China Roundup: ByteDance-backed ad agency files for Hong Kong IPO, and more

ByteDance-backed online ad agency files for Hong Kong IPO

• Uju aims to raise up to HK$1.1 billion (around US$141 million) from its initial public offering.
• The four-year-old company currently owns 3% of the market share in China’s online short-video marketing industry, making it the second-biggest player in the country.
• Uju made a profit of 133.2 million yuan (US$20.8 million) in 2020, up from 50.1 million yuan (US$7.8 million) in 2018.

NetEase leads US$5 million round of virtual human startup

• Chinese gaming firm NetEase led Next Generation’s funding round, which also saw participation from The Arena Capital, Shunwei Capital, and CCV Capital.
• In July, Next Generation raised US$5 million as part of its series A funding round.
• Since its inception, Next Generation has created a virtual persona – called AI Merror – and virtual avatars for celebrities such as Dilraba Dilmurat and Huang Zitao

Ride-sharing firm backed by Tencent bags US$1.2 billion

• T3 Chuxing’s funding round was led by Citic Group. T3 claims it is the largest funding round for a ride-hailing firm in China since 2018.
• Yingtong Technology, Tongcheng, Redview Capital, Virtue Capital, and existing investors such as FAW, Dongfeng, Changan, Alibaba, and Tencent also joined the round.
• Founded in Nanjing in July 2019, T3’s services are available in 41 cities in China, and the company has over 54 million registered users.

Currency converted from HK dollar and Chinese yuan to US dollar: US$1 = HK$7.78 = 6.39 yuan