China-based online audio streaming platform Ximalaya has completed a RMB4bn ($580m) funding round featuring internet group Tencent, Kr Asia reported today, citing an announcement on social media platform WeChat.
The round included investment banking firm Goldman Sachs and growth equity firm General Atlantic and valued Ximalaya at approximately $3.5bn post-money.
Founded in 2012, Ximalaya operates an online repository for audio content such as podcasts and radio shows covering music and information. It reportedly had more than 40 million registered users as of January this year, of which 6 million are daily active users.
The company has partnerships in place with carmakers BMW and Ford, which offer the service as part of their in-vehicle entertainment systems, and smart device producers Haier, Skyworth and Midea, which utilise it in their home devices.
The round was closed in advance of an initial public offering Ximalaya hopes to launch in Hong Kong in the second half of 2019, as it looks to expand into a more diversified audio services provider that also produces hardware.
Ximalaya raised approximately $11.5m in a 2014 series A round backed by SIG China, a subsidiary of technology and trading firm Susquehanna International Group, as well as venture capital firms Sierra Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB).
The company reportedly secured a further $50m in series B funding later the same year according to local media, and an undisclosed sum from China Literature, Tencent’s online literature platform, in 2015.
Other investors in Ximalaya include VC firm China Creation Ventures, growth equity firm WestSummit Capital and private equity firm China Broadband Capital.