Malaysia-based online streaming platform iFlix secured “well in excess of” $50m today from investors including talent agency Yoshimoto Kogyo and media companies Media Nusantara Citra (MNC), JTBC, Sky and Hearst.
Investment and financial services group Fidelity International led the round, which also featured Evolution Media Capital (EMC), the merchant bank co-founded by talent agency CAA, and the founders of internet company Catcha Group.
Founded in 2015, iFlix provides a subscription-based video streaming platform that offers television shows, movies, live sports and news to more than 17 million users.
The service is aimed at markets in Asia such as Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Brunei, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, Nepal and Bangladesh.
The new funding will be used to accelerate iFlix’s plans for an initial public offering, though the company has not revealed when it expects to float.
MNC provided an undisclosed amount of funding for iFlix in May 2019, a month after Yoshimoto Kogyo made an investment of undisclosed size. Online sport streaming service Kwese had supplied an undisclosed amount for the company in February this year according to TechZim.
Hearst led a $133m round for iFlix in August 2017, investing alongside telecommunications firm Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), Sky, Catcha Group, EMC, media group Liberty Global, EDBI, Jungle Ventures and unnamed clients of financial services firm DBS.
The company had raised $90m from Liberty Global, Sky, EMC, Catcha, telecoms company Zain and an unnamed investment management firm in March 2017, 12 months after it collected $45m from Sky.
PLDT and Catcha had initially led a $30m round for iFlix in 2015, investing alongside EMC, following a reported $10m in earlier funding.