(Yicai Global) Aug. 7 -- Weimob, a Chinese online marketing and cloud services provider backed by Tencent Holding, has applied for an initial public offering in Hong Kong to fund an expansion of its product offering.

A third of the funds raised from an IPO would go on research and development and tech infrastructure, the Shanghai-based company said in a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange yesterday. A quarter would be allotted for deals and investments; 15 percent for sales and marketing; and 10 percent for social media advertising, cloud-driven marketing, sales channel building and general operations.

Founded in April 2013, Weimob initially specialized in marketing services for WeChat's e-commerce shops, but diversified into software development, e-commerce, finance, investment and big data services over Tencent platforms such as instant messenger QQ and blog site Qzone. It had about 2.6 million SaaS clients at the end of March.

Weimob turned its first profit last year. The firm made CNY2.6 million (USD381,000) last year on a three-fold increase in revenue to CNY534 million. First-half profit this year was CNY11.1 million, a more than 13-fold jump from the previous year. It had revenue of CNY162 million in the first three months of 2018.

The company has raised funds five times in as many years, garnering more than CNY3 billion (USD439.4 million). The firm wrapped up a CNY1 billion (USD146,000) D round on April 20, led by two state-owned entities, the Shanghai Free Trade Zone Equity Fund and Shanghai Guohe Capital. Tencent Industry Win-Win Fund and Bohai Capital also took part.

Weimob tried to list on the A-share market before through a takeover by precision bearing manufacturer Tianma Bearing Group. That deal went south last year due to differences in business philosophies.

Editor: Emmi Laine