China-based sports commentary platform Hupu Sports Shanghai Media received RMB1.26bn ($182m) in pre-initial public offering funding from digital media company ByteDance today, China Money Network reported.
The deal gave ByteDance, the owner of short video app TikTok and aggregated news app Toutiao, a 30% stake in Hupu, making it the single largest shareholder in the business.
Founded in 2004, Hupu operates a sports commentary and news portal as well as an app that delivers near real-time text updates about the US National Basketball Association and an online sports apparel marketplace called Shihuo.
ByteDance and Hupu will share their respective content and aim to connect users of each other’s platforms. Hupu expects the partnership will enable it to access additional sports-related intellectual property.
Hupu filed for an IPO on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in March 2019 but does not yet appear to have set terms. The offering represents Hupu’s second attempt to go public, having first filed in 2016 before withdrawing those plans 10 months later.
Sportswear producer Guirenniao is also a shareholder in Hupu, seemingly through a deal that involved the companies co-managing a $313m sport-focused fund called Arena Capital together with Greenwoods Asset Management.
Hupu had previously raised $95m in series E funding from China International Capital Corp in January 2018, adding to $37m in series D capital secured from Quansheng Investments in 2015.
Greenwoods Asset Management had led a $16m series C round for the company in 2014, adding to $5.8m in series B capital supplied by Haitong Kaiyuan Investment two years earlier. Morningside Ventures had injected an undisclosed amount of series A cash in 2007.
