On July 10th, 2018, the Chinese leading sports technology company Keep, a Ventech China portfolio company,  announced its completion of $127 million Series D funding, led by Goldman Sachs and followed by old shareholders including Tencent, GGV Capital, Morningside Capital, Bertelsmann Asia Investment Fund (BAI). Keep’s Series D funding is among the largest investments in the domestic Internet sports field, which shows Keep’s popularity both in the capital market and in the Chinese sports market. Early in 2015, Ventech China led Keep’s Series A funding with the amount of $5 million.

Founded in 2014, Keep is committed to provide users with one-stop sports solutions, which have functionalities like training courses, running, cycling, social community, healthy dietary, sports equipment shopping, etc. Keep has previously raised $60 million, with the last undisclosed Series C+ from Tencent.

In March 2018, Keep’s founder and CEO Ning Wang said the company would continue their efforts to build a content-centered sports technology platform and establish a technology-interconnected sports ecosystem in the long term. The Series D funding will be mainly used for Keep’s AI-related product research, new business line development, and content enhancement.

AI- related product research

Keep has started it’s AI-related product research since 2017. Nowadays, powered with rich data from Keep App, its sports hardware series - KeepKit as well as its offline sports studio chain -  Keepland, Keep will strengthen and tailor the development of the AI-related products to satisfy users’ needs.

New business line development

Keep has launched its offline training studio brand Keepland, the smart hardware brand KeepKit, and the sportswear brand KeepUp in March 2018.

Keepland provides classes such as its original MIXT and 24-people small group courses. At present, Keepland has a 95% daily full attendance rate and a 80% repurchase rate.

Regarding the KeepKit series, the treadmill K1 is equipped with high-performance intelligent hardware and the exclusive software content from Keep App. After the launch of K1 in March 2018 on JD. com, KeepKit has immediately ranked in “Most popular sellers”, “Hottest brands” and “Hottest products”.

After the Series D funding, Keep will develop more sophisticated and advanced intelligent hardware products, as well as open more Keepland stores, to integrate sports into the daily life of users.

Content Enhancement

Keep has constantly offered professional and attractive sports content service to its users since its establishment. With the in-depth cooperation with brands such as Marvel, Pacific Rim, and the Bloody Street Dance Group as well as the enrichment of courses and sports scenarios, Keep is loved by more and more users.

Keep also actively explores the overseas market. The app is now available in various languages including English, German, Japanese, Thai and Spanish. The company has achieved two million international users after launching its service to the international platform six months ago.

In the future, Keep will focus on providing more interesting and professional sports content as well as establish more collaboration with famous brands to provide the fun of sports to more users.

As one of Keep's earliest investors, Eric Huet, managing partner of Ventech China, said: "With the team's deep understanding of the need of users, we believe Keep will bring more surprises to the sports technology industry."