Startups & Tech

China fintech PingPong weighing US$1b Hong Kong IPO

Published Fri, Jan 28, 2022 · 05:38 PM

[HONG KONG] Chinese fintech startup PingPong is considering an initial public offering in Hong Kong to raise as much as US$1 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The Hangzhou-based payment company is working with Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group and Citic Securities on a listing that could happen as soon as this year, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isn't public. The firm had previously considered a listing in mainland China, one of the people said.

PingPong is also seeking about US$300 million in a pre-IPO private funding round, the people said. It is currently valued at about US$5 billion, one of the people said.

Details of the fundraising such as size and timing are preliminary and could change, the people said. Representatives for Goldman Sachs and Citic Securities declined to comment, while PingPong and Morgan Stanley didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

The fintech firm is riding on a boom in cross-border commerce by Chinese sellers operating on foreign platforms. Founded in 2015, PingPong collects payments for Chinese exporters selling through services such as Amazon.com, Shopify and Shopee, a unit of Singapore's Sea, its website shows.

PingPong is used by more than a million merchants for cross-border, value-added tax and supplier payments, according to the website. It offers sellers the ability to manage multiple currencies in a single, secure platform, and has over 600 employees in locations across the US, Europe and Asia. The startup counts Fidelity International as an investor, according to a press release. BLOOMBERG