Alibaba-backed Chinese cloud startup files for $100m listing in the US

Chinese cloud services startup Qiniu is looking to raise US$100 million by going public on the US exchange. The Alibaba-backed company will list its initial public offering on Nasdaq, according to its filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

However, Qiniu could be working to secure more than US$100 million, as it stated in its filing that the amount was only an estimate for the computation of the registration fee.

Hugo Lu, president of Qiniu / Source: Qiniu

The development comes after the cloud startup raised US$141 million in its series F round in June 2020.

Other Qiniu investors include YF Capital, which participated in the company’s series E round in August 2019, Matrix Partners China, EverestLu Holdings, and Qiming Funds. Alibaba-owned ecommerce firm Taobao is the largest investor in Qiniu as it holds a 17.7% stake, followed by Magic Logistics Investment with its 12.4% stake.

Qiniu’s IPO plans in the US comes after recent improvements to its path to profitability. It posted a 32% growth in its revenue, driving it up to US$166.2 million in 2020. Its net loss also went down considerably, going from US$19.8 million in 2019 to US$2.9 million in 2020.

Founded in 2011, Qiniu initially offered cloud storage services similar to Dropbox. Three months after it launched, the startup pivoted to a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) platform directed at developers. It currently offers a complete range of media cloud and analytics solutions that includes data collection, distribution, and storage, cloud-based data processing and analytics, and livestreaming.

With a 4.4% market share in terms of revenue in 2020, Qiniu is now one of the largest pure-play PaaS firms in China, business consulting firm Frost & Sullivan said in the startup’s IPO prospectus.