Luckin Coffee, the Chinese coffee start-up trying to open up more outlets on the mainland than Starbucks, plans to list in the US in what is shaping up as a banner year for US IPOs.
The group on Monday filed paperwork with US regulators just days after it raised $150m from investors including US asset manager BlackRock in a funding round that valued the company at $2.9bn. Monday’s filing did not contain details on the number of shares to be sold in the IPO or the proposed price.
Fresh cash comes as the company pushes to overtake Starbucks by number of outlets in China. The company said last year it plans to open 200 to 300 outlets a month, putting it on track to overtake Starbucks, which has over 3,300 locations in China, by the end of this year.