Our timeline visualizes the 15 China-based fintech companies that have had exits valued at $1B or more, from the record-setting $4B acquisition of Du Xiaoman Financial to OneConnect's recent $3.7B IPO.
From payments to insurtech to lending, fintech companies are attracting investor attention. In 2018, startups in the space raised more than $45B, a record amount, while Q3’19 fintech funding recently clocked in with a quarterly record of nearly $9B.
China and Hong Kong have been no exception to the trend: fintech companies in the region raised a record $26B in 2018, and exits in the sector have been elevated over the past few years.
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Since 2017, 15 fintech companies based in China or Hong Kong have exited via an IPO or M&A deal valued at $1B+. Using CB Insights’ market intelligence platform, we visualized these exits together in one timeline.
See billion-dollar fintech exits by US companies here.
Our analysis included first exits by China- and Hong Kong-based fintech companies only. No billion-dollar fintech exits in the region occurred prior to 2017, as shown below. Data is as of 12/19/2019.
Please click to enlarge.
Key takeaways
ZhongAn Insurance is the highest-valued exit on our list, going public at a valuation of $11B in late 2017. The online insurtech company was launched in 2013 in a joint effort by China-based tech giants Alibaba, Tencent, and Ping An. ZhongAn became China’s first online-only insurer to break the $1.49B premium mark and has pursued technological innovations like blockchain; however, its stock has fallen by more than 50% since its IPO.
Qudian and Du Xiaoman Financial round out the top 3 highest-valued exits on our graphic.
Beijing-based electronics retailer Qudian raised nearly $955M in funding before going public at a valuation of $7.9B in 2017 (though its market cap has since fallen to $1.1B amid a difficult climate for China’s online lenders). Du Xiaoman Financial, which is the only M&A deal featured in our graphic, was acquired by a consortium of investors led by TPG Capital and Carlyle for $4B in 2018.
Financial account management platform OneConnect is the most recent exit to appear on our graphic: the Ping An spinoff went public at a valuation of $3.7B in December 2019 — a significant downround since its $8B valuation in January 2018.
Futu Securities is the only Hong Kong-based company to exit with a $1B+ valuation. The online stock trading company went public at a valuation of $1.3B in March 2019.
Seven companies on our list reached $1B+ private unicorn valuations prior to exiting: ZhongAn ($8B private valuation), OneConnect ($8B), Lakala Payment ($1.6B), Qudian ($1.2B), Tiger Brokers ($1.1B), 9f Group ($1B), and 51Xinyongka ($1B).
| Company | Valuation at Exit ($M) | Exit Type |
|---|---|---|
| ZhongAn Insurance | $11B | IPO |
| Qudian | $7.9B | IPO |
| Du Xiaoman Financial | $4B | M&A |
| PPDai Group | $3.9B | IPO |
| OneConnect | $3.7B | IPO |
| 360 Finance | $2.4B | IPO |
| Lakala Payment | $2B | IPO |
| 9f Group | $1.8B | IPO |
| LexinFintech Holdings | $1.5B | IPO |
| Futu Securities (Hong Kong) | $1.3B | IPO |
| Jianpu Technology | $1.3B | IPO |
| 51Xinyongka | $1.3B | IPO |
| VCredit | $1.3B | IPO |
| Huifu Payment | $1.2B | IPO |
| Tiger Brokers | $1.1B | IPO |
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