Telstra Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of telecommunications group Telstra, has invested in China-based cloud-storage service provider Qiniu as part of a $100m series D round, according to The Australian.
The round also included Harvest Global Investments and China Broadband Capital (CBC). Telstra Ventures’ share was “not too far away from” the US$5m to US$10m it typically invests, Telstra Ventures managing director Matthew Koertge told The Australian.
Founded in 2011, Qiniu provides cloud-based data hosting and processing services for businesses in China and elsewhere in Asia. It intends to leverage Telstra’s investment to help develop products and services for the telecom firm’s customer base.
Qiniu has not disclosed the amount it has raised in previous funding rounds, but CBC led a 2014 series C round also featuring existing investors Matrix Partners China and Qiming Venture Partners, in which the company secured an eight-figure dollar amount.
Qiniu chief executive Xu Shiwei said in a statement: “Our mission is to redefine cloud computing and big data with ground-breaking technologies that make services faster, simpler and more reliable.
“Combining Telstra’s established cloud and network infrastructure and our innovative technology in cloud-storage should drive a lot of new business opportunities for both companies.”