Kanzhun, a China-based online job portal operator backed by internet group Tencent and insurance firm Sunshine Life, floated on Friday in a $912m initial public offering on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.
The company issued 48 million American depositary shares (ADSs), each representing two ordinary shares, priced at the top of the IPO’s $17 to $19 range. The price had more than doubled to $40.13 at close of trading yesterday, giving it a market capitalisation of over $15bn.
Founded in 2014, Kanzhun is the developer of a big data-equipped social recruitment platform called Boss Zhipin which focuses on corporate reviews, employer branding and employee information sharing.
Meridian Capital China and Gaorong Capital co-led the company’s $28m series C round in 2016, and Ceyuan Venture Capital, Heyu Alternative Investment, Capital Today and Shunwei Capital were among its earlier investors.
GGV Capital, Goldman Sachs, Banyan Capital Partners, Hina Group, MSA Capital, CTG Evergreen Investment, Shunwei Capital and Delicate Master backed Kanzhun’s $130m series E round in 2018.
Sunshine Life and Inspiring Link then took part in a $50m series E-plus round for the company, which raised the cash between March and June 2019. Tencent then injected a further $50m in July.
Tencent and Coatue Management provided $150m in series F funding for Kanzhun in February 2020, the latter returning nine months later to take part in a $270m series F-plus round alongside GGV Capital, Sequoia Capital China and Huaxing Growth Capital.
Founder, chairman and chief executive Peng Zhao owns 17.6% of the company’s shares post-IPO while Tencent holds an 8.6% stake through its Image Frame Investment vehicle.
Other notable Kanhzun shareholders include CTG Evergreen (10.4%), Banyan Capital Partners (6.6%), Ceyuan Ventures (6.1%), Coatue (5.5%), Goldman Sachs’ Global Private Opportunities Partners II fund (5.2%), GGV Capital (4.5%) and MSA Capital (4%).
Goldman Sachs (Asia), Morgan Stanley and UBS Securities are lead joint book-running managers for the IPO. China Renaissance Securities (Hong Kong) and Haitong International Securities are joint book-running managers while Futu and Tiger Brokers (NZ) are co-managers.
The underwriters have a 30-day option to buy up to 7.2 million additional ADSs, which would boost the size of the offering to approximately $949m.
