Just ahead of their Paris IPO coming up on July 7th, Viadeo has announced the closing of a 5 million euro round with A Capital. The purpose of this new round is to support the increasing growth of Viadeo’s Chinese professional social network, Tianji which it purchased in 2007. Tianji has been posting strong growth, to the tune of 500k new members each month, which Viadeo undoubtedly would like to see accelerate even further and reinforce its #1 position China.
The Viadeo investment is exactly the type of deals A Capital, a European MidCap growth fund leading on Euro-Asia deals, is focusing on. With offices in Brussels, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, A Capital seeks to give European companies the ability to accelerate their growth in China via strategic co-investments with Chinese groups. The Viadeo deal is their first in the digital / tech space from their newly created technology fund, A CAPITAL Technology Fund “ACT”, which was launched at an event this past spring in the presence of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Although their ACT is new, A Capital has been quite active in China for the past several years with investments in Club Med and Bang & Olufsen. Their experience and connections with various stakeholders in China should make them a formidable partner for Viadeo as they continue to scale in China.