VCs to exit China job site as Meitu buys majority stake

Meitu, a photo editing and sharing community operator that went public in Hong Kong in 2016, will pay HK$395.5 million ($50.4 million) for a 57% interest in Dajie. Offshore shareholders – including the venture capital firms previously named – will receive HK$342.9 million to be satisfied through the allotment of Meitu stock. Shareholders in Dajie’s onshore structure will get HK$52.5 million in cash.

NLVC holds a 24.38% stake in the company, while SBCVC and Hotung own 6.21% and 2.06%, respectively. A SoftBank-related investment entity – SBCVC was formerly known as China SoftBank Venture Capital – has a 5.06% interest in the onshore structure.

Hotung participated in a $3 million Series A round alongside Fidelity Growth Partners in 2011, AVCJ Research’s records show. NLVC and SBCVC led the $20 million Series B in 2012 and re-upped in a RMB200 million ($31.5 million) Series C in 2015. New Oriental Education & Technology and Shenzhen Co-Stone Capital also took part.

Another funding round of RMB100 million came in 2017, led by Winshare Capital and NLVC. The company valuation at the time of the Series D was RMB520 million, according to a Meitu filing. There was also a Series E round in February 2018 at a valuation of RMB600 million.

Dajie was founded in 2008 by Xiujuan Wang, who previously played a role in start-ups such as Renren and Kongzhong.com. She will continue to lead the business – while retaining a minority interest – and become COO of Meitu.

Dajie runs an online social networking platform that provides information on career development as well as matching services for recruiters and job seekers. It posted a net loss of RMB26.9 million in 2018 compared to a loss of RMB86.7 million the previous year. Meitu said the acquisition would broaden its product offering while helping accelerate growth and offer more monetization opportunities for Dajie.

Meitu had 332.2 million monthly active users as of December 2018, of which 80% are under 35 years old. The company generated revenue of RMB2.79 billion for the year and recorded a net loss of RMB1 billion.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Trade sale
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• Softbank China Venture Capital
• Northern Light Venture Capital