Pedestrians stroll previous a CHAGEE retailer in Shanghai, China on March 14, 2025.
CFOTO | Future Publishing | Getty Photos
Chinese language bubble tea chain Chagee filed for a U.S. preliminary public providing on Tuesday, looking for to commerce on the Nasdaq utilizing the ticker “CHA.”
The IPO submitting comes as the corporate prepares to open its first U.S. retailer within the Westfield Century Metropolis Mall in Los Angeles this spring.
Since its founding in 2017, the corporate has grown to greater than 6,400 teahouses throughout China, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, as of Dec. 31, in keeping with a regulatory submitting. Roughly 97% of its places are in China.
Chagee mentioned it generated internet earnings of $344.5 million from income of $1.7 billion in 2024.
Founder and CEO Junjie Zhang created the chain to modernize tea consuming after being impressed by the success of worldwide espresso firms, in keeping with a regulatory submitting. China is Starbucks’ second-largest market.
Wanting forward, Chagee needs to “serve tea lovers in 100 international locations, generate 300,000 employment alternatives worldwide, and ship 15 billion cups of freshly brewed tea yearly,” in keeping with the corporate’s web site.
If Chagee goes public on the Nasdaq, it can be a part of the dwindling variety of Chinese language firms looking for a U.S. itemizing. From January 2023 to January 2024, the variety of Chinese language firms listed on the three largest U.S. exchanges fell by 5%, in keeping with the U.S.-China Financial and Safety Overview Fee.
As relations between the U.S. and Beijing have grown frostier, political scrutiny has dashed some Chinese language firms’ hopes of a U.S. IPO. Shein is now planning a London IPO for later this 12 months after lawmakers pushed again on its plans to go public on a U.S. alternate.
U.S. buyers may also be cautious to spend money on one other Chinese language beverage chain after the instance set by Luckin Espresso.
Luckin was based in 2017 and grew rapidly. By 2019, it had outnumbered the variety of Starbucks places in China and gone public on the Nasdaq.
However in 2020, Luckin disclosed that it had inflated its gross sales, leading to its delisting from the Nasdaq. The corporate filed for Chapter 15 chapter. Luckin emerged from chapter by 2022, minus the executives that had been liable for the fraud.
Since then, it has overtaken Starbucks as China’s largest espresso retailer by gross sales.
