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Soccerex, an events company for the football industry, now ranks Olympique Lyonnais of Lyon, France, as the 18th most financially powerful football club in the world. The algorithm that Soccerex used to calculate this ranking measures net debt, available cash, playing assets (based on the market value of individual footballers); and fixed assets (including the value of stadiums, training facilities and other holdings. In 2016, IDG Capital took a 20% stake in the football club for a $110 million investment.
Guomai, a Hangzhou-based publisher of multi-media cultural products, has completed a $45.7-million series B round led by IDG Capital and Bona Film Group. Other investors include Aqua Ventures, HG Capital and Matrix Partners China. Founded in 2012, Guomai produces Chinese-language multi-media cultural products in four categories: literature, history, science and religion.
Financial website Business Insider believes bike-sharing network LimeBike is one of the top seven startups of 2017. LimeBike, based in San Mateo, California, is currently valued at $225 million. Investors include Andresen Horowitz and IDG Capital.
Xiaopeng Motors, a Chinese electric-car startup, will unveil its first sports utility vehicle (SUV) next week at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The Guangzhou firm recently completed its latest $765 million financing round. Investors include Alibaba, Tencent Holdings, GGV Capital, Morningside Venture Capital, IDG Capital, Matrix Partners China, Shunwei Capital, Guangkong Zhongying Capital, Ding Capital, Kinzon Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
Founded in 2012, Ripple Labs, a global payments blockchain company, is now a viable alternative to Bitcoin technology, according to Daily Dot. Ripple oversees financial transactions using an open source payment protocol. In addition to San Francisco, where Ripple is based, the company also has offices in New York, London, Sydney, India, Singapore and Luxembourg. Investors include Google Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, IDG Capital, FF Angel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, the Bitcoin Opportunity Fund, Pantera Capital, Santander InnoVentures, Core Innovation Capital, Vast Ventures, Venture 51, and Camp One Ventures.
Suning Finance, the financial services unit of Shanghai-based electronics retailer Suning Commerce Group, has raised $814 million from Yunfeng Capital, Shenzhen Capital Group, Macrolink Group, Everbright-IDG Industrial Fund and GP Capital. The parent company currently operates 4,000 brick-and-mortar stores in China, many with online-to-offline capability, and plans to add 5,000 additional stores by the end of this year.
Meitu, a Chinese beauty-themed photo and video app, is changing the way the new generation of women in China now view themselves. Valued at more than $6 billion, Meitu last year underwent the largest Internet-company offering to date on the Hong Kong stock exchange. IDG Capital is an early investor in the firm.
Chinese electric-vehicle maker Xiaopeng Motors recently underwent its latest funding round, with investments from Alibaba Group, GVC Capital and Matrix Partners. Previous fundraising included investments from Morningside Venture Capital, IDG Capital, Matrix, Shunwei Capital, Everbright Zhongying Capital, Kinzon Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners. After showcasing its latest sports utility vehicle (SUV) to the public, Xiaopeng plans to manufacture and market it in 2018.
IDG Capital made 55 private equity and venture capital investments in 2017. The total deal value for all 55 investments was $5.281 billion. In 2016, IDG Capital announced 68 private equity and venture capital deals with a total deal value of $2.074 billion.
Guoxiaomei, a China-based cashier-free convenience store chain, has raised $50 million in Series C round funding. The latest fundraising effort, led by Vertex Ventures, included contributions from IDG Capital, BlueRun Ventures, Dongfang Hongdao Capital and Desun Investment.
Kingsoft Cloud, a Chinese cloud storage and distribution firm, has raised $300 million in its latest Series D round. In 2016 Kingsoft Cloud raised $60 million during a Series C round that included investments from IDG Capital and an affiliate of China Asset Management.
Forbes China chose five IDG Capital Partners for its 2017 list of the “best venture capitalists” in China: IDG Capital Global Chairman Hugo Shong, Xiaojun Li, Quan Zhou, Young Guo and Fei Yang. All five Partners were ranked among the top one-third of the VCs named to the list. The ranking, the Chinese edition of Forbes reported, is modeled after the “Midas List” of successful venture capital investors published annually by the magazine’s U.S. edition.
The PGA Tour this week announced a 20-year agreement with Shankai Sports in Beijing to organize professional golf tournaments throughout China. IDG Capital and Yao Capital, a private equity firm co-founded by former Houston Rockets player Yao Ming, have jointly invested $43.35 million in Shankai.
Accutar Biotech has raised an undisclosed sum during a Series A funding round led by IDG Capital and Yitu Technology. The Shanghai-based biopharmaceutical firm uses artificial intelligence technology to accelerate drug discoveries.
Wang Yi, a former engineer at Google (now Alphabet Inc.) in Mountain View, California, returned to China in 2012 to launch an English-language teaching App. His Liulishuo App, or “speaking fluently” in English, uses artificial intelligence to correct English-language grammar and pronunciation and now has more than 50 million registered users and 600,000 paying subscribers. It is expected to turn a profit in February. Wang’s firm recently raised $100 million in his latest funding round, and his financial backers include China Media Capital, Wu Capital, IDG Capital and GVC Capital.
China was home to 22 unicorns in 2017 for a combined total valuation of $37.3 billion, or $3 billion more than the combined total valuation of all the newly formed unicorns in the U.S. this year. The 22 Chinese firms also represent roughly one-third of all the unicorns in the world. Sequoia Capital invested in four Chinese unicorns in 2017 – startups with a valuation in excess of $1 billion. IDG Capital, Matrix Partners and Qiming Venture Partners invested in three each, and Alibaba Group and Hillhouse Capital in two each.