(Yicai Global) Sept. 14 -- Ximalaya filed for a listing in Hong Kong yesterday, four days after China's biggest online audio platform withdrew an application for an initial public offering in the United States. 

The funds raised will go on content development, marketing and brand building so as to further expand Ximalaya’s user base, as well as on potential partnerships and acquisitions, according to its prospectus. 

Ximalaya filed to go public with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on May 1, but it said in a statement on Sept. 9 that it was withdrawing the plan. Reuters reported that it had been pressured to pull the IPO by Chinese regulators amid tightening scrutiny of overseas listings.

The Shanghai-based podcaster had first-half revenue of CNY2.5 billion (USD389.3 million), an annual rise of 56 percent, with the average number of monthly active users reaching 262 million. The average number of monthly active paying users on mobile terminals reached 14.2 million in the period, up 66 percent from a year ago. 

Despite rising revenues, the firm has not yet turned a profit. It had income of CNY1.48 billion, CNY2.7 billion and CNY4.08 billion in 2018, 2019 and last year respectively, but it lost CNY3.14 billion, CNY1.93 billion and CNY2.88 billion in the same years. 

Xingwang Investment and Trustbridge Partners are the top two institutional investors in the platform, with stakes of 10.72 percent and 7.46 percent, while Chairman Yu Jianjun owns 13.53 percent. Other strategic investors include Tencent Holdings, China Literature, Baidu, Xiaomi and Sony.

Editor: Tom Litting