Meituan, operator of China’s largest food delivery and local service platform, goes on hiring spree, planning to add 60,000 new job in 2021, Chinese media Latepost reported on Thursday, deepening its expansion into community group buying despite an investigation by antitrust regulators.

Detail: The 60,000 new jobs are mostly on the group logistics and marketing position, it is scheduled to be filled by the end of this year. As of end-May, Meituan had 58,390 employees.

New job openings also include Java engineers, call centre managers, natural language programming scientists and business developers in locations such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou

These jobs will mainly fall under Meituan’s community group buying unit- Meituan Youxuan and B2B food distribution arm Kuailv.

Context: Meituan is continuing fast expansion into community group buying as the company’s founder Wang Xing believe the sector will be next growth engine for the company.

Meituan reported a net loss of CNY4.85 billion, widening from a loss of CNY1.58 billion a year earlier, mainly due to heavy spending on retail and community group buying business.

“We will most likely continue loss-making for several quarter amid heavy expansion into community group buying,” Meituan noted in its quarterly financial report.

Meituan has dealt with a series of regulatory investigation as China crack down on monopoly practices of Chinese tech companies. Starting in April, the State Administration of Market Regulation has investigated on whether Meituan forces merchants to use its platform exclusively, a practice known as “pick one from two”.