Asian basketball league secures Series C funding
East Asia Super League (EASL), a basketball league featuring teams from Greater China, Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines, has raised USD 40m as part of a yet-to-close Series C funding round.
The lead investor is Crest Sports & Entertainment, a Sydney-based investor in sports and entertainment rights primarily focusing on Australia and the US. Raine Venture Partners – the investment arm of Raine Group, best known as an advisor on media-related deals – also took part as did several current and former National Basketball Association (NBA) players.
Established in 2016, EASL organised four tournaments prior to the onset of COVID-19. Each one was held ahead of the participating teams’ domestic league seasons. Earlier this month, it unveiled EASL Champions Week, a five-day, 10-game championship featuring the best teams from Japan’s B League, Korea’s KBL, the Philippine PBA, and Taiwan’s P League+, plus the Bay Area Dragons.
EASL said in a statement that it hoped to close the Series C by March, with the proceeds earmarked to support the expansion of a home-and-away pan-regional competition comprising eight teams and beginning in October 2023. The goal is to reach 16 teams by 2024, including participants from mainland China and possibly other geographies, and offer a wider range of related content.
“East Asia Super League is honoured to receive financial backing for its growth from an experienced strategic investor such as Crest Sports & Entertainment on our journey to become one of the top three basketball leagues in the world by 2025 in terms of fan base and commercial revenue,” said Matt Beyer, EASL’s CEO.
Crest is expected to bring expertise as owner of the Illawarra Hawks of Australia’s National Basketball League (NBL). As part of the deal, Crest has secured exclusive rights to create an EASL-branded, high-performance youth academy in Australia.
“Our leadership in this round reflects our confidence in the incredible growth opportunities associated with top-quality basketball media entertainment in Greater China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines and beyond, including the opportunity to bring the best Asian basketball to the world,” said Jared Novelly of Crest.
Sport is an increasingly prevalent investment theme for private equity and venture capital, globally and to some extent in Asia. Depending on the geography, targets can include club franchises and leagues and media rights holders, while technology-enabled solutions are a popular proxy play.
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