The incubator behind China's two hottest online celebrities is preparing for an initial public offering as competition in the live e-commerce market intensifies.
Meiyao, the Shanghai brokerage behind lipstick boss Li Jiaqi, is hiring a chief financial officer to prepare for a possible US listing, according to people familiar with the matter. The company invested by Whale Capital and Ditong Capital is considering going public to raise $300 million, said one of the people familiar with the matter.
Hangzhou Qianxun Culture, where China's number one online celebrity Weiya is located, is also planning IPO, according to people familiar with the matter. The person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that he got Jack Ma.The modesty culture supported by the Yunfeng fund is likely to be listed overseas.
Live e-commerce is one of the largest and most dynamic areas of the Internet in China, and the two IPO are expected to further stimulate the blowout of the industry. BabaLive ecommerce, founded in 2016 as a marketing tool, has evolved from an online version of TV shopping to a 24-hour mix of high-quality entertainment, funny and promotional gimmicks, with Chinese characteristics, generating $149 billion in annual sales. Top online celebrities like Weiya and Li Jiaqi have become celebrities with hundreds of millions of fans, but the industry's financial and business structure is still in its infancy.
Both companies are at an early stage of consideration for listing, and there is no guarantee that modesty and Midea will continue with their listing plans. The reporter repeatedly asked Meijie for comment, but did not respond; Qianxun declined to comment.
Weiya and Li Jiaqi are among China's most successful e-commerce online celebrities, with total sales of 53 billion yuan last year, according to Ai Media Consulting. Li Jiaqi is said to have sold 15000 lipsticks in just five minutes, while Weiya helped Procter & Gamble.、 TeslaWait for multinational companies to bring their goods to Chinese consumers. She even launched a small rocket into space-- which she produced and sold for Wuhan Aerospace Science and Industry Rocket Technology Co., Ltd. in a live broadcast last year.
As competition intensifies, these companies are seeking to replenish their financial resources. By the end of 2020, there were about 28000 such brokerage firms in China, up from 160 in 2015. With the rise of short video platforms such as Kuaishou and Douyin, new online celebrities emerge in endlessly. Even once-popular movie stars like Fan Bingbing and XiaomiExecutives like Lei Jun of the company have also turned to live streaming to sell their products.
The growth of live e-commerce in China is also slowing. The industry grew 122 per cent in 2020 compared with the same period last year, but is likely to grow by only 25 per cent this year, down from 600 per cent in 2018, according to Ai Media Consulting.
For brokers seeking to go public, success depends on the popularity of online celebrities. Ruhan, who is supported by Alibaba, is the first group of Chinese Internet celebrities to incubate.The market capitalization of Holdings has fallen by about 70% since it went public. The stock was delisted in April.