CHINA’S largest live-streaming platform DouYu International Holdings Ltd., backed by social media and gaming giant Tencent Holdings Ltd., has filed for a U.S. initial public offering (IPO) of up to US$500 million.

DouYu, which primarily focuses on the livestreaming of games, is one of several Chinese startups in the growing market for livestreaming in China, along with U.S.-listed rival Huya Inc. and Huajiao.

DouYu has exclusive streaming rights to 29 major tournaments in China, including League of Legends, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, and DOTA2, according to the draft prospectus which was uploaded to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission website overnight Monday.

DouYu was the largest game-streaming platform by average total monthly active users (MAUs) on both mobile and PC during the fourth quarter of 2018, according to the prospectus. The company had 159.2 million MAUs in the first quarter of 2019, representing year-on-year growth of 25.7 percent.

It set a placeholder sum of US$500 million for the IPO, which is used to calculate registration fees. The final IPO size could be different, though sources have previously said DouYu was looking to raise around US$500 million.

DouYu’s IPO could be one of the largest this year by a Chinese company in the United States, together with that of Luckin Coffee which also filed overnight.

Chinese companies have raised US$271 million through U.S. IPOs so far this year, with the biggest deal being that of Ruhnn Holding Ltd., which raised US$125 million, Refinitiv data showed.

China is the world’s largest game-streaming market, with approximately 4.9 times the monthly active users of the U.S. market in 2018, the prospectus said.

DouYu’s active users spent an average of 54 minutes per day on the platform in the fourth quarter of 2018.

DouYu is still loss-making and reported a net loss of US$127.4 million in 2018, up from US$91.33 million in 2017. Revenues jumped 94 percent to US$531.5 million last year.

(SD-Agencies)