There’s no new Chinese IPO on Nasdaq from Tudou’s August listing on. Lashou.com, one of the most audacious group buying services was wildly rumored to and highly expected to be the next one till latest rumor shattered the picture.
Just like Groupon’s uneven IPO process, the IPO journey for Lashou is also a bumpy one.
In October, Lashou was reportedly selecting CCIG (China Capital Investment Group), Nomura Securities and Barclays as new main underwriter to replace Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Everything seemed fine and fared normally. Then earlier this month, the Beijing-based service held up its IPO roadshow to clarify accounting issues with the SEC. Barclays is the lead underwriter.
The company planned to raise US$ 80 million by selling 5.4 million American Depositary Shares at a range of $13-$15.
According to its prospectus, in the year ended December 31, 2010 Lashou lost US$ 10 million while had 1.62 million in revenue. For the first half of 2011, Lashou brought in $8.9 million in revenue while lost a staggering $60.5 million.
Founded in September 2009, Lashou raised US$ 166 million in total from three rounds of funding:
Series A July 2010 US$ 5 million
Investors: GSR, Rebate Networks GmbH, Taishan Invest.
Series B Dec 2010 US$ 50 million
Investors: GSR, Rebate Networks GmbH, Tenaya, Norwest Venture Partners.
Series C Mar 2011 US$ 111 million
Investors: GSR, Milestone, Reinet Columbus Limited, IPROP Holdings Limited, Tenaya.
Pump and dump!