Blued, a China-based gay dating app developer backed by corporates New World Development and China Mobile Games and Entertainment, has filed for a $50m initial public offering in the US.
Formally known as BlueCity Holdings, Blued runs a dating app focused on the LGBTQ community that has more than 49 million registered users across China, India, South Korea, Vietnam and Thailand.
The company generated $29.3m in revenue and made a $1.1m net loss in the first three months of 2020. It will allocate the IPO proceeds to geographic growth, marketing and the enhancement of its technology, particularly in regard to big data and artificial intelligence.
Blued last raised money in March 2018 when it closed a $100m series D round led by alternative asset manager CDH Investments that included investment adviser UG Capital.
The 2018 round came after New World, China Mobile, Ventech and Vision Knight Capital provided a nine-digit renminbi amount (RMB100m = $15m) for the company through series C and C-plus rounds in 2016, at a reported $300m valuation.
DCM Ventures and an unnamed VC firm that could be Shunwei Capital supplied $30m for Blued in a 2014 series B round, following about $1.6m in series A funding from VC fund Crystal Stream earlier in the year.
Shunwei Capital is Blued’s largest investor, holding a 12.3% stake, while CDH owns a 9.4% share, an entity called Liberty Hero 7.6%, Crystal Steam 5.7% and NewQuest Capital Partners 5.1%.
AMTD Global Markets Limited, CLSA, Loop Capital Markets and Tiger Brokers have been hired as underwriters for the offering, which is slated to take place on the Nasdaq Global Market.
