Source: C Labs Crypto Observer
As the stablecoin giant Circle is about to go public (how profitable are stablecoins? Detailed explanation of Circle's prospectus), recently many Chinese stocks, such as China Everbright Holdings as an early investor in Circle, have seen a significant stock price increase.
Moreover, Everbright invested quite early, back in 2016.
As a Chinese venture capital giant, IDG led Circle's Series C round as early as 2015.
Everbright's D round in 2016 was exclusively invested by investors with Chinese backgrounds.
It is understood that Circle's post-investment valuation in the D round in 2016 was $480 million, so Circle may have up to 20% of its shares in Chinese hands.
Behind these Chinese investors' investment in Circle, there was a story that people no longer mention:
Circle announced plans to expand into the Chinese mainland market in 2016 and established an independent subsidiary called "Circle China" aimed at providing cross-border payment and digital currency services to Chinese consumers.
Later, due to increasingly strict government regulations on cryptocurrencies and related financial services, Circle faced challenges in its mainland China business and ultimately completely withdrew from the Chinese market.
Although Circle China's business exited China, these Chinese investors' shares remain.
Besides the previously mentioned IDG and Everbright, other institutions are also well-known, including: (former) internet giant Baidu, private enterprise giant Wanxiang Group (later evolved into Hashkey), fintech giant Yixun, and the renowned CICC.
According to the latest prospectus, Circle and existing shareholders will collectively issue 32 million Class A common shares, of which 19.2 million shares (60%) will be sold by existing shareholders, and the remaining 12.8 million shares (40%) will be newly issued by the company.
Interestingly, many of the shares being sold come from "other" shareholders.
The proportion of existing shareholders selling shares in this IPO is higher than in typical tech company IPOs, but it still attracts market enthusiasm.
BlackRock and Cathie Wood's ARK Invest have both expressed their intention to subscribe to a large number of shares, wondering if American capital is now taking over the shares from Chinese investors.
