Beijing-based BlueCity Holdings, owner of China's biggest dating app Blued, has filed for a U.S. initial public offering.
The company aims to raise $50 million from an initial public offering of American depositary shares (ADSs), according to a prospectus filed to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday.
BlueCity was founded in 2011 by former policeman Ma Baoli, also known as Geng Le. The company reported a net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders of 27.9 million yuan ($3.9 million) on 207 million yuan revenue in the three months ended March 31, according to the filing.
That loss had decreased from 196 million yuan for the same period last year.
Users in regions outside of China, including India, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam, represented more than 49% of Blued's total monthly active users in March 2020.
According to the Frost & Sullivan report, Blued active users spent more than 60 minutes on the app. Its average MAU and average DAU were six times and nearly seven times more than its competitor in the second place in the same industry in China, respectively.
In 2000, after graduating from a police academy, Ma became a police officer in Qinhuangdao, Shandong Province, and was so disturbed by his dislike of the opposite sex that he wanted to see a doctor.
(Ma Baoli)
Then he realized that the world might be more than just him being gay. But he couldn't find such a community of his kind, so he made his own website called "Light Blue".
He spent his spare time maintaining the site, but was shut down several times by regulators who thought that the content was unhealthy. It wasn't until later, when they moved to Beijing and were given the opportunity to work with the government to fight the spread of AIDS, that they began to gain recognition.
Brief timeline of its development:
In 2000, the predecessor of BlueCity, one of the earliest and most influential LGBTQ online forums in China, "Light Blue", was launched.
In 2013, BlueCity closed its angel round of funding.
In 2014, BlueCity completed Series A and B funding rounds.
Blued mobile app launches live streaming in 2016.
Closing of a Series D funding round.
The Blued app launched its membership business in 2018.
In 2019, BlueCity, in conjunction with the China Foundation for the Prevention of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and AIDS, established a special fund for light blue philanthropy.
