Momo, China’s most popular location-based app for meeting strangers, has filed with the SEC to raise US$300 million in a US initial public offering (hat-tip to QQ Tech). The IPO values the social network at an estimated US$3 billion. Momo plans to list on the NASDAQ under the symbol MOMO.
The app, once pigeonholed as a sleazy booty call finder, has rebranded itself into an interest-based, family-friendly social network. According to its prospectus, Momo now boasts 60.2 million monthly active users, 25.5 million of them using the app on a daily basis. That’s up 113 percent and 141 percent from the same time last year, respectively, making it the third-biggest mobile social app in China after WeChat and QQ Mobile. 2.3 million users pay for a premium membership subscription.
Momo was founded in 2011 and became widely known as the go-to messaging app for anonymously finding singles nearby who wanted to flirt and/or hook up. That common perception became both its greatest strength and its greatest curse. Many curious singles jumped on board, giving Momo early traction, but the company later had trouble shaking its smutty public image.
Today, Momo denies dating is even a core use case for the app, but its old reputation still lingers. Earlier this year, Chinese state media slammed the app as a “hotbed of prostitution.”
The company insists it’s a serious social network that can retain users beyond their first one-night stand. Monetization efforts began this year with stickers, games, subscriptions, and location-based advertisements. The company posted a net loss of US$8.3 million in the first half of this year, with much of that spent on marketing as Momo continues to course-correct its brand image.
Momo’s little-known English version was shut down in June, so it’s only available in Chinese on iOS and Android.
See: Beyond a billion: here are China’s 15 most valuable startups
This post China’s top flirting app Momo files for $300M US IPO, reports 60M active users appeared first on Tech in Asia.
China’s top flirting app Momo files for $300M US IPO, reports 60M active users
No comments:
Post a Comment