Youku.com Raises US$25 Million to Extend Leadership in China's Online Video Space

Youku.com Raises US$25 Million to Extend Leadership in China's Online Video Space

November 27, 2007

Brookside Capital Partners Leads Series C Round with
Continued Participation by Sutter Hill, Farallon Capital
and Chengwei Ventures

    BEIJING, Nov. 27 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Youku.com, the
leading online video sharing website in China, announced
today it has completed a US$25 million round of private
equity funding.  This investment will be used to accelerate
the company's rapid growth, expand sales and marketing
efforts and further upgrade R&D and the video service
standard of Youku.com.

    Officially launched in December 2006, Youku (
http://www.youku.com ) is the leader in online video in
China.  It is the leading destination for Chinese people to
watch and share short-form videos all over the world.  Youku
currently delivers more than 80 million video views on a
daily basis.  With a broad user base and attractive
demographics, Youku has provided interactive marketing
solutions to advertising clients such as Dell, Samsung,
Shanda, Ford Motors, Rising software, Hewlett Packard,
Giant Interactive, etc.

    "Youku has achieved its leadership position in the
last 12 months by growing more than 10 times in user base
and number of videos viewed per day," said Victor Koo,
Founder and CEO of Youku.com.  "We are honored to have
Brookside Capital Partners, a fund affiliated with global
private equity firm Bain Capital, as our new investment
partner, and continued participation by Sutter Hill,
Farallon and Chengwei Ventures.  With the support of these
world-class investors, we are confident to build Youku into
the largest and most profitable online video company in
China."

    Besides closing a new round of financing, Youku also
announced recently that it has entered into an online video
strategic cooperation with Sohu.com. Previously, Youku.com
formed a strategic partnership with Baidu, the leading
search engine in China and the company also provides
exclusive game video support to Shanda, the Nasdaq-listed
online game operator in China.  In the mean time, Youku has
also cooperated with many leading media and entertainment
organizations in China, including China Film Group, CCTV,
Universal Music, Phoenix TV, Shanghai TV, Jiangsu Satellite
TV and China Education TV, for example.

    "We are very happy to bring our firm's media
expertise to this partnership with Youku," said Mark
Moore, Director at Brookside Capital Partners.  "We
believe Victor and his team are well positioned to
replicate the success of the leading Chinese internet
portals in the video space and succeed in building another
strong internet company in China."

    Before Series C, Youku successfully completed two
rounds of venture financing of US$15 million in total from
Sutter Hill Ventures, Farallon Capital and Chengwei
Ventures. 

    "We are very proud of what Youku has achieved in
the last 12 months since we made our first
investment," said Len Baker, Managing Director of
Sutter Hill Ventures.  "Online video is rapidly
changing the media landscape both in the U.S. and China,
and we are confident that Youku's management team will
execute its business plan and capitalize on this tremendous
opportunity in China."

    About Youku.com
    Founded in November 2005, Youku is the leader in online
video in China. It is the leading destination for Chinese
people to watch and share short-form videos all over the
world.  The Youku.com website was officially launched in
December 2006 and has grown rapidly since -- Youku delivers
more than 80 million daily video views as of November 2007.


    About Brookside Capital Partners & Bain Capital
    Brookside Capital Partners is an investment fund
affiliated with Bain Capital ( http://www.baincapital.com
), a leading global private investment firm with
approximately $60 billion in assets under management. 
Formed in 1996, Brookside invests across a broad spectrum
of industries including media & telecom, healthcare,
consumer, industrial and financial services.  Each
investment is based on fundamental analysis of the
company's business by professionals who are sector focused.
 Headquartered in Boston, Bain Capital has offices in Hong
Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, New York, London, and Munich.

    About Sutter Hill Ventures
    Sutter Hill Ventures has financed technology-based
start-ups and assisted entrepreneurs in building
market-leading companies since 1962.  The oldest venture
capital firm in Silicon Valley, they have invested over 350
technology and medical start-ups and created over $100
billion in market value. 

    About Farallon Capital 
    Farallon Capital Management, L.L.C. is an investment
adviser registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission.  The firm manages more than $16 billion equity
capital for institutions and high net worth individuals,
and its institutional investors are primarily college
endowments and foundations.   

    About Chengwei Ventures
    Chengwei Ventures, based in Shanghai, is one of the
first independent venture capital funds and the only
evergreen private equity fund to operate in China. 
Chengwei was founded in 1999 for the purpose of investing
in high-growth potential companies in a variety of
industries including communication software, IC design,
niche component manufacturing, healthcare and media.
Chengwei's investments in China include AAC Acoustic
Limited (Stock Code: 2018), Sunny Optics (Stock Code:
2328), Huaya Technology, OneWave Inc., HDT, Inc., BabyCare
Ltd. and AsiaInfo. 

    For more information, please contact:

    Media Contact:
     Youku.com
     Karen Chen
     Tel:    [phone]
     Mobile: [phone]
     Email:  [e-mail]

     Stanton Crenshaw Communications
     Alex Stanton
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]