HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong-based on-demand logistics startup Lalatech Holdings Limited, backed by Hillhouse and Sequoia Capital, has submitted an application to the Hong Kong stock exchange for an initial public offering (IPO).
Founded in 2013 as a mobile app-based on-demand delivery service platform, the company operates under Lalamove brand in Hong Kong and elsewhere in Asia, and as Houlala in mainland China.
Lalatech, which operates in more than 400 cities in 11 markets globally and aims to promotes the digitisation of freight transactions, turned profitable in 2022 for the first time since its inception, with adjusted profit of $53.2 million.
The logistics operator plans to use proceeds from the IPO to drive growth in its core business and expand its service offerings in mainland China over the next three to five years, it said in the prospectus filed to Hong Kong bourse on Tuesday.
It also aims to further accelerate its global expansion to capture the opportunities in the logistics market and the growth in the inter-city freight market, according to the filing.
The company did not specify how much it planned to raise from its IPO nor disclose a timetable for its listing.
Goldman Sachs, BofA Securities and JPMorgan Chase are the IPO sponsors.
(Reporting by Twinnie Siu; Editing by Mark Potter)