Xiaohongshu targets end of June for confidential Hong Kong IPO: sources

[HONG KONG] Xiaohongshu Technology, the Chinese creator of social platform RedNote, is preparing to confidentially file for an initial public offering in Hong Kong by the end of this month, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Shanghai-based company is working with advisers on a potential listing that could rank among Hong Kong’s largest in recent years, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Deliberations are ongoing and details including the timing, size and valuation of the offering are still to be decided, they added.

Commonly referred to as China’s Instagram, Xiaohongshu has grown into a lifestyle and social-commerce powerhouse in the country’s online arena. It competes with ByteDance’s Douyin, the local version of TikTok, for the role of go-to social media platform for millions of people. When TikTok was briefly banned in the US last year, the international edition known under the RedNote brand exploded in popularity as a replacement.

Investors have urged Xiaohongshu, now 13 years old, to go public in what’s seen as an optimal time, the people said. Tech debuts in Hong Kong have met a highly receptive audience this year, led by names like MiniMax and Shanghai Biren Technology But those emerging AI services and developers also pose a threat to incumbents like Xiaohongshu, potentially undermining the firm’s traffic and business model.

While much of the attention around IPOs this year has focused on AI hardware and model developers, Xiaohongshu remains one of China’s best-known tech names. Its long-awaited debut comes after the company, which started out as a simple shopping guide, became a crucial lifestyle and video app, a favourite among especially a younger generation of social media users.

In the company’s last funding round in 2024, Xiaohongshu was valued at approximately US$17 billion. That valuation surged last September to US$31 billion in a secondary-market transaction, and Xiaohongshu told shareholders it expected profit to reach about US$3 billion in 2025, Bloomberg News has reported.

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Hong Kong listings have been booming, driven in a large part by Chinese technology companies. Maiden share sales in the city have raised about US$20 billion this year and are poised to top US$43 billion for all of 2026, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, in what would be a six-year high. In the past five years, the biggest deals in the city included Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd’s US$5.3 billion share sale last year and Midea Group’s US$4.6 billion listing in 2024.

Founded in 2013 by Charlwin Mao and Miranda Qu, Xiaohongshu has evolved from a shopping-guide app into one of China’s most influential social media platforms, blending user-generated content, product discovery and e-commerce. Its investors include Tencent Holdings, Alibaba Group Holding, HSG, Hillhouse Investment and GSR Ventures. BLOOMBERG