On April 3, Alisports announced at a press conference that they had raised CNY1.2bn (USD190m) in their A financing round, making the firm’s current valuation at CNY8bn. According to Alisports, this round of investment was led by Yunfeng Capital and were joined by other famous companies such as China Taiping Insurance. 

Having finished this financing round, Alisports also announced their next step of buying out the Chinese fitness App, 乐动力 (literally translated as Ledongli). Zhang Dazhong, Founder and CEO of Alisports, stated that the initial purpose of this buyout is to promote Alisports’ fitness services while hoping that that this acquisition will help Alisports to upgrade the sports retailing business. 

Launched in 2012, Ledongli is one of the leading fitness Apps in China which measures and records the pace of a walk or run. As of now, Ledongli has registered around 55m users consisting of running and fitness enthusiasts as well as people who want to lose weight. 

Alisports was established in 2015 in Shanghai, China, with former Shanghai Media Group Vice President Zhang Dazhong serving as its CEO. Alisports aims to boost the sports industry as a whole and benefit more partners and consumers through ecommerce, media, sales, TV broadcast, family entertainment, smart technology, cloud computing, Big Data, and financial services. With IP as its core, Alisports is seeking to develop China’s basic platform of a sports economy.

Source: Yutang Sports

Proofread by Raymond Fitzpatrick