The largest website in China for location based food and entertainment, Dianping.com, has laid out plans to sell shares through an initial public offer in five years. The company said it may be worth more than Groupon Inc or Yelp Inc at IPO.
The company is seeking a US listing, according to founder Dianping founder and CEO Zhang Tao in an interview at the company's Shanghai corporate headquarters. He estimated his company's value at more than USD10 billion.
The site boasts of 75 million active users per month for services that Yelp and Groupon offers. It has tapped into the surging middle class of China as consumers hunger for more information on restaurants and entertainment venues. The site has a database of 28 million reviews with a coverage 2,300 key cities. It had also been the target for acquisition by Chinese internet companies such as Tencent Holdings Ltd, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Baidu Inc.
Dianping's financial partners include Sequoia Capital Operations LLC and Lightspeed Venture Partners. It was established beack in 2003 in Shanghai and had offered local business-search services such as consumer generated reviews, purchase coupons as well as enjoy group discounts. The firm's database has data on over six million local businesses located all across China.
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