By
Godfrey Benjamin
May 6th, 2024
OneConnect, the fintech arm of China’s largest insurance company Ping An Insurance, has filed for an IPO with the SEC.
It has been evident in the last few years that companies within the blockchain, cryptocurrency and fintech space are receiving a lot more institutional backing after years of being rather niche sectors of the business world. This is evidenced by the fact that many more prominent firms are taking on blockchain technology such as MasterCard, Air Canada, Barclays and so on. It is also evidenced by the fact that many private firms such as Facebook and JP Morgan are embracing cryptocurrency and the fact that fintech seems to be on the rise around the globe.
One of the latest efforts in this regard is by OneConnect Financial Technology, the fintech arm of Peng An, which is the largest insurance company in China. They have filed for an Initial Public Offering with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and intend to have their listing put on the NASDAQ.
Reaching for the Stars
According to the official filing, OneConnect intends to raise about $100 million through its IPO. They are one of many firms within the sector that have filed for an IPO such as Bitmain and Canaan. According to reports from September 2019, the company had attempted to go public in Hong Kong but was unable to do so at a higher valuation. At the time, the underwriters for the IPO were Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, HSBC and they had hoped to raise $1 billion with an IPO valuation of $8 billion.
OneConnect is the fintech arm of one of the largest insurance companies in China and is backed by Softbank, which led a series A round of funding back in 2018 that brought the company’s valuation to $7.8 billion according to official documents.
Besides this, the company has a keen interest in blockchain as Ping An has the second-highest number of blockchain patents in China and according to the official statement for the year, OneConnect will dedicate one percent of all its revenue towards blockchain development. This is significant as blockchain development has seen an increase within China with their president even calling for more blockchain development a few weeks ago.
OneConnect also has eight research Institutes and 50 development labs dedicated to blockchain technology and was one of the earliest members of the R3 blockchain consortium. According to one of their recent whitepapers, they have identified 14 possible use cases for blockchain technology and should they be successful with this IPO, they will likely have more resources to dedicate towards blockchain technology development.