RENRENCHE was one of China’s hottest tech unicorns backed by investors including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. Now the car website could sell itself for a little over US$1,000.

The Beijing-based startup, which had a pre-money valuation of US$1.4 billion in a financing round just two years ago, has a preliminary plan to sell its major assets to online classified ad leader 58.com Inc. for HK$10,000 (US$1,290), according to sources familiar with the matter.

58.com will take over Renrenche’s Hong Kong entity, while offering at least US$4 million in loans to its mainland operations, said the sources. The parties have yet to finalize the deal and may not proceed with it, the sources said.

The deal may help bail out the car trading platform, which ran into financing troubles amid the unraveling of China’s once-booming sharing economy. Founded in 2014, Renrenche connects users seeking to trade second-hand vehicles, taking a smaller cut than offline dealers. Its backers include ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing, as well as venture firms like Shunwei Capital and Redpoint China. In 2018, it completed a US$300 million investment round led by Goldman Sachs, according to a company statement.

But competition with rivals like Uxin Ltd. and Softbank Vision Fund-backed Guazi.com — coupled with business disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic — quickly dried up funding for Renrenche.

One of its creditors, Argyle Street Management Ltd., is seeking a winding-up order in a court in the Cayman Islands, where Renrenche is registered, on the grounds that the firm was unable to pay back roughly US$15 million in debts, according to a court filing. (SD-Agencies)