ByteDance IPO

Many people are curious about the ByteDance IPO and whether they can invest in the new big player in the social media industry.

In this guide, you’ll find everything you need to know about ByteDance, including its financial performance, funding rounds, and whether they are going public soon.

About ByteDance

ByteDance is an internet technology company incorporated in the Cayman Islands but headquartered in Beijing, China.

They are most known for being the parent of the short video-sharing platform TikTok.

However, the company also has a variety of other online products and platforms, such as Mobile Legends, BuzzVideo, Vigo Video, Toutiao New Agency, and many more.

Zhang Yiming and Liang Rubo founded Bytedance in March 2012 after the creation of Toutiao, which later expanded into a larger entity that developed multiple platforms.

Around 2016 and 2017, ByteDance made a variety of acquisitions and launched several new products, including TikTok, which was the result of merging Musically and Flipagram together.

Throughout recent years, they came to public attention multiple times due to controversial suspicions of surveillance, censorship, and privacy issues, which is one of the factors that affected Bytedance’s plans for growth.

How Does ByteDance Make Money?

ByteDance is huge and one of the largest companies in the Internet technology industry. In fact, their revenue is expected to reach $23.5 billion by 2024, according to Oberlo.

ByteDance makes money through various streams, as it offers a variety of digital products. The primary source of income for ByteDance is TikTok, which mainly works by running ads through the platform.

In addition to ads, TikTok and ByteDance make money from in-app purchases. According to a report by Forbes, ByteDance’s TikTok alone made over $205 million in in-app purchases.

This exceeded the same metric within Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat combined in the same year.

ByteDance Funding Rounds and Top Investors

The lucrative business model of ByteDance encouraged many entities to invest in the company. As of 2023, the company has raised over $9.5 billion in investments over 12 funding rounds, contributing massively to its growth. Here’s a quick look at them:

• On July 1, 2012, ByteDance closed its first early-stage venture (Series A - ByteDance) funding round, raising $5.0 million from SIG Asia Investments (SIG China)
• On September 1, 2013, ByteDance closed its second early-stage venture (Series B - ByteDance) funding round, raising an undisclosed amount of money from multiple investors led by DST Global.
• On June 3, 2014, ByteDance closed its late-stage venture funding round (Series C - ByteDance), raising around $100 million from multiple investors, led by Sequoia Capital China, Source Code Capital, and Weibo.
• On April 7, 2017, another late-stage venture under the name of “Series D - ByteDance” raised a total of $1.0 billion from various investors, led by Sequoia Capital China, CCB International, and three others.
• On Aug 11, 2017, ByteDance completed a private equity funding round, which raised around $2.0 billion from General Atlantic.
• On January 1, 2018, a funding round under the name of (Venture Round - ByteDance) was raised around an undisclosed figure from New Enterprise Associates.
• On October 25, 2018, another funding round under the name of “Series E - ByteDance” raised over $3.0 billion from 13 investors, led by SoftBank Vision Fund, Primavera Capital Group, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, and General Atlantic.
• On April 10, 2019, ByteDance completed a debt financing round, which raised around $1.3 billion from various financial institutions, including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of China, and CMB Wing Lung Bank.
• On August 26, 2019, a funding round under the name of (Venture Round - ByteDance) raised around an undisclosed figure from GGV Capital.
• On March 30, 2020, ByteDance closed its first secondary market round, raising an undisclosed amount of money from Tiger Global Management.
• On December 11, 2020, ByteDance completed another major private equity funding round, which raised around $2.0 billion from various investors, led by Sequoia Capital and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts Japan.
• On March 15, 2023, ByteDance closed another secondary market round, which raised around $100 million from G42.

ByteDance IPO Outlook

According to Bloomberg, the latest investments of G42 in ByteDance increased its valuation to reach $220 billion.

Currently, ByteDance is yet to go public, although the company has been eyeing an IPO for a while now.

Despite that, they have a hard time going public due to PR problems and controversies that led the company’s heads to Congress hearings recently.

With that being said, ByteDance is still working hard to get its IPO plans in action in the near future, according to a report by Reuters.

Wrap Up

This marks the end of today’s guide, which shows you a brief overview of ByteDance’s financial profile and IPO situation.

As you can see, despite the company’s remarkable valuation, ByteDance is still trying its best to get its initial public offering plans up and running. However, as things stand, the road to an IPO might still be a little far ahead.

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If you are in the USA, register for the IPO here.

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The information in this article is well-researched and factual. Still, it contains opinions also, and IT IS NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE and should not be interpreted as such, do not make any financial decisions based on the information in this article; we are not financial advisors. We are journalists. You should always consult with a professional before making any investment decisions. We hold no stock or interests in any of the Companies discussed on this website/app.