China-based electronic motorcycle company NineBot announced on Wednesday that it has signed a partnership deal with TJ Sports, becoming its official Chinese partner for Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) China region and Valorant Masters.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The first partnership will be presented at Valorant Master Bangkok, taking place from Feb. 20 – March. 2. Chinese esports organization Edward Gaming (EDG) and Trace Esports (TE) will take part in this tournament for a chunk of $500K USD in total prize money.
NineBot has shown interest in the esports industry for a long time in China. In the past it has sponsored Chinese League of Legends Pro League (LPL) team LNG Esports, Honor of Kings teams All Gamers (AG) and Wolves Esports (Wolves).
Ninebot claims that it has over 22M users globally. Ninebot’s subsidiary Segway, the former American manufacturer of the two-wheeled personal transporter brand, was acquired by NineBot in 2015 for more than $75M. It has become the main electronic motorcycle line of Ninebot in China.