Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu, often called 'China's Instagram,' is preparing for a confidential initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong, aiming to file by the end of June. The company, which was valued at $31 billion in September 2024 (down from a reported $50 billion in late 2023 but up from $17 billion in early 2024), is working with advisors such as Goldman Sachs and CICC. Investors have reportedly urged the 13-year-old company to go public, seeing it as an optimal time for tech debuts in Hong Kong, despite potential threats from emerging AI services.
A key part of Xiaohongshu's IPO strategy involves significantly increasing its male user base, a departure from its historically female-dominated user profile (90% female in 2021). The platform has adopted a three-pronged approach: cleaning up its content, investing in sports content to attract men, and maturing its livestream e-commerce. It plans to spend no less than 1 billion yuan, approximately $147.9 million, to acquire broadcasting rights for the 2026 FIFA World Cup for the US, Canada, and Mexico, making it a unique public internet platform with these rights in those regions outside of CCTV's own platforms and Migu.
This push for male users and the World Cup rights are seen as crucial for Xiaohongshu to break through growth ceilings in its existing female user base and present a new growth curve to investors. The company aims for its male users to drive daily active users (DAU) to 200 million. However, this strategy has been controversial, with past attempts to attract men leading to issues where the platform's algorithms reportedly filled new male users' feeds with sexualized images of women and girls, and female users reported an increase in harassment and misogynistic comments, leading them to feel the platform was no longer a safe space. Xiaohongshu has previously disavowed some problematic ad campaigns attributed to external agencies.
The company, founded in 2013 by Charlwin Mao and Miranda Qu, has evolved from a shopping guide app into a major lifestyle and social-commerce platform. It competes with ByteDance's Douyin (China's TikTok) and is backed by prominent investors including Tencent Holdings, Alibaba Group Holding, Hillhouse Investment, and GSR Ventures. Xiaohongshu projects its profit to reach about $3 billion in 2025, according to reports. The IPO size and final valuation are yet to be disclosed, and Chinese regulatory approval for the Hong Kong listing could take months.
