Duodianxian (Beijing) Electronic Commerce Co., Ltd., an online retail service provider invested by Wumart Group, plans to launch an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States, according to people familiar with the matter.

People familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information was not made public, said that more freshness was being discussed with consultants, with the goal of listing as soon as the second half of this year. The company could raise about $500m, according to one of the people familiar with the matter.

In addition, Wumart is considering the possibility of listing in Hong Kong, according to people familiar with the matter.

The plans are at an early stage and details such as scale and timing are likely to change, according to people familiar with the matter. The multi-point fresh representative did not immediately reply to the email sent to the media communication email address shown on the company's website. Wumart's official phone calls have not been answered.

Duoxian was founded more than five years ago to provide online retail solutions to help traditional brick-and-mortar enterprises open up online channels with their cloud services and operating systems. According to the website, as of last October, the company had reached cooperation with more than 120 chain stores covering more than 13000 stores, with strategic investors including Tencent, IDG Capital and Lenovo.Venture capital and so on.