WIMI Hologram Cloud, a China's holographic AR software company, starts its IPO on the NASDAQ global market under the symbol WIMI. The company is going to raise $26 million by offering 4.8 million ADSs at $5.50, the low end of the range of $5.50 to $7.50, to command a market value of $325 million. The Benchmark Company, Valuable Capital, Maxim Group LLC, China Merchants Securities, AMTD Global Markets and BOCI Asia acted as lead managers on the deal.
China has a large number of Internet users and mobile Internet users. With the introduction of the underlying tool platform by system vendors such as Apple and Google, it is much more convenient for developers to create and apply diverse AR contents, enabling AR technology to quickly reach a large number of users. In addition, stores offering AR experiences are penetrating rapidly into shopping malls in China, which have enabled consumers to enjoy the AR experience at a low cost and promoted consumers' acceptance of AR.
Currently, advertisement is the biggest vertical of AR. According to Frost & Sullivan, the market size was estimated at RMB1.5 billion in 2016, and is expected to be at RMB7.8 billion by 2020, with a compound annual growth rate ("CAGR") of 71.6%, much higher than the growth of total online advertising market, which has a CAGR of 32.4% from 2014 to 2018. As AR technology keeps evolving to satisfy the advertisers' growing need, AR is expected to be largely used in advertisement. According to Frost & Sullivan, in 2025, the market will be valued at RMB143.9 billion with a CAGR of 79.1%, indicating a larger market share in total online advertising market in the next five years. Entertainment, including gaming and video, takes a huge share of AR sector as well, and it is expected to have a higher growth rate. In 2016 the market size was estimated at RMB0.6 billion and is expected to be at RMB6.8 billion by 2020, with a CAGR of 83.5%. Driven by the availability of AR SDK, improvement in smart phone performance, prospect of gaming industry, AR entertainment is expected to have a promising future, with a market size of RMB180 billion by 2025, indicating a CAGR of 92.6%, and surpassing advertisement to be the biggest application scenario of AR.
There are 4 key drivers in the China holographic AR industry:
1. Ultimate goal for visual display medium;
2. Advancement in technology;
3. Diversifying customer base and expanding application field; and
4. Government and policy support.
WIMI's Strategies
The company seeks to build WIMI's AR ecosystem through collaboration with partners and customers. The company intends to pursue the following strategies:
Bring holographic AR experience to broader mass market;
Continue to invest in technology and innovations;
Strengthen WIMI's AR content development capabilities and enrich WIMI's content library; and
Explore acquisition or investment opportunities.
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