Zhangmen, a China-based one-to-one tutoring services provider backed by telecommunications group SoftBank, has filed for an initial public offering using a $100m placeholder figure.
The company is seeking a listing on the New York Stock Exchange, where it hopes to trade under the symbol ZME.
Founded in 2005, Zhangmen initially offered after-school lessons in classrooms but later pivoted to providing online courses and one-to-one tutoring.
Zhangmen secured a total of $1.1bn in equity financing, it said in its filing.
The company reportedly secured $400m in a series F round in September 2020 from SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, International Finance Corporation (IFC), Genesis Capital and CMC Capital. The filing puts the amount at $355m, however.
IFC and CMC Capital participated in a series E round in February 2019, reportedly worth $350m but indicated in the draft prospectus to have been $337m.
Warburg Pincus and Genesis Capital had supplied $120m in series D financing in January 2018, according to DealStreetAsia, but the filing suggests the amount was $177m.
Proceeds from the proposed offering would go towards product and services development, technology infrastructure improvement and marketing activities.
Genesis Capital is the largest shareholder ahead of the IPO with a 15.8% stake, while SoftBank owns 5.8%.
Other shareholders include co-founder and chief executive Yi Zhang (14.1%), Warburg Pincus (10.5%), Wenwei Entities (7.6%), CMC (6.3%), co-founder Teng Fu (6.1%), China Renaissance (5.5%) and Dreamax Education II, a vehicle for employee stock options (5.3%).
Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse Securities (USA), Citigroup Global Markets, China International Capital Corporation, Hong Kong Securities, Macquarie Capital (USA), Futu, Tiger Brokers (NZ) and SNB Finance Holdings are the underwriters.
