Chinese marketing services firm Baosheng Media Group Holdings Limited raised $30 million by offering 6 million shares at a price of $5.00 per ordinary share on Monday. The shares started trading on Nasdaq at around 10:20 a.m. EST under the ticker symbol “BAOS”, surging 81.6% to $9.08.
Founded in 2014 in Beijing, BAOS provides marketing solutions, including online marketing strategies, advertising optimization, and delivers online ads such as search ads, in-feed ads, mobile app ads, and social media marketing ads.
Last Friday, Kuaishou’s stock skyrocketed in value as the TikTok-like video app scored the world’s biggest IPO since the coronavirus pandemic began. The Tencent-backed livestreaming platform shows the huge growth potential of short video market in China. Cooperating with Kuaishou, TikTok and search engine Sogou, Baosheng Media Group’s business has grown rapidly from a start-up online marketing agency to a multi-channel online marketing solution provider.
According to the Frost and Sullivan Report, Baosheng ranked fifth among independent online advertising service providers in China in 2018, and fourth among independent online advertising service providers by gross revenue generated through searching engine ads.
Wenxiu Zhong, Chairman/CEO/Founder at Baosheng, told Wall Street Multimedia that the company would expand its KOLs network and generate profit from livestreaming e-commerce in the future. A stronger media relation and KOLs network, as well as a diversified business model may strengthen BAOS’s core competency and broaden its market share among competitors in China.
Based on the company’s SEC filing, proceeds from the IPO will be used for expanding the company’s business scale and securing authorized agency status of additional media, building its own network of key opinion leaders, expanding its manpower and talent pool, and for general working capital purposes.
