English

By Xie Fang

The Shanghai-based online education platform, Jianghu, filed its IPO application with the Hong Kong Exchanges (HKEX) on Tuesday, poised to be the first Hong Kong-listed Chinese company in the industry, the Shanghai Securities Journal reported on Wednesday.

Founded in 2001 and commercialized four years later, the company has amassed as many as 170 million users over the past 17 years and owned more monthly active users, established third-party educational institutions, online teachers and online courses than its domestic rivals.

What's more, the company's prospectus shows that it has also experienced a robust revenue growth over the past three years, with its operating revenue hitting RMB 185 million in 2015, RMB 340 million in 2016 and RMB 556 million in 2017, a compound annual growth rate of 73.3 percent.

Compared with its competitors like Tomorrow Advancing Life and New Oriental Education, the company has always been making technological innovation its top priority. According to its prospectus, the company spent nearly half of its annual operating revenue on research and development (R&D) from 2015 to 2017.

The company also promised to invest a large proportion of the funds to be raised from the stock market in sharpening its technological edge.

Prior to the submission of its IPO application, the company has received nine rounds of financing, with such big names as Baidu, Wanxin Media and Shanghai Cultural Industry Equity Funds all becoming its shareholders.