Alibaba Network Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Alibaba Group) was founded in Hangzhou, Zhejiang in 1999 by 18 people, led by Jack Ma, who was once an English teacher.

In September 1999, the 18 founders led by Jack Ma formally established Alibaba Group in an apartment in Hangzhou. The group's first website was Alibaba, an English global wholesale trade market.

In October 1999, Alibaba Group raised US$5 million from several investment institutions.

In January 2000, Alibaba Group raised US$20 million from several investment institutions including Softbank.

In September 2000, Alibaba Group held the first West Lake Forum, bringing together business and opinion leaders in the Internet industry to discuss important issues in the industry.

In December 2001, the number of registered users of Alibaba exceeded 1 million.

In December 2002, Alibaba Group achieved full-year positive cash inflow for the first time.

In May 2003, the shopping website Taobao was founded in Jack Ma's apartment.

In February 2004, Alibaba Group raised $82 million from several first-tier investment institutions, becoming the largest private equity financing in China's Internet industry at the time.

In June 2004, Alibaba Group held its first online business conference, during which the first Top Ten Online Business Awards Ceremony was held.

In July 2004, Taobao released Aliwangwang, a PC version of the communication software that allows buyers and sellers to communicate instantly by text, voice and video.

In December 2004, Alipay, a third-party online payment platform affiliated with Alibaba Group, was launched.

On August 11, 2005, Alibaba and Yahoo announced that the two parties had signed a cooperation agreement, Alibaba acquired all the assets of Yahoo China, and received a $1 billion investment from Yahoo, and enjoyed the exclusive right to use Yahoo's brand and technology in China; Yahoo received 40% of Alibaba's economic interests and 35% of voting rights.

In July 2006, Taobao University courses were launched to provide e-commerce training and education to buyers and sellers.

On October 30, 2006, Alibaba Group completed its strategic investment in the localized lifestyle community platform Koubei.com. [17]

On January 9, 2007, Alibaba Group announced the official establishment of its subsidiary Alisoft in Shanghai. [18]

In November 2007, Alibaba.com was listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In the same month, Alibaba Group established the online advertising platform Alimama.