Suning Sports, the sports unit of Chinese retailer Suning Holdings Group, announced the completion of series A round financing jointly led by Alibaba and Goldman Sachs, The Paper reported.
Though the companies failed to disclose the transaction amount or financing scale, it was reported that the round was worth in the neighborhood of US$600 million.
Other investors in this round included real estate developer Evergrande Group, Yunfeng Capital, AI company Sensetime, Sports Industrial Fund of Zhejiang Province and Jiangsu Province, as well as overseas subsidiaries of Chinese banks CCB International, Minsheng Bank International and ABC International.
Alibaba’s online video platform Youku will work closely with Suning Sports’ PPTV, to jointly operate the new “Youku Sports” channel.
Suning Sports’ copyright resources include 90% of the domestic sports content. It owns broadcast rights include football matches, plus games between top European leagues, Chinese Super League and AFC Champions League.