NEW YORK – The operator of mobile e-commerce start-up Wish yesterday filed documents for a share offering, revealing a user base of more than 100 million.
The filing by US-based parent firm ContextLogic said the platform is looking to expand the business that up to now has been connecting merchants based mainly in China with consumers around the world.
Wish’s initial public offering (IPO) filing said it is the most downloaded shopping app and operates in more than 100 countries, having shipped more than 640 million items.
The start-up said it had 108 million monthly active users at the end of September. It posted a loss of US$120 million (RM491.1 million) in the past quarter on revenue of US$1.7 billion.
Its most recent valuation based on funding rounds was US$11.2 billion, but the Financial Times said the company is aiming for a richer value in the IPO of US$25 billion to US$30 billion.
Wish’s slogan is “shopping made fun”, and includes videos and games as part of the retail experience.
“To enhance user engagement, we incorporate fresh gamified features, rich user-generated content, including photos, videos and reviews, and a wide range of relevant products to make shopping more entertaining,” said the IPO filing.
Its business has been focused so far on delivering goods at low prices from Chinese sellers, but has been expanding to bring in merchants from Europe, Latin America and North America.
“Through our diversified and global merchant base, we are able to offer a greater depth and breadth of categories and products,” said the filing.
“For example, in 2019, four out of the top 10 selling merchants on our platform were located in the US, selling refurbished electronics, beauty products and hobby items, which illustrates the ongoing diversification of our merchant base and product categories.”
The filing comes amid a wave of IPOs in the tech sector, including from delivery start-up DoorDash, gaming firm Roblox and home-sharing giant Airbnb.
Wish was founded by Polish-born Peter Szulczewski, who is chief executive of the firm launched in 2010. – AFP, November 21, 2020
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