MissFresh, a China-based online grocer backed by electronics manufacturer Lenovo and internet company Tencent, filed on Tuesday for an initial public offering on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
The company has a $100m placeholder target for the offering but is looking to raise between $500m and $1bn, according to an IPO Zaozhidao report in April this year.
Founded in 2014, MissFresh provides an online marketplace that lists fresh ingredients and delivers them to customers’ homes within 30 minutes. It recorded nearly $936m in revenue in 2020, up from about $862m the year before, booking a net loss of almost $252m last year, compared to $418m in 2019.
The company has secured $1.7bn in funding, having most recently closed a $306m round in December 2020 that included Lenovo, Tencent, Qingdao Conson (Guoxin) Group and Sunshine Innovation Investment Centre.
CICC led a $495m round for MissFresh five months earlier featuring Abu Dhabi Capital, Goldman Sachs, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Tiger Global Management at a $3bn pre-money valuation.
MissFresh had previously received $450m in a 2018 round co-led by Tencent and Goldman Sachs Investment Partners’ subsidiary, with contributions from China Renaissance, Davis Selected Advisers, Glade Brook Capital Jeneration Capital Management, Poly Capital, Sofina and Tiger Global.
Tencent had participated in MissFresh’s $230m series C-plus round, which was co-led by Tiger Global and Genesis Capital in 2017.
Lenovo’s Capital and Incubator Group had co-led a $100m series C round earlier in the same year with Zhejiang Zheshang Venture Capita that included Tencent, KTB Investment & Securities, Grand Flight Investment and China Growth Capital.
China Growth Capital and Yuanyi Capital had provided $36m in series B-plus funding for the company in 2016. Tencent led a $31m series B round the year before, investing alongside Zheshang Venture Capital Management and others, after backing a $10m series A round together with GX Capital.
MissFresh CEO Zheng Xu owns the largest stake in the company (21.7%), partially through an entity dubbed Freshking. Other notable shareholders include Internet Fund IV, a vehicle for Tiger Global (12.4%), and Xiamen MissFresh Equity Investment Partnership, which is run by Qingdao Conson (8.7%).
Tencent’s Image Frame Investment vehicle owns a 8.1% stake in MissFresh, Genesis Capital 7.2% and Tigerteeth Entity Limited, which belongs to company co-founder Bin Zeng, 5.5%.
JP Morgan, Citigroup, China International Capital Corporation (CICC), China Renaissance, CMBI, ICBC International, Needham & Company, Futu and Tiger Brokers have been appointed underwriters for the offering.
