Chinese B2B e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has confirmed that the company has acquired a small amount of shares in the Guangzhou-based mobile phone software technology provider Ucweb and the news has also been confirmed by a representative from the marketing department of Ucweb, without mention of the investment value.

According to Zhang Wei, the person in charge of Alibaba's strategic investment, the company has currently invested USD73 million in ten companies. In May 2009, the group acquired a small amount of shares in Ucweb and the two sides may jointly develop application programs to provide Alibaba's clients with mobile phone-based online trading experiences.

Zhang said many of Alibaba's clients visit the Internet via mobile equipment and this is very important to the environment of e-commerce. She added that Alibaba will gain one seat in the board of directors of Ucweb, but she refused to reveal more financial details.

Zhang also revealed that Alibaba promises to allocate additional USD200 million to USD300 million to the strategic investment department in the next two to three years and she will focus on the investments in mobile Internet, e-payment, and other technology-oriented companies.

At the same time, a representative from the marketing department of Ucweb told local media that the company has recently received investment of over USD10 million from Alibaba and said the company will publish the details soon.