Singapore's One Championship raises $70m
One Championship, a Singapore-based mixed martial arts (MMA) organization backed by Sequoia Capital India, has raised $70 million in funding.
The announcement comes after US-focused rival Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) said it had hired a China-based executive formerly associated with the NBA to launch its operations in Asia.
One Championship won support from existing backers and brought in a new institutional investor as well, according to a statement. Last year, the company raised $166 million in a Series D round from the likes of Temasek Holdings and Greenoaks Capital. Mission Holdings and Temasek-owned Heliconia Capital are among the other investors.
Founded in 2011, One Championship, which claims to be the largest sports media agency in the region, hosts international MMA championships in cities such as Bangkok, Beijing, Singapore, Jakarta, Manila, Macau, and Taipei. It also has an e-sports vertical where people pay to compete in video game competitions. The live events are broadcast through television and social media platforms under a pay-per-view model to viewers in the US and Asia.
The size of One Championship’s audience is unclear. The company claims to have a global broadcast reach of 2.7 billion potential viewers across 150 countries and works with a number of sports broadcasters.
A majority of One Championship events slated for the year have been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company planned to host 50 events but has only been able to hold four so far. Headcount has been reduced by 20% as a result of changes in the event calendar. Ho Chi Minh City - Vietnam has been less impacted by COVID-19 than other markets - will be a preferred host city in the coming months.
Other private equity investees in the combat sports space in Asia include Glory World Series, a leading global kickboxing organization. UFC is more popular globally but until now it has never looked at organizing "fight nights" in the region due to a lack of comparable talent to the US. The company is expected to start by working on marketing and branding efforts in China with a few tournaments featuring local and well-known UFC fighters.
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