Uxin, a China-based automotive e-commerce platform that counts corporates Baidu, Legend Holdings and Tencent as investors, yesterday filed to raise up to $500m in a US initial public offering.
Founded in 2011, Uxin operates an online marketplace for used vehicles that includes tailored recommendations and adjacent services such as insurance, financing, warranty and delivery. It also runs an auction-based service for businesses looking to buy vehicles in greater numbers.
The company was responsible for the sales of approximately 165,000 vehicles in the first quarter of 2018, but made a $133m loss over the same period from $103m in revenue.
Uxin has raised approximately $1.38bn in funding, including a reported $30m from internet group Tencent, Bertelsmann Asia Investments (BAI), a subsidiary of media company Bertelsmann; Legend Capital, a venture capital firm set up by conglomerate Legend Holdings; and VC firm DCM in 2013.
Private equity firm Warburg Pincus invested $260m in Uxin the following year, before internet company Baidu, investment firm KKR and investment manager Coatue Management added $170m in 2015.
The company secured $500m in a January 2017 round co-led by TPG, Jeneration Capital and China Vision Capital that included KKR, Warburg Pincus, Hillhouse Capital, Tiger Global Management and Huasheng Capital.
Investment vehicles Pine Castle Holdings, ClearVue UXin Holdings, Ningbo Meishan Bonded Port Area Jiugen Brothers Equity Investment Center and Ningbo Meishan Bonded Port Area Jiuze Investment Management invested $72.5m in Uxin in July 2017, according to the filing.
Kingkey New Era Auto Industry, a representative of real estate developer Kingkey, provided $50m of funding for Uxin in October, and Bank of Communications subsidiary Bocom International supplied $44m in November, before Uxin raised $250m from Kingkey New Era, Apex Ease and Huangpu Investment Holding in January 2018.
Kun Dai, Uxin’s founder, chairman and CEO, is its largest shareholder, with 24.9%, having bought shares from investors including BAI in September 2017. Baidu owns a 10% share of the company and Legend Capital 7.4%.
Other notable shareholders include Jeneration Capital (a 22.3% stake), Kingkey (14.8%), a Warburg Pincus vehicle called Redrock Holding Investments (14.1%), Tiger Global (9%), Hillhouse (8.4%) and a Kun Dai-controlled vehicle known as Xin Gao Group (6%).
Morgan Stanley International, Goldman Sachs (Asia), JP Morgan Securities, China International Capital Corporation Hong Kong Securities and China Renaissance Securities are the underwriters for the offering.