- VSPN raised $100M in Series B funding round
- The round was led by Tencent Holdings
- The other investors were Tiantu Capital, SIG, and Kuaishou
- The company will continue to focus on its ecosystem in China.
Esports ‘total solution provider VSPN has raised $100 million in a Series B funding round. The round was led by Tencent Holdings. Other investors include Tiantu Capital, SIG, and Kuaishou. VSPN stands for Versus Programming Network.
The funding round will contribute to improving esports products and their ecosystem in China and across Asia. The company was founded in 2016. It is headquartered in Shanghai. The company was an earlier pioneer in esports tournament organization out of Aisa.
Since then it has expanded into other businesses including offline venue operation. “We are delighted to announce this latest round of funding. Thanks to policies supporting Shanghai as the global center for esports. VSPN has grown rapidly in recent years”, said CEO Dino Ying.
What will be the funding used for?
“After the funding, we are looking forward to building an esports research institute, an esports culture park. VSPN has a long-term vision and is dedicated to the sustainable development of its ecosystem”.
“VPSNs long term company vision and leading position in esport production are vital for Tencent. It will optimize the layout of the industry development”, said general manager Mars Hou. As observed in August, Tencent, already the world’s biggest game publisher.
Tencent’s investment in VSPN is doubling down on the esports markets. This Series B funding round comes four years after VSPN’s 2016 Series A round. Then it was led by Focus Media Network. Now the company has become the principal tournament organizer.
It was the broadcaster for PUBG MOBILE international competitions and China’s top competitions for Honor of Kings. There were others also on this list. This will tally-up 12,000 hours of original content. The company has partnered with over 70% of china’s esports tournaments.
ESL, a huge esports player, joined focus with Tencent. It became a part of the PUBG Mobile esports circuit for 2020. VSPn has branded many esports venues. It included Chengdu, Xi’an, and Shanghai. In may the company brought its first overseas venue.
Also, the company hosted the first large-scale esport event with an offline audience this August. The LOL S10 event will open 6,000 tickets. However, all tournaments will take place under strict COVID-19 measures. Not all the esports events are allowing offline audiences.
VSPN will continue to focus on building esports shorts short-form video ecosystem. They will focus on improving the quality of esports content creation. It will reach more users via different channels. VSPN currently holds 1,000 employees in five business divisions.