China’s Weibo Backs Y-Platform in $3.5 Million Round

Nasdaq-listed Beijing-based social media platform Weibo Corp. has led a $3.5 million series A funding round in social media startup Y-Platform, the latter announced Monday. Shenzhen-listed online gaming company Beijing Kunlun Tech Co. Ltd. also participated in the round, bringing Y-Platform’s total raised to date to $5 million.

Founded in 2017 by Israeli entrepreneurs Raz Gal Or and his father, Amir Gal Or, Y-Platform runs one of the country’s most popular social media accounts. Depicting the daily lives of foreigners in China, it has 70 million subscribers on Weibo, Bilbili, Tiktok, and WeChat.

With the outbreak of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) epidemic, Y-Platform has served as a platform through which 100 doctors from Israel's largest hospitals volunteered to provide online medical video tutorials on a range of medical topics to millions of people who are in isolation or afraid to go to clinics and hospitals for fear of being infected with the virus.

Y-Platform intends to use the funds to expand its e-commerce activities and enter into overseas markets, as well as double its team from 50 to 100 employees, Y-Platform president Raz Gal Or said in a statement.