Chinese Celebrity-Backed Fintech Firm QuantGroup Considering US IPO

Fintech company QuantGroup, which was founded by several notable Chinese movie stars, is considering a US IPO, according to an article published in Bloomberg last week. The firm is looking to raise an estimated $200 million according to unnamed sources.

Major Star Power

The Beijing-based QuantGroup is a financial services company that provides estimated credit ratings using big data. The company previously raised funds in its Series B round from StarVC, an investment firm founded in 2014 by several Chinese celebrities.

Partners of StarVC include Li Bingbing, an actress who appeared in “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” “Ip Man 2” actor Huang Xiaoming, and Zhang Ziyi, who joined the firm in 2015 and who’s most famous to western audiences for her roles in “Hero”, “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon”, and “Rush Hour 2”. StarVC typically invests in startups related to entertainment, new media, mobile internet, and internet finance.

Chinese Fintech Launching US IPOs

QuantGroup joins a growing list of Chinese fintech firms in the process of launching US IPOs. Fenqile, a Chinese online shopping mall that lets customers pay in installments, is also looking to raise over $600 million through a US IPO. However, US IPOs for Chinese fintech companies that have launched previously have been hit or miss recently. Over the last year, there have been eight IPOs led by Chinese firms. ZTO Express Cayman Inc., which raised the most with $1.4 billion, led the way with a strong opening but share prices quickly fell and have remained in a slump. China Rapid Finance had anticipated raisingover $100 million in its IPO but only ended up raising about $69 million. However, unlike ZTO Express, China Rapid Finance’s share price has actually gone up somewhat since its IPO.

Sources said that QuantGroup’s IPO is in its very early stages with details yet to be finalized as the firm has asked banks to pitch a role in the potential offering. Hopefully, the star power of its celebrity backers will help the company in its future fundraising plans.