Ninebot, a China-based personal transportation systems producer backed by consumer electronics company Xiaomi, is looking to go public through a RMB2bn ($295m) initial public offering, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
The company hopes to list on the Star Market, using Chinese Depository Receipts – the country’s equivalent to American Depositary Shares – becoming the first company to do this.
It is also the first business with a variable interest entities (VIE) structure to go public on the Star Market. VIE is a framework that enables foreign investment in companies that are typically restricted from accepting overseas capital due to their sensitive nature.
Typically, the structure is employed by China-based companies undertaking a listing elsewhere and up until now Beijing made companies unwind this structure if they sought to list at home.
The government’s new flexibility has been ascribed to its keenness on bringing back Chinese businesses amid rising tensions with the US, which has included a threat from the White House to delist Chinese companies that do not meet US accounting standards.
Founded in 2012, Ninebot creates battery-powered, short-distance personal transportation two-wheelers. It purchased its US-based competitor Segway five years ago and now sells all of its products under the Segway brand.
The company most recently obtained $100m in funding from China Mobile Innovation Industry Fund, which is backed by telecommunications firm China Mobile, and SDIC Innovation in 2017.
Intel Capital, the corporate venturing division of chipmaker Intel, joined Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC for a round of undisclosed size in 2016.
Xiaomi participated in an $80m round in 2015 at the time of the Segway acquisition. Sequoia Capital, West Summit Capital and Shunwei Foundation also invested in that round.
