BEIJING, Sept. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- iQIYI Inc. (NASDAQ:
IQ) ("iQIYI" or the "Company"), an innovative market-leading online
entertainment service in China,
today announced that iQIYI Sports, a joint venture between iQIYI
and Super Sports Media, has successfully completed its Series A
round of financing, securing a total of RMB
850 million in investment.
The second tranche of financing announced today secured an
investment of RMB 350 million from
both China Sports Capital, a joint venture between CMC Capital
Partners and Sequoia Capital, and Yao Capital. This followed an
initial tranche of RMB 500 million
financing completed earlier last month, provided by IDG Capital and
private equity firm Hui Ying Bo Run.
"We are delighted that iQIYI Sports, our joint venture with
Super Sports Media, has successfully completed its Series A
round of financing," said Gong Yu,
founder and CEO of iQIYI. "Over the last few years, China's entertainment industry has grown at
spectacular pace and iQIYI has been looking into expanding our
offerings in this area for a long time. Our partnership with Super
Sports Media in this exciting new joint venture is the ideal
combination of both companies' strengths, stimulating growth across
the industry through the creation of an online platform which
understands content, our users and our business partners. iQIYI is
committed to supporting the growth of the iQIYI Sports and will
continue contribute our wealth of existing IP and resources to
ensure our users receive a level of sports entertainment experience
unmatched by any other platform."
"With the support of these new shareholders, iQIYI Sports is in
the ideal position to change the landscape of online sports
entertainment in China," said Yu
Lingxiao, CEO of iQIYI Sports. "The combination of iQIYI's advanced
technological capabilities and vast numbers of subscribing members
with Super Sports Media's many years of experience in pay-per-view
sports entertainment creates a partnership of unprecedented
strength in industry. The successful completion of our Series A
financing is a clear illustration of this new venture's potential
and we are excited to be bringing our users better content and
service of sports entertainment."
iQIYI Sports, a new online sports media platform, is a joint
venture between iQIYI, Inc. and Super Sports Media, a subsidiary of
DDMC Group. As the Chinese sports industry has matured over the
past few years, the viewing habits of sports fans have changed,
providing a powerful opportunity for the newly founded iQIYI Sports
platform. The upgraded iQIYI Sports app will bring its subscribers
top flight coverage of association football, golf, and tennis
competitions, including the Premier League, the UEFA Nations
League, the Masters, the British Open, the US Open, the PGA
Championship, the PGA Tour, the Australian Open, the ATP World Tour
and the WTA Tour. iQIYI Sports subscribers will soon also be able
to enjoy La Liga, Euro 2020 and other
leading football competitions such as the AFC Champions League, AFC
Asian Cup and FIFA World Cup Qualification.
About iQIYI, Inc.
iQIYI, Inc. (NASDAQ:IQ) ("iQIYI" or the "Company") is an
innovative market-leading online entertainment service
in China. Its corporate DNA combines creative talent with
technology, fostering an environment for continuous innovation and
the production of blockbuster content. iQIYI's platform features
highly popular original content, as well as a comprehensive library
of other professionally-produced content, partner-generated content
and user-generated content. The Company distinguishes itself in the
online entertainment industry by its leading technology platform
powered by advanced AI, big data analytics and other core
proprietary technologies. iQIYI attracts a massive user base with
tremendous user engagement, and has developed a diversified
monetization model including membership services, online
advertising services, content distribution, live broadcasting,
online games, IP licensing, online literature and e-commerce etc.
For more information on iQIYI, please
visit http://ir.iqiyi.com.
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SOURCE iQIYI, Inc.