Asia’s pan-regional intercollegiate basketball league, the Asian University Basketball League (AUBL), has closed a Series A funding round led by Blue Pool Capital, the investment firm of Alibaba co-founder and Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai, building on his earlier seed investment in the league.
New investors in the round include Avenue Capital Group, led by Marc Lasry; Nan Fung Group; HSG (formerly Sequoia China); Bolt Ventures, linked to David Blitzer; and former Chinese Basketball Association president Yao Ming, according to a press release. AUBL marks Yao Ming’s first investment in an emerging sports league.
Sanctioned by the Asian University Sports Federation, AUBL drew strong attention during its debut summer tournament in Hangzhou, featuring 12 top university teams and generating more than 65 million livestream views and over 29,000 in-person attendees. Brands including Under Armour and J.P. Morgan were among its early commercial partners. The league also launched its youth development programme, Hoop Scholars, in Hong Kong in December.
With fresh capital, AUBL has outlined its 2026–27 competition roadmap. The 2026 tournament will return to Hangzhou from August 2-9 as a standalone event featuring 12 elite university teams from across the Asia-Pacific region, including first-time entrants from the Philippines and Australia. A 16-team home-and-away league format is also planned for launch in late 2026, with games staged across major Asian cities.
“The response last year to our debut season confirmed what we believed from the start: there is a real appetite for a platform like this across Asia. Schools, coaches, players, and fans are ready for something bigger,” said Jay Li, co-founder and chief executive of AUBL. He highlighted the league’s focus on professionalising operations, building student and alumni engagement, and expanding its youth pipeline through Hoop Scholars.
The Series A brings together several current and former NBA team owners, including Tsai, Blitzer and Lasry, underscoring growing investor conviction in AUBL’s role within the global basketball ecosystem.
“Attending last year’s AUBL Finals in person and witnessing first-hand the energy in the arena, the passion of the fans, and the level of play on the court further reinforced my belief that the league is headed in the right direction,” said Joe Tsai. “This exceptional group of investors proves the potential is real and will help fuel AUBL’s next phase of growth as a pan-regional basketball platform.”
