Pedigree names among One Championship's US$166m fund raising

Singapore

SINGAPORE-BASED martial arts organisation, One Championship, has closed a US$166 million Series D financing round led by US venture capital firm Sequoia Capital.

This was announced by the company's founder, chairman and chief executive officer Chatri Sityodtong in a Facebook post on Monday.

Some of One Championship's new investors - including Temasek Holdings, Greenoaks Capital and "other leading blue-chip institutional investors" - also participated in the round, he added.

With this latest financing round in the bag, One Championship's total capital base currently stands in excess of US$250 million.

In July 2017, the company said its capital had crossed the US$100 million mark after a Series C investment led by Sequoia India and Mission Holdings.

A year earlier, investment firm Heliconia Capital Management - a wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek - invested an eight-figure deal in One Championship.

According to the company's official website, its live martial arts events are beamed to 138 countries around the world with an audience of up to 1.7 billion potential viewers.

Among its many sponsors are Disney, Marvel, LG, Facebook, Casio and Sony.

One Championship's last major "live" event took place in Bangkok on Oct 6, which featured a boxing match as the main event for the first time.

One of Thailand's most famous and popular boxers, World Boxing Council super flyweight champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, successfully defended his title against Mexican challenger Iran Diaz in a match that went the full 12 rounds.

The next "live" event in Singapore will take place on Nov 9 at the Sports Hub in Kallang, with women's atomweight world champion Angela Lee taking on strawweight world champion Xiong Jingnan of China in the main event.