CMB PE unit leads round for Shanghai pop group developer
Shanghai Star48 Culture & Media, a media agency that developed Chinese female pop group SNH48, has raised a Series C round of funding led by CMB International Capital, a private equity unit of China Merchants Bank.
The round is said to be worth hundreds of millions in renminbi. Existing investors CMC Capital Partners and Legend Capital also participated in the deal.
SNH48, or Shanghai48, was founded in 2012 with a view to replicating the "idols you can meet" concept developed by Japanese pop group AKB48. With more than 300 members, SNH48 is unlike conventional groups in that it regularly releases music, stages live performances in its own theater, and interacts with fans online. SNH48 is said it have tens of millions of fans in China.
In addition to this core business, Shanghai Star48 Culture & Media has branched out into other entertainment areas, including performance management, TV and film production, and online gaming.
“The company is skilled at incubating and operating the 'idol group' concept – which has attracted a lot of fans. We believe in this business model, and we will use our resources to help Shanghai Star48 further explore business opportunities involving Chinese consumers,” CMBI said in a statement.
According to AVCJ Research, the company raised a seed round from IDG Capital in 2014, and a Series A round from Legend Capital and IDG in 2015. Last year, it received Series B funding from CMC Capital Partners and its investment platform CMC Holdings.
CMB International Capital has more than RMB50 billion ($7.2 billion) in assets under management. It has so far invested around RMB12 billion in the areas of culture, travel, and technology, media and telecom (TMT).
China Renaissance acted as the financial advisor to Shanghai Star48 in this transaction.
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