Chinese News Reader App Lands USD 100 Mln Series C
36Kr, 6/03/14
Beijing-based mobile app developer Bytedance has received USD 100 mln in third-round funding led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from Chinese microblogging platform Weibo (Nasdaq: WB), valuing the company at over USD 500 mln. Proceeds from the current round of funding will be primarily used for hiring and technical expenses. Charles Chao, CEO of Weibo parent company Sina (Nasdaq: SINA), has explained that the company's participation in the new round of funding is due to the potential synergy between Weibo and Bytedance's mobile news recommendation app Today's Headlines ("Jinri Toutiao"), which is currently the top shared news app on the microblogging platform.
Bytedance received USD 7-digit first-round funding led by SIG Asia Investment in July 2012, as well as USD 8-digit second-round funding led by Russian investment group Digital Sky Technologie (DST) founder Yuri Milner in September 2013.
Today's Headlines leverages data mined from social media platforms to provide custom content recommendations based on users' interests, including news, pictures, and short articles. Since its launch in August 2012, Today's Headlines has reached over 120 mln registered users, with a monthly active user base of nearly 40 mln.
Keywords: mobile information service valuation Bytedance Today's Headlines Charles Chao funding users wireless registered users Sequoia Capital Sina third-round Yuri Milner Weibo WB Digital Sky Technology active users
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