A note from the Chief:
With the support of a great team, I’ve spent the best part of 10 years building this company to become a leader in sports marketing. 5 years ago the national sport was ‘doing nothing’ and now we’re seeing the country go through a fitness revolution. With the help of President Xi Jinping’s ambition to compete for a world cup title, this has motivated an army of activity within government, industry and the entire sports community to compete with the world’s sporting powerhouses. A few telling highlights include:
Government plan:
50,000 football schools – 100m kids playing sport – 50m active footballers 5 Trillion CNY sports industry by 2025
11 billion CNY invested into domestic sports in the last 6 months
2 billion USD invested into European football teams in past 18 months
806m WeChat users – 50% paying for premium content via mobile
To succeed in China it’s about giving first, seeing value after. The term most used is ‘guanxi’ which means ‘relationships’, built over time but have the potential to make or break any organisation. We’ve been building relationships in this market for years, through fan communities, sponsors, media and government.
After 10 years we’ve taken the company about as far as we can go without any local investment or government support. We’ve created a company that not only provides an award winning service, built from our core values of passion, innovation and service, but one which has grown to partner with the world’s best sporting icons and institutions.
Yet, winning in China is near impossible without a local partner. It wasn’t until early in 2016 we decided to explore investment options in the mainland who would give our partners the edge they need to win in China, but also investment into our group to help us continue to grow and realise our true potential.
I’m therefore proud to announce that just last Monday 5th September our new partners WeCapital & WeSai have acquired 35% of our group with a significant investment. The mission to deliver more value to Mailman clients and partners. This includes top Premier League, Serie A and Bundesliga clubs, the world’s most successful athletes & sports brands, and the most exciting US sports now emerging in China.
Who is WeCapital?
WeCapital is the investment subsidiary of WePiao, which is the No.1 ticketing partner for WeChat. The core investors are: Tencent, Wanda, CMC (China Media Capital), and the China Culture Industry Fund (government fund). WePiao have exclusive access to the ticketing portal within wechat which is the No.1 movie ticketing platform in China. With WeChat and QQ, Wepiao have inside access to the 806m users within that ecosystem.
Who is WeSai?
WeSai is the sports ticketing arm of WePiao which was spun off last year to establish its own value in sports. WeSai series A round in March this year was valued at 12 billion RMB (2B USD). The key investors include CMC, Tencent Capital, Legend Capital (Lenovo fund), China Cultural Industry Fund, Trends Group, 500 Lotto & Yao Ming Fund. The vision is to see WeSai become China’s largest sports event ticketing platform, with a broader ecosystem of sports lottery, promotions and commerce.
What does this partnership mean?
More opportunities. More access.
WeCapital & WeSai have invested into our group to bring more commercialisation to our sports partners. This may include services such as live streaming, event ticketing, government support, WeChat commerce, sponsorship, marketing partnerships, China tours and other licensing and e-commerce agreements.
So thank you once again for your continued support. Although this investment is a great milestone for us, it’s merely the first step of the next marathon we’ll be undertaking in China. We hope you’ll be with us to the last mile.
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