The Silicon Review ^Asia

The Chinese app, Meituan that claims to fulfill any and every booking needs of users has finally gone public. It was created after the merger of Meituan and Dianping, two competitors in the booking sphere. The initial public offering is sponsored by Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Initial reports claim that Meituan is looking to raise over $4 billion. The company, however, refused to disclose any information about its valuation or fundraising.

It is interesting to note that the merger of Meituan and Dianping saw the collaboration between Alibaba and Tencent, the rival Chinese behemoths. Dianping was backed by Tencent while Alibaba was one of Meituan’s investors. Alibaba has sold most of its stake from the merger to focus on other ventures while Tencent continued to back it. Last year, Tencent led a massive $4 billion Series C round of investment for the app.

Meituan allows users to make hotel reservations, purchase movie tickets, and make spa and salon appointments as well as book transportation. This is a significant growth, given that the company initially focused on hotel reservations and food delivery. Experts agree that such a business model attracts and converts more customers across verticals and bolsters active usage.

Meituan currently boasts of over 300 million active users and over 4.4 million subscribed merchants catering to the enormous base of customers.