China's largest online Q&A community is getting closer to an IPO in Hong Kong.

　　On April 11, Zhihu submitted a prospectus and applied for listing on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. It plans to sell 26 million shares through a Hong Kong IPO. The public offering price does not exceed HK$51.8 per share. It is expected to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on April 22. trade.

　　As one of the largest online Q&A communities in China, Zhihu founder Zhou Yuan used to be a programmer and reporter, and is currently the largest shareholder. The second and third largest shareholders are Tencent and Innovation Works, respectively.

　　In terms of finance, Zhihu is still in a state of loss from 2019 to 2021, with adjusted net losses of 825 million yuan, 337 million yuan and 750 million yuan, respectively.

　　On April 11, Zhihu’s U.S. stocks plunged 12.89%, and the latest market value was $1.454 billion.

　　Will be listed for trading on April 22

　　Zhihu, a Chinese concept stock already listed on the New York Stock Exchange, like JD.com and NetEase, uses the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as a place for secondary listing.

　　According to the prospectus, Zhihu’s underwriters are Credit Suisse, JPMorgan Chase, CICC, and China Merchants Bank.

The Hong Kong IPO plans to issue 26 million shares, the issue price per share does not exceed 51.8 Hong Kong dollars, and each lot is 100 shares. It is expected to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on April 22.

　　The prospectus disclosed that the 26 million Class A ordinary shares of the company sold by Zhihu are all from early investors, which means that Zhihu will complete the dual main listing on Hong Kong stocks by not issuing new shares.

　　Looking back at the development of Zhihu, Zhihu was founded in 2010. From 2010 to 2012, Zhihu was an invitation-only registration-only Q&A community.

In 2013, Zhihu started to open to the public for registration and has since grown into one of the largest comprehensive online content communities in China.

　　Zhihu's profitable products mainly include the provision of online advertising services in 2016, the introduction of paid content services in 2018, the launch of the Salt Selection paid membership program in the first half of 2019, and the official launch of content commercialization solutions in early 2020.

Since 2020, Zhihu has continued to expand its content-centric monetization channels, including offering vocational training and e-commerce events.

　　Data shows that in the fourth quarter of 2021, Zhihu had an average of 996 million mobile monthly active users, an average of 500 million monthly views, and an average of 390 million monthly user interactions.

As of December 31, 2021, Zhihu has accumulated 55 million content creators, contributing 420 million questions and answers, covering more than 1,000 vertical fields.

　　Looking at the financial data, Zhihu’s revenue has increased from 670.5 million yuan in 2019 to 1.4 billion yuan in 2020, and further increased to 3 billion yuan in 2021, that is, a compound annual growth rate of 110.1% since 2019.

　　However, in terms of profits, Zhihu has been in a state of loss.

The data shows that the net loss in 2019 was 1 billion yuan, the loss in 2020 was 517.6 million yuan, and the loss in 2021 was 1.3 billion yuan. The adjusted net losses were 824.5 million yuan, 337.5 million yuan, and 750.4 million yuan respectively.

　　Tencent is the second shareholder, and the founder was a reporter

　　Zhihu was first launched in January 2011. It is a high-quality Q&A community on the Chinese Internet and an original content platform where creators gather.

　　The founder of Zhihu is Zhou Yuan, who is currently the chairman and chief executive officer.

Zhou Yuan graduated from Chengdu University of Technology in 2003, majoring in computer science, and obtained a master's degree in software engineering from Southeast University in March 2006.

After graduating with a master's degree, Zhou Yuan worked as a reporter for "IT Manager World" from June 2006 to December 2007, and then from October 2008 to November 2010 founded a company focusing on big data analysis and development of e-commerce business.

　　Zhihu stated in the prospectus that Zhou Yuan is responsible for the overall strategy, product design, business development and management. He has more than 15 years of experience in the Internet and media industry, and is full of enthusiasm, insight and vision for China's Internet content industry.

　　It is worth mentioning that Zhihu has made seven pre-public offering investments between 2011 and August 2019. In this pre-IPO investment, Zhihu has achieved A round, B round, C round, D round. Round, D1, E and F rounds of financing.

　　At the same time, Zhihu introduced that the company's investors include a number of professional equity investment funds such as Innovation Works, Qiming Ventures, SAIF and Capital Today, as well as well-known Internet technology companies such as Tencent, Kuaishou and Baidu.

　　In March 2021, Zhihu, which has been established for ten years, was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

If the IPO in Hong Kong on April 22 goes smoothly, Zhihu is expected to become the first Chinese Internet company to return to Hong Kong through dual main listing.

　　According to the prospectus submitted by Zhihu, Zhou Yuan, the founder, chairman and CEO of Zhihu, holds 11.64% of the shares, Tencent holds 12.02%, Innovation Works holds 9.65%, and Qiming Venture Partners holds 9.65% of the shares. 8.27%.