Asia Innovations Group Plans U.S. IPO, Eyeing between $600 Million to $800 Million
Asia Innovations Group (AIG), the tech start-up behind live streaming service Uplive, dating app Lamour, and star-chasing app Super Fans Club, plans to go public in the US this year. The company expects to raise between $600 million to $800 million, according to media. AIG has not made any official response to these claims yet.
AIG was jointly founded in 2013 by Tian Xingzhi, former general manager of Zynga in China, Ouyang Yun, former deputy general manager of Tencent Strategy Department, and Liu Mingling, former CTO of Media Group Limited. The group aims to be the world’s largest mobile social entertainment group.
Headquartered in Beijing, the company has offices in Tokyo, Cairo, Jakarta, New Delhi, and more. The firm nearly doubled its registered users to 312 million at the end of 2020 as the pandemic shut down cities across the globe. User numbers topped 400 million in June.
The South China Morning Post reported that AIG gained $140 million in financing at the beginning of this year. The round was led by Yorkville Capital, White Star Capital, Bradbury Group and Instagram’s co-founder Mike Krieger.
“This round of financing will help boost our real-time social products such as Uplive and Lamour in emerging markets,” AIG’s CEO and cofounder Andy Tian said. “We are delighted to see that in the COVID-19 pandemic, mobile social applications have not only become a daily entertainment, but also helped many families who suffered from cash-strapped insecurity around the world.”
The company focuses on emerging markets such as Southeast Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, India, and South America. According to a Frost & Sullivan’s report, these emerging markets enjoyed about 1.6 billion social media users in 2019, making these regions the main target market of tech giants.
Uplive, a livestreaming platform operating in Greater China, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the United States, serves over 200 million users in more than 150 countries and regions around the world.
Lamour, a real-time dating app, accumulated more than 110 million users worldwide by providing real-time matching and interactive dating functions.
“From AIG, I see a new trend of real-time socializing in the next generation,” Instagram’s co-founder Mike Krieger pointed out.
