China’s Toutiao acquires VC-backed selfie app Faceu
Chinese private equity-backed online content platform Toutiao has acquired Faceu, a camera app that has received funding from IDG Capital and Lightspeed China Partners.
Financial terms weren’t disclosed but local media reported the transaction is worth $300 million.
Faceu allows users to edit photos and add features like stickers and text while in the process of taking selfies. These live effects can also be applied to short videos. The resulting images and videos can be shared on social platforms. The company claims to have 250 million registered users on its platform.
AVCJ Research's records show IDG invested in an angel round and a Series A round in 2014, alongside Lightspeed China. In 2016, Faceu raised a further round from Lightspeed and Hong Kong-listed photo editing and social networking app Meitu.
Operated by Beijing Bytedance Technology, Toutiao claims to be the largest content platform in China, with 120 million monthly users. It uses artificial intelligence technology to create personalized news feeds with content sourced from blogs as well as from traditional news outlets.
The company received initial backing from SIG China and Yuri Milner and then closed a $100 million Series C round in 2014 with contributions from Sequoia Capital and Chinese microblog operator Weibo. Last year, it reportedly raised $2 billion at a valuation of more than $20 billion. General Atlantic is among the new investors. Other backers include Source Code Capital and CCB International.
Toutiao has expanded beyond news aggregation into segments such as original content, news search, music, and video. In addition to incubating new businesses internally, the company has made dozens of minority and control investments in start-ups in China and overseas. Its portfolio includes the US-based photo and video-sharing app Flipagram, as well as Indonesia’s Babe and India’s Dailyhunt, both of which are news aggregation platforms.
In November, Bytedance announced the acquisition of VC-backed short video social networking platform Musical.ly, as well as an investment in Cheetah Mobile’s live-streaming subsidiary Live.me.
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