Focus Media chairman Jiang Nanchun recently announced that Focus Media and FountainVest Partners have established a USD400 million sports fund, which will lead the third round financing of Codoon.com with USD30 million.
Focus Media revealed that SIG and SBCVC will also participate in this round financing and Codoon will gain USD50 million investments in total.
Jiang said the investment in Codoon represents Focus Media's entry into the sports consumption sector. People are transforming from goods consumption to movies, entertainment and sports consumption, said Jiang. In the future, consumer spending and time investment in these areas will see a significant increase. At the same time, with government policy support in China, the sports industry will become a hot spot over the next ten years.
Prior to this, Codoon received angel investment from Shanda Group at the beginning of 2011. In March 2014, the company completed its first round financing of USD10 million from Shenzhen Capital Group and CITIC Capital. In November 2014, the company completed its second round financing of USD30 million from SIG and SBCVC.
According to Codoon, the company is the largest sports social platform in China, with over 50 million users. It provides various products, including sports data collection and management, online and offline sports event and stadium services, content sharing, mobile payment solution, e-commerce services, and sports safety insurance, to users in China and abroad.
Shen Bo, chief executive officer of Codoon, said that with the new investments, the company aims at one hundred million users while developing more sports categories to establish a closed-loop mass sports ecosystem.