Luckin Coffee, the Chinese coffee startup trying to open more outlets on the mainland than Starbucks, plans to list in the US in what is shaping up to be a banner year for US initial public offerings. The group filed paperwork with US regulators just days after it raised $150 million from investors, including asset manager BlackRock, in a funding round that valued the company at $2.9 billion… The fresh cash comes as the company pushes to overtake Starbucks by number of outlets in China. Luckin said last year it plans to open 200 to 300 outlets a month, putting it on track to overtake Starbucks, which has more than 3,300 locations in China, by the end of this year… Luckin joins a growing list of companies lining up to go public in the US this year… Luckin’s core business is delivery and takeaway coffee, and unlike Starbucks, many of its stores do not have seating, allowing it to expand more rapidly… Since inception in June 2017, the company has expanded from one store in Beijing to 2,370 outlets in 28 cities in China as of end-March, with more than 16.8 million transacting customers and a customer repurchase rate in 2018 of more than 54 per cent. Last year, Luckin had net revenue of Rmb840.7 million ($125.3 million) compared with Rmb250,000 in 2017 with a net loss widening to Rmb1.6 billion last year from Rmb 56.4 million.

Nicole Bullock