A Chinese media report on Monday said that Le Sports, the sports arm of China's leading online video provider Le Holdings, has received funding of $1B "in its series B financing round," according to Wang Jiamei of the GLOBAL TIMES. The series B funding is the "biggest investment so far in China's sports entertainment industry," Chinese technology news portal tech.sina.com.cn reported. A press conference will be held next week by Le Sports "to announce the completion of the financing, and other details such as the identity of the investors are expected to be disclosed at that time." Le Holdings "declined to comment." But analysts said that they expect Le Sports to "continue spending heavily on media rights for sports events with the new funding." Chen Wei, an analyst with Beijing-based investment consulting firm ChinaVenture, said, "The main purpose of its series B financing is to purchase copyright resources so that the company can continue to pursue its strategy of building a complete sports ecosystem." The "latest round of financing" took place just nine months after Le Sports raised 800M yuan ($123.17M) in its series A financing in May '15. As a result of the series B funding, Le Sports' valuation "has been boosted" to $4B. Since finishing its series A financing, Le Sports "has been investing heavily in the athletic sector" (GLOBAL TIMES, 2/15).
