Tencent-backed Plastic Surgery App SoYoung Raises $179.4M in US IPO

On May 2, 2019, So-Young International, a Chinese online marketplace for plastic surgery services, has raised $179.4 million in its IPO in the US after selling 13 million American depositary shares (ADSs) at $13.80 apiece, according to its SEC filing. The lead underwriters include Deutsche Bank and CICC.

Prior to the IPO, the company had raised about $229 million in funding over six rounds. It raised $70 million in its Series E funding round led by Orchid Asia Group Management in September 2018. Matrix Partners China invested in the company in 2014 while Tencent Holdings led So-Young’s $50 million Series C funding in March 2016. 

procedures through its app and websites as well as share treatment experiences via posts, pictures, and videos. So-Young generates revenues primarily through information service fees and reservation fees charged to medical aesthetic service providers. Its revenues increased rapidly by 428.2 percent from 49.1 million yuan ($7.3 million) in 2016 to 617.2 million yuan ($92 million) last year. 

According to the prospectus, 30% of the funds raised are planned for technology investment and R&D; 20% for brand promotion and user acquisition; 20% for business expansion, and the other 10% for platform content enhancement and possible cooperation investments.

As an Internet startup company founded less than 6 years, SoYoung has taken the lead in achieving profitability in 2017, making it the first in the industry. In 2018, the company achieved an operating income of RMB617 million（$89.9 million，an increase of 138%, a net profit of 55.08 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 220%. Since the beginning of this year, the performance of New Oxygen Technology has continued to maintain rapid growth. In the first quarter of 2019, New Oxygen Technology achieved an operating income of 206 million yuan, an increase of 81.8% over the same period of last year; net profit was 45.9 million yuan, up 49.9% year-on-year.

According to a Frost and Sullivan study cited by So-Young, the medical aesthetic service industry in China is highly fragmented, competitive, but rapidly growing. In 2018, there were approximately 10,000 medical aesthetic service providers in the country, the report added. 

" SoYoung is China's most popular Internet medical aesthetic service platform and we help users to seek, evaluate and make appointments for medical services. We hope that NASDAQ and global investors could benefit from supporting us," said JinXing, CEO and founder of SoYoung.