Qeeka Home, a China-based home design services platform backed by internet group Baidu, raised HK$1.07bn ($137m) when it floated in Hong Kong today.
The company priced its shares at HK$4.85 each, below the initial public offering’s HK$6.80 to HK$9.00 range, giving it a market capitalisation of $748m. Goldman Sachs (Asia) and CLSA Capital Markets are the underwriters for the offering.
Founded in 2007, Qeeka Home is the owner of Qijia, which claims to be China’s largest online home design and construction services marketplace, connecting users to a network of more than 7,500 service providers across some 290 cities.
The proceeds will be used for marketing and to further develop the core Qijia platform, Qeeka’s supply chain capabilities and its loan referral and interior design and renovation businesses.
Baidu supplied $28.6m in series A funding for Qeeka Home in 2010 according to the IPO filing, taking a 16% stake in the process. Orchid Asia invested $60m to lead its $129m series B round in 2015 that included Jianxin Capital, SIP Oriza and a vehicle known as Seagull.
An investment entity called Cachet Special provided $22.3m of series C funding for the company in March 2018, representing most recent last funding. It has raised about $187m altogether, according to the filing.
Baidu was Qeeka’s largest investor prior to the IPO, and its stake was diluted from 31.2% to 25%.
The company’s other notable shareholders are Hua Yuan International, which is owned by Suzhou Industrial Park (8.4% post-IPO), Orchid Asia (8.3%), SIP Oriza (6.9%) and Cachet Special (3.5%).