Live-Streaming Platform Inke Goes Public in Hong Kong

Inke Inc. welcomed its first trading day on July 12 on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, starting with a 40 percent surge on its share price within the first 15 minutes.

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Founded in 2006, Inke has only received two rounds of investment previously in 2015 and 2016, both with Beijing KunLun Wanwei Technologies, an Internet group dedicated to the development of interactive platforms and applications, as the lead investor.

According to its prospectus, Inke’s annual revenues in 2015, 2016 and 2017 were 28.7 million, 4.334 billion and 3.941 billion yuan respectively. Its operating profits were 1.9 million, 493 million and 871 million yuan, and its adjusted net incomes were 1.46 million, 568 million, and 791 million yuan respectively.

The majority of Inke’s revenue comes from its live streaming business. The contribution was as high as 99.4% in 2017.

According to Caijing, Inke has now gathered around 36.8 million live-streamers and 194.5 million users since its launch in May 2015. Inke currently has 700 employees and ranks second in the industry by market share.

Feng Yousheng, CEO of Inke, said in his open letter that as a company without the backing from the BAT, their success was built upon Inke’s ability to continuously improve on their products and innovate in their technologies.

2018 has been a booming year for Chinese live-streaming platforms. Following Huya Inc.’s IPO in the U.S. and now Inke’s in Hong Kong, another popular live-streaming platform, Douyu TV, is also expected to follow suit and submit a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in the third quarter this year.