WeLab, a China-based peer-to-peer lending platform backed by e-commerce group Alibaba, is preparing a $500m initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Bloomberg reported today.
The company has selected banks for the proposed offering and aims to go public in 2018, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Founded in 2013, WeLab operates two online lending platforms: Wolaidai, which is aimed at mainland China, and WeLend, which targets the Hong Kong market. The company claims its risk management technology means it can approve loans within seconds.
WeLab has also licensed its technology to financial services firms and telecommunications providers. Its decision to float on the public markets follows a notice issued by the Chinese regulator ordering local government to stop granting new licences to microlenders.
WeLab has raised approximately $425m to date, including a $220m series B+ round closed earlier this month that featured Alibaba’s Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund and financial services firms Credit Suisse and China Construction Bank (CCB).
The series B+ round also included International Finance Corporation, the private investment arm of the multilateral financial institution World Bank.
Khazanah Nasional, the sovereign wealth fund of Malaysia, led WeLab’s $160m series B round in January 2016, with financial services firm ING Bank and Chinese state-owned investment firm Guangdong Technology Financial Group also contributing capital.
Media conglomerate Tom Group had previously taken part in the company’s $20m series A round in 2015 alongside VC Sequoia Capital, investment firm DST Global and multi-family office Iconiq Capital.