Which Chinese e-commerce startup was founded by Jack Ma?

The Chinese e-commerce startup founded by Jack Ma was Alibaba Group.

Jack Ma founded Alibaba in Hangzhou on June 28, 1999, together with 17 friends and students. Its first major business was Alibaba.com, a business-to-business marketplace connecting Chinese suppliers with buyers around the world. The company began in Ma’s apartment and later expanded into consumer retail, digital payments, logistics, cloud computing and entertainment.

Alibaba is often confused with Taobao, but the two are not identical. Taobao is a consumer marketplace launched by Alibaba in 2003 to compete with eBay in China, while Tmall serves brands and retailers. Alibaba Group is the larger corporate parent that owns or operates these and other businesses. Jack Ma remained the company’s most recognizable founder and served as executive chairman until 2019.