Last week, China’s answer to Starbucks, Luckin Coffee, joined the growing ranks of privately held Chinese companies with huge valuations, securing a $2.9bn pricetag after a capital-raising round led by BlackRock.
Luckin is now looking to snag an even higher valuation by securing a stock market listing in the US, adding to the ranks of Chinese companies lining up alongside American peers — the likes of Uber, Slack and Palantir — to offer shares to the public this year.
But while investment bankers are optimistic for China’s new breed of “unicorns”, privately held companies with billion-plus valuations, there are several reasons for caution.