CyberAgent Ventures Invests in a Fun Chinese Video-Sharing Startup

Back in December of last year we predicted that social video apps would be big in China in 2012, led by a fun one called iSheHui (pictured above). And the Japanese investment firm CyberAgent Ventures seems to agree, having this week confirmed that it has invested 10 million RMB (US$1.59 million) in the startup that makes it.

iSheHui is sort of an Instagram for videos, allowing users to add funky filters to an iPhone or Android smartphone vid and then easily share it with friends on Weibo. The startups two founders, Li Zheng and Zhao Liang, have years of experience in China’s top video-streaming sites – Mr. Li at Ku6 (NASDAQ:KUTV), Mr. Zhao at Tudou (NASDAQ:TUDO) as its former CTO.

Li Zheng has told Chinese media that his startup quickly grew in just over two months to 500,000 users, and is now seeing 5,000 new smartphone-made videos being uploaded every day.

Cyberagent Ventures and its parent company, the web firm CyberAgent (TYO:4751), know a lot about mobile apps and they also help developers reach the lucrative Japanese market. It’s not clear if that’s part of the strategy with its investment in iSheHui.

We saw the same venture group splashing its cash just two weeks ago, but that time it was on a Vietnamese music service.

[Source: 36kr – article in Chinese]