Hello Inc. Cancels U.S. IPO in Possible Ramification of Didi Penalty

Hello Inc., an app-based urban transportation provider, has scrapped plans for a U.S. initial public offering just three months after the firm submitted its prospectus to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), according to information disclosed Wednesday on the SEC website.

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The Shanghai-based firm is a bike-sharing enterprise backed by Ant Group, founded in September 2016. Hello Inc. started from the bike-sharing business and gradually evolved into a diversified mobility and life services platform including travel and in-store services.

The largest shareholder in the firm, Ant Group Co., holds 36.3% of the shares through its wholly-owned subsidiary Antfin (Hong Kong) Holding Limited, while Yang Lei, co-founder and CEO of Hello Inc. holds only 10.4%.

On April 24 this year, the firm filed for an IPO in application for a listing on the Nasdaq.

According to data on the official website, the firm has by the end of 2020 launched bike sharing services in over 400 cities (including county-level cities) across the country, with users’ total riding distance reaching 24 billion kilometers. The firm has also offered ride sharing services in more than 300 cities with 26.1 million users and nearly 10 million registered drivers.

According to the prospectus previously disclosed by Hello Inc., a revenue of 6.04 billion yuan was generated in 2020, up 25.3% year-on-year. In 2020, gross profits amounted to 720 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 70.8%. Its revenue in the first quarter of 2021 exceeded 1.4 billion yuan, up 104% year-on-year.