After the completion of its Series A financing, MeWe media, a Beijing-based online video producer, is valued at RMB two billion (USD 300 million), Tencent Tech reported on Wednesday.
Cornerstone Venture Capital, one of China’s oldest VC funds, invested in this round of funding. But MeWe has yet to disclose the funding amount. Innovation Works, a venture capital fund founded by Kai-Fu Lee, the former head of Google China and founder of Microsoft Research Asia, led a round of Pre-A financing just days after MeWe was founded.
“MeWe is our biggest investment project and their content-making capability in TV and online video attracts us the most. They’re focusing on improving content delivery,” Kai-Fu Lee said publicly last September.
MeWe was founded in September by Ma Dong, the former chief content officer of leading Chinese video provider iQiyi. In October 2014, for iQiyi Ma launched “Qipashuo” or Let’s Talk, a popular online talkshow that aims to turn the most talented grassroots artists into talkshow stars. He said that sheer entertainment value is the reason for its popularity in an interview with Chinese media site The Paper last September.
Ma wanted to found his own video empire to provide audiences with quality online video programs and their own means of video production. Ma will release the third episode of Let’s Talk in March. So far, the show has gained a large number of fans born in the 1980s and 1990s, who have contributed over 100 million pageviews since the release of the first and second episodes.
The different Chinese online video providers have their own unique strategies, but they are all increasing self-produced content. The top three online video giants including Youku Tudou, Tencent Video and iQiyi are integrated content providers offering a wide range of videos on economics, technology, sports and entertainment, while sites like Sohu Video dominates in featured content and columns.