China is one of the fastest-growing medical aesthetic services markets in the world. Beijing-based So-Young’s social network and surgery e-commerce site raised $179.5 million in a Nasdaq IPO.

WHO: Founded in 2013 by Jin Xing, a former Tencent director, So-Young International is a Chinese marketplace and social networking app for cosmetic surgery. According to the company, the platform has connected 35 million users with more than 30,000 licensed doctors for aesthetic surgery services.

WHY: According to its prospectus, about 30% of the funds will be used in technological research and development (R&D), while 40% of the capital will be invested toward user acquisition and market expansion.

DETAILS:

• So-Young, listed on Nasdaq, raised $179.5 million in a US IPO.
• The company now has a market value of $1.8 billion.
• The company’s revenue surged 138% year-on-year to more than RMB 617 million (around US$90 million) with a net income of RMB 55 million in 2018.
• So-Young accounted for one third of China’s cosmetic treatments booked online last year, facilitating transactions worth 2.1 billion yuan, according to Frost & Sullivan.
• Its website soyoung.com recorded average monthly unique views of 10.3 million last year, while its mobile app has 1.4 million active users on it, according to the company’s prospectus.
• By charging clinics and doctors a fee for advertising and listing their services as well as the transactions, So-Young brought in US$89.8 million of revenue and is already profitable with net income of US$8 million for 2018, according to its prospectus.
• According to CrunchBase, So-Young raised a total of $229 million, with the most recent round being a $70 million Series E in September of 2018.
• Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings as one of the company’s backers invested US$3 million through its wholly owned subsidiary Chinese Rose Investment. Tencent also invested in So-Young’s competitors Gengmei and Meituan.
• Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and China International Capital Corporation Hong Kong Securities Limited acted as joint bookrunners for the offering. The co-managers of the offering were Canaccord Genuity LLC, ICBC International Securities Limited, and Needham & Company, LLC.