Chinese podcast startup gets $13.5m in funding

Castbox, a Chinese podcast startup with over 15 million users from around the globe, gained $13.5 million in Series B funding in this week.

The Android podcast app developer aims to become the world's No 1 podcast brand, as Castbox, launched in 2016, has so far been ranked among the top three most downloaded news and magazine apps this March in the United States Android market.

In the Series B funding, major investors included big-name venture capital firms such as SIG China, IDG Capital, GSR Ventures and Qiming Venture Partners.

So far, the company has raised over $29.5 million in the two rounds of financing.

"The podcast business is still in an early stage but it is growing very fast," Wang Xiaoyu, founder and CEO of Castbox, said. "We already have some creative features in our app, but it can't meet the fast-growing demands of users. With the new round of funding for our company, we are able to further develop more features, such as connecting all audio platforms from cars to intelligent house appliances."

As a Chinese startup, to win support from global users, the company has focused a lot on original content. It has teamed up with established racers James Hinchcliffe and Alexander Rossi as well as music label Heard Well to produce high-quality original content. One of its recently launched comedy podcasts once occupied the top position in the iTunes comedy category.