Chinese food delivery startup Meituan-Dianping announced on Tuesday that it has raised a whopping $3.3 Billion in a fresh round of fund raising. By doing so, the company made history as this is perhaps the largest amount raised by an internet startup company in the world.

This mammoth round of fund raising was led by Tencent, DST Global and TBP Capital. Singapore's Temasek Holdings and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board also participated in the fund raising.

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With this funding, Meituan-Dianping's market valuation is believed to have surpassed the $18 billion mark.

Meituan-Dianping, now spearheaded by Meituan.com founder Wang Xing, will most likely use these funds to support its massive expansion and attract China's coupon-addicted smartphone consumers.

Interestingly enough, this funding comes just a few months after a merger between Meituan.com and Dianping.com, making the newly formed company -- Meituan-Dianping -- an undisputed leader in China's online-to-offline commerce industry.

Both Meituan.com and Dianping.com were fierce competitors for years, cutting into each others business - something that investors of both companies thought will prove unsustainable for both companies in future. Eventually, leading to their merger in October 2015.

Although Meituan-Dianping is now considered a leader in online-to-offline market, but it still faces stiff competition from Alibaba-controlled 'koubei' and Baidu-backed 'Nuomi.' Both Alibaba and Baidu are expected to make heavy investments in these companies in the coming months.

According to Techcrunch, Baidu announced in June 2015 that it would invest more than $3 billion in its startup company Nuomi.

TagsMeituan-Dianping, Meituan.com, Dianping.com, koubei, Nuomi