Chinese internet giant Alibaba has established a U.S.-based investment organization that will fund Internet commerce and emerging technologies startups.

Michael Zeisser, who joined Alibaba after leading Liberty Media’s strategies in digital media and Internet commerce for nearly a decade, heads the team.

Joe Tsai (Executive vice chairman; Head, Strategic Investments, Alibaba): Alibaba is run by entrepreneurs, and we believe in supporting entrepreneurs with great vision and a strong sense of mission for their companies.

The team has been active over the past several months and we have already completed a few investments in the U.S., says Alibaba. Three companies received growth capital funding – Fanatics, an online retailer of officially licensed sports merchandise; ShopRunner, a platform for retailers providing free two-day shipping; and Quixey, a developer of search technology that enables users to search for content within mobile apps.

Other members of Alibaba’s U.S. investment team include Peter Stern, a senior banker from the technology, media and telecoms M&A team at Credit Suisse in New York who advised Alibaba on the $7.6 billion stock repurchase from Yahoo in 2012. The team will be based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Update: 11-12-13