China-based mobility services provider Hello has filed to raise up to $100m in an initial public offering that would enable Ant Group, the financial services affiliate of e-commerce group Alibaba, to exit.
Formerly known as Hellobike, Hello’s core business is its two-wheeled vehicle rental service, but it has launched a carpooling marketplace and is looking to add ride hailing and local services such as hotel reservations, grocery delivery and online advertising to its platform.
The company increased revenue 25% year on year to $926m in 2020 while cutting its net loss by about 25% to almost $174m in the same period. The IPO proceeds will be used for business growth in addition to research and development.
Hello was founded in 2014 and had raised a total of over $2.1bn as of the end of 2018, when Ant Group led a $582m round that included investment firm Primavera Capital Group at a reported $2.3bn valuation.
Reports in April 2019 stated that 15 investors had sold their stakes in Hello, including electric vehicle producer WM Motor, conglomerate Fosun, and Bertelsmann Asia Investments, which invests on behalf of media group Bertelsmann.
Ant Group subsequently provided $750m as part of a December series F round that eventually totalled $300m according to the IPO filing. The corporate joined entities dubbed Poly Platinum Enterprises and High Flyer to add $143m in August 2020.
Hello then agreed $234m in series G funding at the end of last month from investors including Fujian Shidai Mindong New Energy Industry Equity Investment Partnership and S Cloud Venture Capital, the filing states.
An Ant Group vehicle called Antfin owns 36.3% of the company’s shares while founder and CEO Lei Yang holds 10.4% through a vehicle called Gold Guard Investments.
Youon Technology, the bicycle technology producer that merged with Hellobike in 2017, retains 7% of its shares and venture capital firm GGV Capital has 6.1%.
Credit Suisse Securities (USA), Morgan Stanley and China International Capital Corporation Hong Kong Securities are representing the underwriters for the offering, which is set to take place on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
