Viu gets up to $300m boost from French TV operator

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Viu has received an up to US$300 million strategic investment from Canal+ Group, which will make the latter “a significant minority shareholder” in the Asian streaming platform, according to a press statement.

The deal involves an initial investment of US$200 million, which gives Canal+ a 26.1% stake in Viu. The investor can choose to inject more capital to increase its stake to 51%.

Funding details

• Funding amount: US$300,000,000
• Lead investor: Canal+ Group
• Stage: Bridge
• Source

The partnership will allow Viu to leverage the French pay-TV operator’s expertise in areas like content creation, global expansion, and user experience improvement. Meanwhile, Canal+ gains inroads to make Asia “its next growth engine.”

Maxime Saada, CEO of Canal+ Group, said that Viu is “already a business with scale.”

With its focus on local content, as well as its advertising-based video-on-demand (VOD) and subscription VOD business models, Viu can “deliver superior growth and continue to be a leading service in the region and beyond,” Saada added.

Viu, which has over 12.2 million paid subscribers in Southeast Asia, is available in 16 markets worldwide. Its revenue jumped 36% year on year to US$250 million in 2022.

The investment gives the video-streaming app more firepower to compete with Netflix, which is expected to invest US$1.9 billion in Asia-Pacific content this year.

See also: How Disney+’s Indonesian rivals plan to fight back

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