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Softbank China to Invest in PPLive.com
BEIJING, Dec 15, 2008 (SinoCast Daily Business Beat via COMTEX) --
Softbank China Venture Capital, a VC investment company that is backed by Japan's Softbank Corp., is planning to add investment into PPLive.com, one of the largest online video sites by market share in China, disclosed Alan Song, managing partner of Softbank China.
It is PPLive.com's fundraising for the third time, which is scheduled to collect about USD 20 million. Besides Softbank China, another two VC investors BlueRun Ventures and DFJ, which have invested into PPLive.com before, will also take part in the investment this time.
As early as 2006, BlueRun has pumped USD 5 million into PPLive.com. And before that, the site gained CNY 1 million from Softbank. In addition, DFJ and Dragon Venture also have invested in it.
Although PPLive.com's third-round fundraising has not been officially confirmed, it has been confirmed by Alan Song. And the managing partner said that the fundraising was still in progress.
And he added that besides these VC investors that have financed PPLive.com before, some new investors were also actively getting in touch with the site and they would be likely to participate in the investment as well. The names of the new investors have not been disclosed.
However, there is a story that PPLive.com has cut 10% jobs since the end of this October. And the company is to move out of Shanghai, because it cannot afford the large amount of broadband leasing fees there.
As to such a story, Alan Song said that PPLive.com now had had no big problem in its capital chain. And Softbank China will still back up the company. Anyway, the sites that provide video-on-demand sharing service have more risks than the online video sites, he pointed out, although they have their own development directions and both directions are right. On the one hand, the content of the video-on-demand sharing sites will be under a stricter supervision. On the other hand, such sites require higher on broadband.
As for the possibility of PPLive.com's listing, Alan Song stated that it was early for the company to go public. And the company should focus more on the increase of revenue and the decrease of cost.
PPLive is a peer-to-peer (P2P) streaming video network created and very well-known in China. It has a large number of users. It is part of a new generation of P2P applications, which combine P2P and IPTV, called P2PTV.
(USD 1 = CNY 6.85)
Source: www.hexun.com (December 15, 2008)
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