China’s Newly-Public 36KR Stutters In Early Trading

Shares of 36KR, a China-based publishing and data company focused on the ‘new economy,’ struggled in early trading today, its first as a public company.

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The trouble came with some foreshocks. As Nasdaq.com notes, 36KR cut the size of its offering to just under 1.4 million shares from 3.6 million (with Nasdaq noting that “[i]nsiders still intend to purchase $20 million worth of shares in the offering” amounting to more than 90 percent) at a price interval of $14.50 on the low side and $17.50 at the top. The company may sell another 200,000 shares to its underwriters if they so choose, possibly raising more capital in its IPO.

36KR priced the downsized offering at $14.50 per share, the bottom of its range, raising just over $20 million before fees and costs, making its IPO rather small.  Provided that we’ve done the Class A to ADS translation correctly, the firm was worth around $524 million at its IPO price.

However, that figure has fallen as 36KR’s stock has slipped. As of the time of writing, 36KR is worth $13.80 per share, down about 5 percent.

Why We Care

As we reported during our first look at the 36KR debut, the company’s filing came after reports that the United States government was contemplating limiting Chinese companies’ access to its domestic financial markets. That possibility appears shelved for now.

And, the company had some passing similarities to Crunchbase, the company who powers, hosts, and founded Crunchbase News, making it a fun deal to peek at. (For more on how 36KR publishes, collects data, and more head here.)

Matrix Partners China, e.ventures, Ant Financial, and Infinity Ventures put money into the company while it was private. 36KR is going to be one hell of a company to watch during quarterly earnings. Its model is fascinating.

Illustration: Li-Anne Dias.