Industry

Waterdrop Plans for US IPO in First Quarter of 2021, Expected to Raise $500M

Oct 19, 2020, 15:58pm2020/10/19 15:58:17 Agnes Xueer Lu

Chinese online InsurTech company Waterdrop Inc. is planning for an initial public offering in the US in the first quarter of 2021, expected to raise approximately $500 million.

Bank of America Corp. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. will jointly become the lead underwriters of the platform’s IPO.

Earlier in July, the company was also said to be preparing an IPO as soon as this year with a possible valuation of about $4 billion, as reported by Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter.

Pandaily reported on Aug. 21 that the Tencent<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder />-backed startup announced to raise $230 million in its series D financing, which was led by Swiss Re Group and Tencent<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> and followed by IDG Capita and Wisdom Choice Global Fund, marking the world’s largest financing round in the online InsurTech industry.

Additionally, Swiss Re Group, the key player of the investment, was one of the investors of healthcare software company Ping An Good Doctor<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> which was listed in Hong Kong in 2018. The Group also participated in the investment when China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co., Ltd. issued the Global Depository Receipts (GDR) in June this year.

Since its establishment in 2016, Waterdrop has been the InsurTech darling with support from multiple investment institutions including Tencent<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder />, Meituan<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder />, IDG Capital, Gaorong Capital, ZhenFund Inc., etc. in the angel round of financing.

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Waterdrop was listed among the top 10 most valuable digital health companies across the globe in 2020, with a valuation of $5 billion, according to business analytics platform CB Insights.