Chinese education startup Siwei Zaowu Information Technology has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) at the Shenzhen Stock Exchange’s Nasdaq-style ChiNext board, aiming to raise RMB 1.04 billion (USD 152.41 million) which will bring the company’s valuation to RMB 4 billion (USD 586.18 million), according to the firm’s prospectus filed with the bourse on Friday.
Founded in 2014 by Luo Zhenyu, host of popular online talk show Luoji Siwei (or “Logic Mind” in Chinese), Siwei Zaowu position itself as a company providing “lifelong education services.” The company initially planned to get listed on the Shanghai Exchange’s STAR Market, but shifted its target to the ChinNext Market in April, due to “ChiNext’s registration-based IPO reform, and based on the firm’s businesses.”
Siwei Zaowu has three business lines—online classes, offline knowledge-centered services, and e-commerce.
Through the Dedao app, which was launched in 2016, Siwei Zaowu offers a variety of online classes in categories such as arts, businesses, marketing, humanities, social sciences, and others. On the app, users can also have access to audible books and ebooks, while they can share their insights and comments on the platform’s online community.
As of March 31, Dedao garnered over 3.5 million monthly active users (MAUs), while the number of registered users reached 21.35 million. Last year, the average revenue per paying user (ARPPU) was RMB 231.93 (USD 33.99), compared to RMB 203.81 (USD 29.87) in 2017.
The firm also manages the Dedao University, which regularly opens online and offline classes targeting professionals from different sectors, such as tech, entertainment, transportation, education, and municipal affairs, among others. The firm has built classrooms in 11 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou, and has over 7,000 enrolled students in 85 classes.
Siwei Zaowu has also expanded to the e-commerce field. On the Dedao app, users can buy Dedao e-readers, original books, and third-party copyright-owned books. By the end of the first quarter, the firm sold 16,000 e-readers and published 26 original books.
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