“Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily”, April 13 (Reporter Chen Mei) After a lapse of two years, the Himalayas entered the Hong Kong Stock Exchange again.

Today, the Himalayas officially submitted a prospectus to attack the main board market of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Compared to 2 years ago, the Himalayan profit situation has improved significantly. In 2021-2023, revenue from subscriptions, advertising, live streaming and other innovative products reached 5.857 billion yuan, 6.61 billion yuan, and 6.163 billion yuan respectively.

For the same period, net profit was approximately $5,106 billion, and $3.7 billion, respectively; adjusted net profit was -718 million yuan, -296 million yuan and 224 million yuan, respectively.

Jiang Han, a senior researcher at the Pangu think tank, said in an interview with the “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily” reporter that profit is one of the important conditions for a company to go public, which increases the possibility of a Himalayan listing. “Judging from our own development, audio platforms have a broad market space as demand for audio content continues to increase. However, in order to achieve long-term stable profits, we still need to continuously optimize the quality of content, improve the user experience, and expand the number of paying users.”

Xiaomi, Reading, and Tencent all invested, and the valuation rose to 4.3 billion US dollars

According to the prospectus, the “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily” reporter noticed that the number of monthly active users in the Himalayas has remained stable.

From 2021 to 2023, the average number of monthly active users in the Himalayas was 267 million, 291 million, and 302 million, respectively; the average number of daily active mobile users was 31.5 million in 2021 and 30.26 million in 2023.

The Himalayas have been favored by capital since their inception. The Himalayas have gone through a total of 10 rounds of financing and have become veritable “unicorns”, according to data from CIFA Venture Capital Connect.

In 2014, KPCB Kaipeng Huaying China and Haina Asia Venture Capital Fund took the lead in participating in Series A investment of 11.5 million US dollars; a year later, Daohe Yuewen Group took the lead in investing in the Himalayas. Equity penetration shows that Wu Xiaobo, a financial writer, appeared among the leading partners.

In December 2015, capital such as Genesis Partners CCV, Zendai Group, Hanjing Family Office, CBC Broadband Capital, and Huashan Capital Westsummit Capital increased, and Himalaya completed Series B financing; in May 2016, Xiaomi Group and PricewaterhouseCapital joined the market; in November 2016, Xiaomi Group and PricewaterhouseCapital increased again, and also invested together with JD Technology, China Television Capital, Geoffei Capital, and Good Future Investment. Since then, the Himalayas have completed multiple rounds of strategic investments of 100 million yuan or more.

After 2017, the Himalayas have successively completed Series D financing of 100 million yuan, Series E financing of 900 million yuan, and strategic financing in April 2023. In previous rounds of financing, Zhangjiang Hi-Tech, Chunhua Capital, Tencent Investment, Pan-Atlantic Investment, Huatai Securities, and Watch News Network and Hewhale Capital all supported the Himalayas and used “real money” to become their investors.

According to the prospectus, the valuation of Himalaya, which has gone through 10 rounds of financing, also rose from the initial 3.45 million US dollars to 4.3 billion US dollars, close to 30 billion yuan.

To establish an “A+” platform, header content and IP are the keys

A person in the field of content production told the “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily” reporter that for content platforms, copyright issues are very important. “Copyright is the throat of all original content. Without copyright, there is no competitive advantage.”

The Himalayas, which are content platforms, are also well aware of this principle. In the prospectus, Himalaya stated that it has reached a long-term cooperation strategy with leading publishing houses, online literature platforms, content creators and key opinion leaders (KOLs) based on the leading PGC strategy.

In 2015, Himalaya signed a 20-year online audio copyright agreement with a subsidiary of Reading Text Group, which can produce a large number of audiobooks. At the same time, cooperation was reached with the Chinese comic and folk art performance group Deyun Club and others.

By the end of 2023, Himalaya had reached cooperation with more than 220 publishing houses, including CITIC Press. It is worth mentioning that after Wu Xiaobo's leader invested in the Himalayas, Wu Xiaobo also launched the paid audio product “Hear Wu Xiaobo Every Day” on Himalaya Radio in July 2016. The annual fee was 180 yuan/person, and it sold over 100,000 copies in 5 months.

In addition to leading PGC strategies, the Himalayas adopt the PUGC model, which is to observe PUGC creators, provide them with regular training, and produce professional quality content.

In the AI era, the Himalayas also used AI technology to establish an “A+” platform. On this platform, Himalaya matches PUGC creators with high-quality copyrighted content to produce highly appealing content.

At the same time, a content creation training program is provided through “Happy Broadcasting”. Of all PUGC creators who received more than RMB 100,000 in 2022, 94.8% continued to create and upload audio content in 2023.

Jiang Han, a senior researcher at the Pangu think tank, believes that AI technology has had a profound impact on companies such as the Himalayas:

First, AI technology can improve the efficiency and quality of content production, and achieve rapid generation and optimization of audio content through intelligent editing, speech synthesis, etc. This not only reduces the cost of content creation, but also improves the quality and appeal of the content;

Second, AI technology can also help the Himalayas achieve more accurate user recommendations and personalized services, and enhance user experience and stickiness;

In addition, AI technology can also open up new business models and profit margins for the Himalayas. For example, achieve more efficient commercial monetization through intelligent voice advertising, smart paid content, etc.

Himalaya said in its prospectus that the funds raised will be used to enhance content and empower content creators, while strengthening the operational efficiency of online audio around next-generation technology, AI and big data capabilities.