"ShiningSoul" has raised several hundred million RMB in its Series A funding round, with Gaorong Ventures participating in the investment.

ShiningSoul, a next-generation cultural and creative brand founded just over a year ago, has officially announced the completion of its Series A funding round worth hundreds of millions of RMB. The round was led by Hillhouse, with Gaorong Ventures and Cathay Capital participating.

The company — formally known as Shanghai Zhenyouqu Cultural Technology Co., Ltd. — was co-founded by Shuobin Yao, chairman of Yaoji Technology, and Chuan Sheng, a veteran of the trading card industry, with Sheng serving as CEO.

At a time when "emotional consumption" and the "self-pleasure economy" have become the new consensus, the trading card segment within the cultural and creative industry is entering a golden period of explosive growth. Among this space, trading card games (TCGs) — which combine collectibility, social interaction, and competitive play — are emerging as the focal point of value due to their higher design barriers and user stickiness. The successful completion of this funding round reflects the capital market's strong recognition of the rapidly growing cultural and creative industry and IP economy track, particularly ShiningSoul's end-to-end capabilities across the trading card value chain and its long-term strategy to develop TCGs as a Chinese brand with global ambitions.

From Launch to Market Leader in Just Over a Year

Founded at the end of 2023, ShiningSoul has relied on a clear, efficient, and tightly integrated strategic layout to achieve leapfrog development from foundation to breakthrough in just over a year, successfully launching a series of major IP trading card products.

Identity V, Genshin Impact: Genius Invokation TCG, and Reverse: 1999 became breakout hits, driving exponential growth for the company between 2024 and 2025. At a remarkable pace, ShiningSoul has become the most formidable latecomer in the trading card wave.

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Building a Moat of "IP Creative Capability + Full Industry Chain"

China's trading card market holds enormous potential — per capita spending still has room for more than tenfold growth, and the country boasts over 500 million泛二次元 users. On this trillion-level golden track, ShiningSoul is no mere trend-chaser. Its success stems from the resonance between its precise strategy and broader market trends.

The company's core strengths lie in two areas: first, it has built an exclusive content moat spanning from top-tier IP acquisition to user mindshare, with the ability to tell stories for IPs through products, while also creating a commercialization ecosystem that empowers IPs. Second, grounded in full industry chain deployment, it has forged product creative capabilities with "content power" at their core, enabling powerful economies of scale and quality barriers.

Project K Defines the Next-Generation TCG Ecosystem

If ShiningSoul's past successes demonstrate its exceptional "IP value translation" ability and "systematic product creativity," then its flagship release Project K: League of Legends Trading Card Game (hereinafter Project K), launched in mainland China on August 1 in partnership with Riot Games, represents a comprehensive showcase of the company's capabilities in TCG productization, market operations, and ecosystem building. In just over a week since launch, Project K has already become one of the most competitive TCG products on the market.

Project K carries ShiningSoul's vision of using top-tier products as the core, professional tournaments as the driver, and thriving communities as the foundation — aiming to lead the TCG industry in China and globally into its next era.

Launching China's Trading Card "Age of Exploration"

ShiningSoul CEO Chuan Sheng stated that with this funding round, the company will accelerate the realization of its strategic blueprint. It will devote more resources to establishing deeper, longer-term strategic partnerships with top-tier IPs globally. At the same time, it will build out its global network, accelerate the formation of overseas teams and localized operations, and establish direct or deeply cooperative channels covering core markets including North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia.

ShiningSoul's goal is not merely "product export" but "cultural export" — using small cards as a vehicle, combined with IP creative and original content capabilities, to tell compelling Chinese stories to the world and build a truly world-class cultural and creative brand born in China and renowned globally.

Rui Han of Gaorong Ventures commented: "An experienced team doing something new — steady. Thoughtful and tasteful about products — precise. Consistently over-delivering on results — fierce. We're honored to be shareholders of ShiningSoul and look forward to witnessing the innovation and vitality it brings to the industry."