Tubatu, one of China’s largest home improvement online platforms, just filed with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEx) for a public listing that, according to an earlier Bloomberg report, might seek to raise at least US$200 million. Money raised will be used to upgrade its technology infrastructure, enhance 3D design tools, as well as gain traffic from the web and mobile channels.
Qeeka Home, a fierce competitor and the largest Chinese home renovation marketplace, just saw its share tumbled on its trading debut on the HKEx.
Similar to many other Chinese tech companies that filed for Hong Kong floatation over the past months, Tubatu bled and is still bleeding money.
The firm incurred a total net loss of more than RMB2.4 billion yuan from 2015 to 2017. While in H1 2018, it saw a 40% sharp fall in revenue and posted a net loss of around RMB636 million.
Wang Guobin ( Tubatu’s CEO & founder), Matrix Partners, and Sequoia Capital China own 50.46%, 22.42%, and 16.23% of the total number of shares respectively.
Founded in 2008, this online-to-offline (O2O) disruptor in China’s home decoration space operates via the platform model to bridge the information gap to match trades, revolutionizing the marketing and client acquisition process amongst interior designers and construction companies; allowing property owners to find renovation companies conveniently.
An additional milestone that Tubatu achieved is the ”Zhang Xiu Bao” – a partnership with third-party financial institutions for supply chain financing services for renovation companies on its platform.
Today, Tubatu claims to be serving about 80,000 renovation companies and 1 million interior designers. China’s home improvement market is a trillion yuan worth market with over 130,000 of SME home decorators.
Editor: Ben Jiang
