One Championship clinched a series C deal with Sequoia in under 10 weeks. Here’s why

One Championship founder and CEO, Chatri Sityodtong. Photo credit: One Championship.

Chatri Sityodtong, CEO of mixed martial arts media dynamo One Championship, made headlines a couple of weeks ago for closing a deal with Sequoia India for the company’s series C round in less than 10 weeks.

The deal wasn’t just fast; it was unexpected. “We weren’t thinking about raising capital – we planned to raise funds in September,” Sityodtong tells Tech in Asia.

But circumstances conspired in the company’s favor. The investment banker it was working with happened to share an elevator ride with Sequoia India’s managing director, Shailendra Singh. Shortly before that, the banker had met with Sityodtong and was armed with up-to-date stats and figures for the company. It was perfect timing for the elevator pitch to Singh.

Eight weeks later, the deal was done and Sequoia co-led the undisclosed round in One Championship with Mission Holdings.

It sounds unusually fast for this kind of deal but Sityodtong is used to it. One Championship also counts Singapore’s state investment firm Temasek, via its subsidiary Heliconia Capital, among its shareholders. That deal too was done in a short time span. Sityodtong calls it serendipity, but also notes there’s a “congruence of values and vision that makes everything easier.”

Offline to online

Sequoia teaming up with One Championship raised a few eyebrows, since the investor is known more for its tech deals, including online marketplace Carousell, online property website 99.co, and ride-hailing and O2O challenger Go-Jek.

One Championship, on the other hand, is a sports media company. It’s best known for its mixed martial arts events across Asia, where athletes compete in front of a live audience. The events are broadcast on paid and free TV, and posted online in the company’s social media accounts.

While One Championship has a tech element, with a mobile app and an over-the-top platform currently in the works, it doesn’t quite fit the usual tech startup profile.

As a homegrown, cross-border sports property in Asia, One Championship is well positioned to take advantage of the groundswell.

“Shailendra sees the convergence of content and commerce,” Sityodtong says. Earlier this year, Amazon struck a US$50 million deal with the US’ National Football League, better known as NFL, to stream games through its Prime online video service. The deal includes promotion of the NFL brand across Amazon’s platforms.

And just yesterday, it was announced that Jeff Bezos’ juggernaut snapped up exclusive UK rights to the Association of Tennis Professionals World Tour, the prestigious promotion featuring players like Roger Federer and Andy Murray. Its bid, which defeated that of incumbent cable network Sky’s, was reportedly around US$13.2 million a year.

We have touched before on how Prime Video is a key part of Amazon’s strategy to keep users engaged and active in its ecosystem, ostensibly leading to more purchases on its store. “If you have the three pillars of content, community, and transactions, then you are truly a part of somebody’s life, you have a very deep relationship with that customer,” Sityodtong explains.

The opportunity for these types of partnerships is in its infancy in this region. Catcha Group-owned streaming service Iflix recently announced it would stream football (soccer) matches in Indonesia – where the country’s first league is now sponsored by Go-Jek and Traveloka. But by and large, major sports events are still the domain of free or paid TV.

An untapped market

The sports opportunity