Chinese esports solutions provider VSPN (Versus Programming Network) announced that it has closed a $60M USD Series B+ funding round, led by Prospect Avenue Capital (PAC). Further investors participating in the round include Guotai Junan International and Nan Fung Group. Lighthouse Capital acted as the exclusive financial advisor in this funding round.
According to the announcement, the proceeds of the investment will focus on the “innovative technologies” in esports production, the layout of esports IP operations, new esports contents and products, and overseas esports businesses.
Dino Ying, co-founder and CEO of VSPN, said in an announcement that the company aims to showcase diversified esports products and content to more business partners and fans throughout the esports industry. He is also looking forward to expanding the VSPN business internationally after the pandemic is over.
Xuan Zhao, head of private equity at Guotai Junan International, also said in the announcement that the “supportive policies for esports from the Chinese government” were one of the reasons why the company chose to invest in VSPN.
In October of 2020, VSPN raised close to $100M in a Series B funding round led by Tencent Holdings. Further investors that participated in this round include Tiantu Capital, Susquehanna International Group (SIG), and Kuaishou. Last week, VSPN acquired production company Banana Gaming & Media, and named Sicong Wang, the founder of Banana Gaming & Media as the vice-chairman of VSPN’s strategy committee.
In China, VSPN owns and operates esports venues in Xi’an, Chengdu’s Taiguli, Shanghai’s Xintiandi. The company partnered with Tencent and NetEase to host premier competitions for Honor of Kings, Peacekeeper Elite, Hearthstone, WarCraft III, CrossFire, QQ Speed and Clash Royale in the country. For international esports competition, the company focused on the Southeast Asian esports market, hosted many PUBG Mobile competitions, such as the 2019 PUBG Mobile Club Open (PMCO), as well as participated in the broadcasting work at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games.
