China-based fintech startup OneConnect, a leading provider of technology-enabled business solutions to SMEs is planning to raise around $100 million in its New York IPO. The startup will list its shares either on the New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol OCFT.
According to media reports, OneConnect, which is the fintech arm of Chinese financial conglomerate Ping An, is planning for an IPO in New York rather than Hong Kong to achieve a higher valuation. The startup’s initial plan was to raise $1 billion by listing its shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and achieve a valuation of $8 billion.
OneConnect, which is backed by SoftBank’s Vision Fund, has hired firms such as Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Ping An Securities, and HSBC as underwriters for the IPO.
Reportedly, OneConnect’s IPO filing revealed a net loss of $147 million during the nine months ended September 30, as compared with an $82 million net loss for the same period last year.
So far, OneConnect had provided services to over 200 banks and 200,000 enterprises as of September this year. The startup so far has received more than $1 billion as loans from Ping An with an interest rate between 4.55 percent to 7.3 percent.
Earlier in 2018, the company also launched its blockchain platform with a focus on finance, real estate, medical and the automobile industry. According to OneConnect, its blockchain technology can handle up to 50,000 transactions per second with a latency of fewer than 0.5 seconds and also implements zero-knowledge proof technology.
Ping An’s healthcare startup Ping An Good Doctor, which is also backed by SoftBank, raised around $1.1 billion by listing its shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.