Chinese Online Real Estate Platform Beike Rumored to Seek IPO

On December 18, the Chinese real estate platform Beike Zhaofang (Beike), has been working with a consultant on a potential IPO and may complete its listing as soon as 2020. The company has not yet determined the exchange for the listing. However, the company responded by saying that the news of the potential IPO is untrue. Beike has raised a total of $1.2 billion in funding over four rounds. Their latest Series D round was completed on July 18, 2019. Strategic investor Tencent led an $800 million investment, which was mainly used for technology research and development, product application innovation, as well as talent recruitment and cultivation in the industrial Internet field. Other investors include China Renaissance, Strait Capital Investment Group, New Horizon Capital, Gaw Capital Partners and Hillhouse Capital Group. In June 27, 2019, Beike invested in Niuniuda, a Hangzhou-based decoration service platform, with angel round financing amounting to 20 million yuan. According to public information, as of July this year, Beike started operations in 98 cities across the country, connecting over 250,000 brokers, nearly 30,000 offline stores, and over 160 cooperative brands. According to its official website, the company now covers a total of 31 Chinese provinces and nine overseas countries in North America, Europe, Oceania and Asia.