After WeWork’s unsuccessful IPO, several long-term apartment rentals startups in China are preparing to list on Nasdaq. Q&K (青客公寓) will likely be the first, planning to raise $100 million, according to the SEC filing.
Firms like Q&K will lease apartments from individual landlords, renovate the space with uniform styles, and then sublease fully-furnished rooms to tenants, who are mainly young urbanites looking for affordable housing. Q&K reported a net revenue of USD 129.6 million in the fiscal year 2018, up 70.3% year-on-year. Net losses however doubled to USD 72.8 million in the same period. [kr-asia]
I do believe they are similar to WeWork in many aspects.
Q&K is more like a test for investors’ current appetite (especially needed after WeWork), with two other bigger players waiting in line. Not surprisingly, those are backed by Alibaba and Tencent respectively.
Ant Financial-backed Danke (蛋壳公寓) and Tencent-backed Ziroom (自如) both are also looking for an IPO to raise $500 million – $1 billion.
Danke raised $500 million in February 2019.
Ziroom raised $500 million in June 2019.