China's mobile internet company CooTek floated on NYSE raising $52m

NEW YORK -- CooTek (Cayman) Inc, a mobile internet company based in East China's Shanghai, was listed on New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Friday.

CooTek issued 4.35 million American Depository Shares (ADS) raising $52.2 million. Each ADS of CooTek was priced at $12, the low end of predicted price range of $12 to $14.

The share price of CooTek was traded lower than its opening price of $11.5 in the first four trading hours of the first trading session.

CooTek earns revenues mostly from advertisement with its software product TouchPal Keyboard and other APPs on fitness and healthcare.

CooTek plans to use capital raised from the initial public offering for research and marketing of products.

By June 2018, TouchPal Keyboard developed by CooTek had 125.4 million daily active users from over 200 countries and regions.

The main purpose of floating on the NYSE is to improve the impacts of company image and attract more talents, said Michael Wang, chief executive officer with CooTek.

Wang told Xinhua that the company would consider opening new offices in the United States, Europe or Asia where targeted talents are located.

CooTek had near 400 employees by the end of 2017, 57 percent of whom focus on research and development, according to prospectus of the company.

The fast growth together with profitability with CooTek mainly resulted from technological strength of the company, said Wang, adding that more could be spent in reinforcing overseas market and reaping dividend of mobile internet in various countries.

CooTek registered $3.5 million of profits and $50.3 million of revenues in the first half of 2018 mostly from markets outside China, according to the prospectus.

Credit Suisse Securities, BofA Merrill Lynch and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. are the joint bookrunners of the listing.