Chinese Internet giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. breezed past analysts’ expectations in its latest quarter, reporting revenue up 61 percent thanks to solid growth in its primary commerce business and its cloud computing arm.

Alibaba said in a press release Thursday that its burgeoning cloud business saw revenues jump by 99 percent to $447 million for the quarter ending Sept. 30. It said that growth was propelled by an uptick in paying customers, as well the addition of higher-level services, including new database, content delivery network, data and security services.

Alibaba Cloud is already said to be the leading public cloud platform in China by some distance, in part because U.S.-based rivals such as Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services Inc. can only do business there with a local partner. Alibaba has also invested significantly in its cloud platform. On Thursday, it said it’s planning to spend an extra $15 billion on research and development over the next three years as part of a plan to expand its cloud computing portfolio.

Despite being one of Alibaba’s fastest-growing businesses, cloud revenues remain minuscule compared to the company’s core eCommerce business. That unit saw revenues in the last quarter rise 63 percent to $6.98 billion thanks to an increase in active users. Alibaba said its mobile monthly active user base grew to 549 million, while the number of annual active customers rose by 20 million to 488 million.

Alibaba’s total revenue hit $8.3 billion in the quarter, while profit before certain costs such as stock compensation was $1.29 per share. Analysts were expecting $7.9 billion in revenue and a profit of $1.03 a share.

“Our consumer insights and technology innovation were the key drivers behind our customer value proposition across the Alibaba economy,” said Daniel Zhang, chief executive officer of Alibaba Group.

Alibaba had more good news for investors, raising its revenue growth outlook for full-year revenue to a range of between 49 percent and 53 percent, up from its earlier range of 45 percent to 49 percent.

Image: Alibaba