China-based online grocery delivery service Dada Nexus filed for a $100m initial public offering yesterday that will offer exits to e-commerce firm JD.com and retailer Walmart.
The $100m figure is a placeholder amount, with Bloomberg citing people familiar with the matter saying proceeds could be as high as $500m.
Dada Nexus operates two businesses, crowdsourced on-demand last-mile logistics service Dada Now and JD Daojia, a delivery service for third-party retailers. The company acquired Daojia through a $200m transaction with JD.com in May 2016.
Dada Nexus most recently obtained $500m in a funding round led by Walmart with a $320m commitment in August 2018, with the remainder supplied by JD.com.
Walmart previously injected $50m as part of a partnership agreement in late 2016.
Dada had received $300m in a DST Global and Sequoia Capital-backed round in early 2016, before the aforementioned merger with Daojia.
JD.com, Macquarie Capital, Morningside Ventures and CDH Venture provided $50m to Daojia in 2014. Fast-food retailer Yum China reportedly acquired a majority stake in Daojia in 2017 but the corporate is not named in Dada Nexus’ filing.
Proceeds will go towards technology, research and development activities, as well as marketing activities as the company seeks to grow its userbase.
JD.com currently owns a 51.4% stake in Dada Nexus, which will be diluted to 47.4%. Walmart has a 10.8% stake that will be reduced to 9.9%.
Other notable shareholders include Sequoia (whose shareholding will drop from 11.4% to 10.5%), DST Global (from 9.4% to 8.7%) and founder, chairman and chief executive Philip Jiaqi Kuai (from 8.4% to 7.7%).
Goldman Sachs (Asia), Band of America Securities and Jefferies are acting as joint book-running managers for the proposed offering, set to take place on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.
