Ant-backed bike-sharing company Hello seeks US listing

Chinese bike-sharing giant Hello Inc has confidentially filed for a U.S. initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter, joining a wave of technology firms seeking to take advantage of surging valuations to sell shares, Bloomberg reports.

Hello, backed by Ant Group Co., has started gauging investor demand recently after submitting its filing in the U.S., the people said, asking to not be identified discussing private information. The startup is working with China International Capital Corp., Credit Suisse Group AG and Morgan Stanley for the listing, according to the people.

The company has yet to decide the size and valuation of the IPO, though IFR has reported that it was examining plans to raise as much as US$1 billion. Hello, CICC, Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley declined to comment.

The Shanghai-based startup – previously known as Hellobike and sometimes referred to as Hello TransTech – is one of the few firms to survive China’s bike-sharing bubble, which had attracted billions of dollars in investment at its height before going bust.