Chinese Travel Search Qunar Files for NYSE IPO

Travel search and service provider Qunar just filed with the SEC, planning to raise $125 million in an IPO on the NYSE under the ticker QUNR.

Incorporated in 2005, the company received $306 million in investment in June 2011 from Baidu who now owns 61% of Qunar. As of June 2013, the company has 1699 employees.

Apart from a travel search, Qunar also operates a marketplace for online travel agencies with transactions being powered by an in-house developed system named TTS (Total Solution).

The company claims its the largest “among all non-state-owned online travel companies in China in terms of monthly unique visitors since November 2010”. It had 203.2 million users, with 39.6 million on mobile, in the 12-month period ended June 30, 2013

The company makes revenues from performance-based paid searches and commissions, and display advertising. The total revenue in 2012 is $81.75 million and that for the first half of 2013 is $58.46 million. Of the total for H1 2013, 88% is from performance-based marketing services, 7% from display advertising and the rest from other services. The company hasn’t turned a profit yet, having $2.8 million in net loss in the first half of this year.