WeDoctor, one of the online startups dedicated to healthcare in China founded in 2010, will continue with a listing in Hong Kong for which it has chosen the companies JPMorgan, Credit Suisse and CMB for an IPO.
This company founded by Liao, has over 210 million registered users mostly in China, who enjoy its online appointment booking, prescription and diagnostic services.
In addition, this startup, which is associated with 3,200 hospitals and 360,000 doctors, could become one of the largest technology companies to face volatile public markets this year. In this event, WeDoctor believes that it will obtain between $500 million and $1 billion. Also, they said that more banks could join the deal in the future.
The company WeDoctor, under the umbrella of Tencent Holdings Ltd, joins a large number of technology companies. Because they have set themselves the goal of transforming the traditional health care industry since the advent of COVID-19, they have seen shortfalls in the sector which has increasingly wealthy consumers who are willing to pay for health-related services.
Just a few weeks ago, WeDoctor hired a new CFO, J.Cai, who was chief operating officer of AIA Group Ltd. He also is going to be involved in discussions with the bankers in Hong Kong.
In addition, WeDoctor, who refused to make any statements about his intentions to go public, is backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd and Goldman Sach, so he could get up to 1 billion dollars in the IPO, positioning himself in the top positions of this city since this new outbreak of the coronavirus appeared. This would show us that, although the city’s capital markets in China have been affected by COVID-19, they could be confident again by the second half of the year.
In fact, the entity’s latest valuation was around $5.5 billion, having raised $500 million in a round of private funding in 2018.
This IPO will take place two years after its main competitor, Ping An Good Doctor, raised $1.1 billion in an IPO, although its shares subsequently fell when investors became concerned about their high valuation.
Source: Reuters, Bloomberg, CrunchBase
