Chinese social media marketing company IMS New Media Group has raised a RMB600 million (US$90 million) series C round from Sina Weibo, Morgan Stanley, China Merchants Bank, CSC Financial Co., Ltd. and SAIF Partners.
The round values the start-up at over RMB10 billion (US$1.4 billion), enabling the company to join China Money Network's China Unicorn Ranking. With the investment, Weibo's CEO Wang Gaofei will join IMS' board, according to a company announcement
Founded in 2009, IMS offers social media marketing solutions based on big data. Its product WEIQ is an online advertising trading platform, connecting small and medium-sized enterprises and e-commerce companies with social media accounts run by individuals. The platform currently has over 810,000 social media accounts and more than 50,000 companies.
The start-up also offers social media marketing solutions for over 400 companies, such as Henkel AG & Co, New Balance Athletics Inc., Ping An Insurance, JD.com Inc., Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Procter & Gamble Co.
It previously raised a US$12 million series B round from Sina, SAIF Partners and JAFCO Asia in 2013. Three years prior, it completed a US$4 million series C round from Sina and SAIF.