China-based online apartment rental marketplace Danke Apartment filed on Monday to raise up to $100m in an initial public offering that will allow corporates Bertelsmann, UCommune and Ant Financial to exit.
Founded in 2015, Danke runs an online platform where users can seek out apartments to rent across 15 Chinese cities. It sources the residences from property owners and manages them to ensure they meet a minimum standard.
The company almost tripled revenue year on year to $699m for the first nine months of 2019, though its net loss more than trebled to $352m over the same period. It plans to put the IPO proceeds toward beefing up its technology and locating more apartment units for listing.
Danke’s last funding came earlier this month according to the IPO filing, when investment firms China Media Capital (CMC) and Primavera Capital provided $100m and $90m respectively.
Ant Financial, the financial services affiliate of e-commerce firm Alibaba, co-led a $500m series C for Danke in March this year that valued it at more than $2bn. It was co-led by hedge fund manager Tiger Global Management and also featured CMC, Gaorong Capital, Primavera Capital and Joy Capital.
Tiger Global led the company’s $70m series B-plus round in June 2018, investing alongside Bertelsmann Asia Investments (BAI), a vehicle for media group Bertelsmann, as well as CMC, Gaorong Capital, Joy Capital, Vision Plus Capital and Shenzhen Doujin Investment Management.
Danke had received $100m four months earlier, in a series B round co-led by CMC and Gaorong (then known as Banyan Capital) that included BAI, Vision Plus Capital, Joy Capital and Youjin Capital.
UCommune, the workspace operator then called URWork, had participated in a series A-plus round for the company sized at more than $14.7m together with Joy Capital and existing backer Kaiwuhuadeng in mid-2017.
Tiger Global owns a 20% stake in Danke and is its largest shareholder, followed by Joy Capital (15.7%), co-founder and CEO Jing Gao (14.2%), investment vehicle Kaiwu Walden Capital (10.4%), CMC (9.4%), Ant Financial (7.8%), chairman Derek Boyang Shen (6.9%) and Primavera (6.5%).
Citigroup Global Markets, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) and JP Morgan Securities are the underwriters for the offering, which is set to take place on the New York Stock Exchange.
