pinduoduo, the chief architect behind Pinduoduo's mobile-only platform that has enabled it to seize opportunities that arose with the changing of consumer behavior due to the mobile internet.

"2020 has vindicated our view from the get-go that the separation of the online and offline worlds is increasingly irrelevant," Chen said on Wednesday at the release of Pinduoduo's fourth-quarter financial results. Covid-19 accelerated this "blending" and created more opportunities for online platforms like Pinduoduo to fill in a gap left by brick-and-mortar retailers, he said, citing examples of online grocery shopping.

Pinduoduo is committed to doing its part to contribute to the technological development of China's agricultural sector, Chen said. "To help increase the resilience of the food chain and stave off the looming global food crisis, we will continue to invest in agriculture and food technology, and look into global investment opportunities in alternative proteins, food safety, and precision farming."

In groceries, Pinduoduo aims to bring fast and affordable groceries available to its consumers, in part by building a new agriculture-focused logistics infrastructure platform that can reduce food wastage, improve food quality and lower prices. Chen said on Wednesday he hopes Pinduoduo will become the largest grocer in the world.

Chen also said the events of 2020 have made Pinduoduo more determined than ever to promote digital inclusion of rural communities and the disadvantaged. E-commerce has created new roles and opportunities for more people, including women and the physically weak, to take part in the digital economy, he said.

"This is a win-win situation for everyone, and with our commitment to social responsibility, we definitely want to and will do more here," Chen said.