The firm plans to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, while its prospectus shows that revenue increased by 157% year-over-year in 2021.
Chinese online social platform Soul files a prospectus for IPO on HKEX on June 30. Bank of America and CICC acted as co-sponsors. According to its prospectus, the firm recorded a revenue of CNY 1.28 billion in 2021, a surge of 157% year-over-year. Besides, gross profit margin reached 85%.
Launched in 2016, Soul has become the dark horse in the field with innovative product features such as ‘soul-matching’ and interest mapping to build deep social relationships and gameplay. It is considered as a virtual amusement park for Generation Z.
These innovative features drove user growth. In 2021, its monthly active users (MAUs) reached 31.6 million people, representing an increase of 51% year-over-year. At the same time, user stickiness is also high. 59% of all users on Soul’s platform are highly active as of 2021.
User engagement is an important measure of a thriving community. High interactivity further motivates users' willingness to post, forming a virtuous cycle of content production and consumption, which ultimately brings about a great enrichment to the platform's UGC ecosystem. In 2021, Soul users generated over 790 million new content, of which 35.9% is from MAUs.
In terms of business model, Soul mainly earns revenue through virtual props, membership subscriptions and other value-added services. In addition, Soul is also utilizing its open platform capabilities to expand into the to-business side in a variety of ways.
In the future, the firm plans to use the proceeds from the IPO to improve and upgrade proprietary technology, data analytics capabilities and develop the social metaverse.
Nonetheless, the social industry is highly competitive in China. Numerous domestic rivals such as Uki, Tantan and MOMO are looking for more shares and profit in the market.