Soul’s avatar-based socialization and virtual world Planets give the company the potential for these more immersive experiences.
The Chinese virtual social network app Soul announced on June 10 that it decided to withdraw its F-1 registration statement document and would no longer issue securities under the requirement.
Soul is a networking app operating a digital socializing space for China's Generation Z. On June 18, 2021, it closed a USD 167 million equity investment round led by Tencent and miHoYo, a mobile game developer. Before that, the company had snagged VC funding four times.
Previously, on May 10, 2021, Soul files prospectus to list on Nasdaq under the ticker “SSR.” Morgan Stanley, Jefferies, BofA Securities, and CICC were set to be the joint bookrunners on the deal.
On June 18, 2021, it filed an updated prospectus to issue 13.2 million ADSs at a price range of USD 13 to USD 15.
While later on June 23, Soul's listing was called off, with the management claiming to have "alternative financing options," and also its major shareholder Tencent's support.
Founded in 2016, the Shanghai-based company booked USD 102 million in revenue for the 12 months ended March 31, 2021, with an average daily active users (DAUs) of 9.1 million, a 94% increase over the prior-year period.
According to the previously submitted prospectus, before the IPO, Tencent is Soul’s largest external shareholder. Tencent holds 75,807,291 Class A ordinary shares of Soul through Image Frame Investment (HK) Limited, accounting for 49.9% of the shares and 25.7% of the voting rights.
The domestic competitors include Jimu (Chinese: 积木), MOMO (MOMO:NASDAQ) and TanTan.