Nokia Growth Partners, an early-stage investment unit of Finnish mobile maker Nokia Corp, has led a RMB100 million (US$14 million) series C round in Yuedongquan, a Shenzhen-based fitness mobile app developer.
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Inc also participated in the round, according to Chinese media reports.
Founded in 2014, Yuedongquan acts as a pedometer counting user’s steps and tracking the distance that user’s have run. It can also connect with fitness smart devices including treadmills to record more data. The mobile app currently has received over two million downloads.
Yuedongquan, which means circle of pleasant movements, previously raised an angel round worth several million RMB in 2014. In 2015, it received a RMB50 million (US$7 million) series A round from Green Pine Capital Partners and Tencent Holdings Ltd. Later that year, it completed a RMB100 million (US$14 million) series B from a Chinese private equity fund Co-Energy Finance.
The company plans to use the latest proceeds to promote its brands and expand its businesses.
Yuedongquan’s competitor, Beijing-based fitness mobile app developer Hotbody, raised a series B funding round last November worth over RMB100 million (US$15 million) from Haodao Capital and Ameba Capital.
Two months earlier, Huami Technology, the developer of Xiaomi’s fitness tracker Mi Band, completed a new round of financing at a US$1 billion valuation.
