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Castbox, a podcast app headquartered in San Francisco with an engineering office in Beijing, leverages the new trend of audio livestreaming, a combination of podcasting and talk radio, to interact with listeners. Listeners can chat live with other listeners, make call-in requests and send emoji reactions. A competitor to audio streaming giants like Spotify and Pandora, Castbox has 28 million users in 175 countries, with more than half of the users in the U.S. Since 2016, IDG Capital has joined several Castbox funding rounds in Castbox.
Club Factory, a Chinese cross-border fashion e-retailer, has grown its registered seller base fourfold in the second half of 2019, crossing 20,000 as of December in India. During the Black Friday Sale, the platform attracted 15,000 orders per day. Hangzhou-based Club Factory said it has become the biggest portal for small and medium enterprises (SME) in India. IDG Capital led a $100 million Series A funding round in Club Factory in 2O18 and previously also joined the firm's Series A round.
OL Groupe, owner of the French football club Olympique Lyonnais, has agreed to buy majority ownership of Reign FC, an American National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) team. The acquisition includes an 89.5% stake in the team worth $3.51 million. OL Groupe said this is its long-term objective and ambition to operate the best women's football club in the world. In 2016, IDG Capital took a 20% stake in Olympique Lyonnais for $110 million.
Chehaoduo, best known for its leading car trading platform Guazi in China, has made a profit in November and expects to be profitable in Q4, as China continues to push used car sales. The online car retailer is well funded with nearly $715 million and is doubling the cost of repair and reconditioning with no additional cost to customers. IDG Capital joined Chehaoduo's Series C round in 2018.
Pinduoduo, a major Chinese bulk-buying e-commerce platform, is now one of the country's biggest retail disruptors. Competing with Alibaba and JD.com, the firm has begun targeting online customers in the country's mid-sized and“lower-tier" cities by encouraging users to qualify for discounts through recommendation to friends and family. Pinduoduo went public on Nasdaq in 2018 and reported $1.02 billion in revenue in Q3 2018. IDG Capital joined Pinduoduo's Series B funding round in 2016.
Rossignol, a leading winter sports clothing and equipment maker, opens a pop-up store in SoHo New York to showcase new apparel offerings. Based in France, Rossignol had annual sales of $410 million as of March 31, 2019. Apparel accounts for 17% of that figure and 80 percent of its sales come from outside France. This June, IDG Capital took a 20% stake in Rossignol. The latest investment also helped Rossignol Group further expand into China, a burgeoning winter sports market that could reach $17 billion by 2025.
Bilibili, an IDG Capital-backed Chinese video-sharing platform, is now moving aggressively into the online education market. This year, over 20 million users, or roughly 15% of Bilibili's 128-million user base, accessed the firm's streaming platform for online study activities, reading and recorded tutorials. In November 2018, Bilibili reported total Q3 revenues of $260.1 million, a 72% increase over the same period the previous year. Prior to listing on Nasdaq in 2018, IDG Capital led Bilibili's Series A funding found, and also joined the Shanghai-based company's A+ and B rounds.
Shanghai-based electric vehicle (EV) maker Nio and Guangzhou-based EV startup Xpeng are teaming up to share charging stations and exchange related services in China. Customers can now use each other's charging stations at no extra cost. In addition to Xpeng, Nio also recently partnered with Intel Corp. to design driverless consumer vehicles. Both Xpeng and NIO are IDG Capital-backed startups. Previously, IDG Capital co-led Xpeng's $348 million Series B round and also joined NIO's Series B+ funding round.
IDG Capital-backed Guangzhou HeyGears Intelligent Manufacturing, a Chinese 3D printer company, raised $60 million in a Series B1 funding round. Founded in 2015 and based in Guangzhou, HeyGears produces 3D printing equipment and software solutions for a variety of industries, ranging from dental care to consumer electronics. In November 2018, IDG Capital led a $47 million Series A investment round in the firm.
Jim Breyer, Co-Chairman of IDG Capital and Founder and CEO of Breyer Capital, will join a select panel of leading venture capitalists and private equity experts on February 8, 2020, at Harvard Business School in Boston. The event is sponsored by the Venture Capital and Private Equity Club, the largest student club at Harvard Business School. Before joining IDG Capital as Co-Chair, Breyer, himself a Harvard Business School graduate, was an early investor in more than 40 leading international technology companies, including Facebook.
Bilibili, China's Nasdaq-listed answer to Netflix, is teaming up with National Geographic, BBC and other overseas content producers to broaden its audience among the country's growing Generation Z viewers. One Bilibili reality TV show alone, co-produced in collaboration with Discovery Channel, has been viewed over 30 million times. Previously, IDG Capital led Bilibili's Series A funding round and also joined the company's A+ and B rounds.
Klaytn, a blockchain network associated with Kakao, South Korea's leading messaging app, will launch a new crypto wallet service in 2020, first in Korea and then worldwide. The new wallet app was designed to expand Klaytn's global customer base, Kakao's Co-CEO Yeo Min-soo said in an interview. In 2018, IDG Capital invested in Klaytn.
OPay, a Nigerian-based mobile payments app, plans to expand ORide, an African motorcycle-hailing service. OPay currently works with more than 40,000 agents across the Africa continent. This year IDG Capital led a $50 million investment in OPay, which was founded by Norwegian browser company Opera Ltd. in which IDG Capital was also an early investor. In addition to IDG Capital, OPay's backers include Chinese internet giant Tencent, in which IDG Capital also invested.
Lilith Games, a Shanghai-based video game start-up, generated $60 million in overseas revenue in October from a single mobile game,“Rise of Kingdoms”– with 30% of the game's revenue generated in the U.S. From international perspective, Lilith said, the game outperformed competitive products produced by two major competitors, Tencent and NetEase. IDG Capital was an angel investor in Lilith Games in 2013.
KuCoin, a Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange backed by IDG Capital, is partnering with Banxa, an Australian fiat on-ramp service, to provide instant fiat to crypto conversions. KuCoin customers can now buy Bitcoin and Ethereum with Australian Dollars and British Pounds, the firm said. More global payment options will be added later. IDG Capital co-led KuCoin's $20 million Series A round in 2018.
Chinese bulk-buying e-commerce platform Pinduoduo and U.S. e-commerce leader Amazon have opened an online pop-up store for Chinese consumers. The Chinese pop-up store on Pinduoduo's platform will carry a selection of about 1,000 Amazon overseas products through the end of December. Pinduoduo said that the initiative was designed to“offer equal opportunities for our users to access global products.”IDG Capital joined Pinduoduo's Series B funding round in 2016. Pinduoduo went public on Nasdaq in 2018.