QUTOUTIAO Inc., the Chinese news and video aggregation app backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd., filed for a U.S. initial public offering (IPO), saying it had an almost seven-fold increase in revenue for the first half of the year as losses also grew.

The Shanghai-based firm listed its offering size as US$300 million in its filing Friday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Qutoutiao, whose name means “fun headlines,” collects articles and short videos from professional media and freelancers and presents customized feeds to users on its namesake mobile application.

The company ranks fourth among the news apps in Apple’s Chinese App Store, after Toutiao, Alibaba’s UC Web Browser and Tencent News.

Qutoutiao, which counts Chinese Internet search giant Baidu as its largest customer, has about 17.1 million daily active users who spend about 56 minutes on the app daily, according to the filing. Monthly active users total about 48.8 million.

The firm’s net revenue for the first half of 2018 jumped to US$108.5 million from US$16.2 million from the same period a year earlier. As it focused on growing its user base and improving services, the company’s net losses mounted, rising to US$77.7 million for the first six months of 2018 from US$4.3 million a year earlier, according to the filing.

Because of Tencent’s investment in March, Qutoutiao said it expects to cooperate more closely with the Chinese e-commerce giant in various areas.

Qutoutiao said it plans to have its American Depository Shares listed on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “QTT.”

(SD-Agencies)