Chinese luxury e-commerce company Secoo Holding is preparing to go public in the US.
Backed by IDG Funds and Ping An, it has filed for a $100 million IPO on the Nasdaq.
In a regulatory filing, the company says Gold Ease Global and YTL E-Solutions have agreed to buy $20 million and $10 million of its class-A ordinary shares, respectively, at a price per share equal to the IPO price, through a private placement.
“We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering and the concurrent private placements to invest in our marketing and branding efforts, including enhancing our brand coverage and promotional activities, setting up additional offline experience centres and growing our active customers, optimise our logistics network, strengthen our IT infrastructure and technology capabilities, and for general corporate purposes,” says Secoo.
The company is backed by Siku Holdings (32.5 per cent), IDG Funds (24.5 per cent), CMC Galaxy Holdings (11.7 per cent), Ping An (9.2 per cent) and Ventech China II SICAR (7.2 per cent).
Secoo was recognised as Asia’s largest online integrated upscale products and services platform by gross merchandise volume (GMV) in 2016, which rose 34.9 per cent to reach RMB3.47 billion ($511.9 million). The GMV in the first half of 2017 already hit $283.9 million.
Secoo claims to have 15.1 million registered members as at June 30, and about 300,000 active customers last year. As well as its website it has mobile apps and offline experience centres.
Secoo Holding brand was launched in 2011 through a merger of Hong Kong Secoo Investment Group and Beijing Secoo Trading.
Secoo entered the Southeast Asia market in June last year with a strategic partnership, 12 months later reporting $198.6 million second-half revenue, up 30 per cent from its first half.
After a net loss of about $11.4 million for its first six months, it swung to a net profit of $7.7 million for its second half. For the year overall, its revenue was about $3.9 million.
With teams rolled out progressively in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Milan, New York and Tokyo, the firm collectively sells clothing, accessories, homewares, cosmetics and miscellaneous items.
