SoYoung, the China-based cosmetic surgery booking and reviews platform backed by internet group Tencent, will float on the Nasdaq Global Market today in a $179m initial public offering.
The offering involved SoYoung issuing 13 million American depositary shares (ADSs), each of which represents 10 normal shares, priced at $13.80 each, at the top of the IPO’s $11.80 to $13.80 range.
SoYoung runs an online platform where users can book a variety of cosmetic procedures while also accessing reviews and before-and-after photographs posted by other users. It made an $8m net profit in 2018 from $89.8m in revenue.
The company intends to put 30% of the IPO proceeds into research and development, spend 20% on marketing and user acquisition, a further 20% on expanding its offering and 10% on strengthening its platform.
Venture capital firm Matrix Partners China provided an undisclosed amount of series A funding for SoYoung in 2014, before growth equity firm Trustbridge Partners added $20m in 2015. Tencent invested $50m the following year at a valuation of about $460m.
Private equity fund Apax Digital and alternative asset management firm CDH Investments led the company’s $60m series D round in January 2018, participating alongside Matrix Partners China and Trustbridge Partners.
According to its IPO filing, SoYoung raised $29m in a March 2018 round led by private equity firm Orchid Asia and backed by Matrix Partners and Trustbridge Partners.
Orchid Asia also led the company’s $70m series E round in September 2018, investing with BOC International Holdings, a subsidiary of financial services firm Bank of China, as well as Matrix Partners China and the state-backed Russia-China Investment Fund.
Co-founder and CEO Xing Jin holds all 12 million of SoYoung’s class A shares. Tencent’s stake is sized at less than 5%, but ATCG, a vehicle for investor Hui Shao, remains its largest class B shareholder, with a 28.8% share cut to 20.6% in the offering.
SoYoung’s other main shareholders are Matrix Partners China (15.5% post-IPO), Trustbridge Partners (12.5%), Apax Digital (7.7%) and Orchid Asia (6.6%).
Deutsche Bank Securities and China International Capital Corporation Hong Kong Securities are joint bookrunners for the IPO while Canaccord Genuity, ICBC International Securities and Needham & Company are co-managers.
The underwriters have the opportunity to acquire another 1.95 million ADSs in the next 30 days, which would boost the size of the offering to approximately $206m.
