Alibaba.com, operator of China's biggest online commerce site, posted a nearly 50 percent jump in revenue year on year in the first quarter, boosted by a strong rise in paying members and a robust growth in income from value-added services.

Its revenue in the first three months of this year jumped 49.3 percent to 1.22 billion yuan (US$179 million), the company said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange yesterday.

The firm posted a 33.8 percent jump in net profit in the same period to 330 million yuan.

Overseas markets contributed 719 million yuan of revenue while income from China jumped to 406 million yuan. Sales of other Internet infrastructure and application services reaped 95.5 million yuan.

"The rising domestic demand will be the engine for the next round of long-term sustainable growth and we will raise our investment in China this year," Chief Executive Officer Wei Zhe said in the statement.

"Our commitment to improving our business model and products is expected to result in a wider adoption of value-added services among our users," he added.

Paying members jumped 36.8 percent from the same period last year to 658,701 by the end of March.

Earlier this month, Alibaba Group and Softbank Corp tied up to launch the first cross-border online trading platform in Asia.