Operator harnesses chatbots, humans, and 15M to sell US goods to China

With a little personal shopping assistance, Operator thinks Chinese citizens will pounce on American products sold through its conversational shopping app. The promise of becoming the guided commerce layer connecting China with the US has earned the two-year-old a 15 million series B round at a 100 million pre-money valuation. "We're making commerce borderless", Operator CEO Robin Chan told me. GGV Capital, which specializes in US-China startups, led the round and its partner Hans Tung will become a board observer. Tung praised Operator's "mass-market-first approach" and its understanding of "the value of creating a global company from the start" rather than trying to bolt China onto an app built for the US.