Pinduoduo Plans to Raise a Maximum of $1.87 Billion in U.S. IPO
China’s new e-commerce platform, Pinduoduo, plans to raise a maximum of $1.87 billion through its listing on the NASDAQ Global Select section, according to its updated prospectus to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
SEE ALSO: Pinduoduo, China’s Facebook-Groupon Mashup, Files for $1B US IPO
Pinduoduo, whose parent company is Walnut Street Group, plans to sell out of 85.6 million American Depositary Shares (ADS) at a price of $16 to $19 per share, with a proposed maximum financing of $1.87 billion in its initial public offering under the symbol “PDD”.
The company will use 40 percent of the money raised to enhance and expand the existing businesses and another 40 percent for technology research and development. The remaining funds will be used for daily company operations and potential investment projects.
Backed by Tencent Holding Ltd., the three-year-old company has surpassed JD.com Inc. to become the second largest e-commerce platform in terms of daily active users. Through Wechat, a social media platform developed by Tencent, where the company has a large customer base, Pinduduo encourages users to invite their friends for the Groupon-like purchases.
Pinduoduo was valued at about $15 billion after raising more than $1 billion in an April round of fundraising. The number of average monthly active users on the platform reached 195 million in the second quarter this year, an increase of 17 percent compared to Q1 2018.
As of June 30, 2018, Pinduoduo‘s gross merchandise volume reached 262.1 billion yuan and the number of active buyers reached 344 million. The average spending per active buyer also increased from 674 yuan in June 2017, to 763 yuan.
The prospectus also showed that the name of Pinduoduo‘s parent company has been changed from Walnut Street Group Holding Limited to “Pinduoduo Inc.”
Pinduoduo‘s advisory committee is composed of well-known business leaders and top scholars, including John L. Thornton, former president of Goldman Sachs, Yang Rongwen, former foreign minister of Singapore, and Lu Qi, artificial intelligence expert and former COO of Baidu Inc.
