Chinese mobile recruitment app Boss Zhipin files for US IPO

Kanzhun Limited, which operates mobile recruitment app Boss Zhipin, has filed an application for an initial public offering with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The move came as the company, backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd, plans to raise funds for technology infrastructure investment, research and development, marketing expansion and developing new product and services.

According to the company's preliminary prospectus, it aims to get listed on Nasdaq, but it did not disclose pricing terms.

Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, UBS Investment Bank and China Renaissance are among the lead underwriters for the deal, the filings showed.

Founded in 2014, Boss Zhipin is a mobile platform that offers conversation opportunities among company executives, high-level management and job seekers. It is in competition with US-listed Chinese recruitment platforms such as 51.job and Zhaopin.

Boss Zhipin said its monthly active users reached 24.9 million in the first quarter of 2021, up 71.8 percent from a year ago, while paid enterprise customers reached 2.89 million as of March 2021.

The company said its overall revenue increased by 94.7 percent year-on-year to 1.94 billion yuan ($304.6 million) in 2020. For the first three months of this year, it earned 788.5 million in revenue, up 179 percent year-on-year.

Chinese financial media outlet Yicai reported that in November 2019, Tencent led a round of funding in Boss Zhipin, taking a 10 percent stake in the company at that time.