Benzinga | Mar 17, 2021 08:54AM EDT

Chinese AI Social App Soul Secretly Files For $300M US IPO: Bloomberg

The company backing Chinese social networking platform Soul App has privately filed for a U.S. initial public offering (IPO), Bloomberg reports.

* Shanghai Renyimen Technology Ltd could raise about $300 million from the listing, which is expected to occur by 2021. China International Capital Corp was advising the app company. The company was valued at over $1 billion before the IPO.

* Launched in 2016, Soul reportedly matched like-minded users through artificial intelligence-enabled recommendations. Users could chat, opt for text and voice chat, participate in group chats and post to a public forum after being categorized based on a quiz response.

* The app had over 100 million users in China, with above 30 million monthly active users. The service was also available in South Korea, Japan, and North America.

* Soul acknowledges GGV Capital and 5Y Capital among its backers.

* In 2019 Soul was suspended by the Cyberspace Administration of China for alleged pornographic content distribution.

* Recently, Sprinklr confidentially filed for an IPO, joining over 60 operating companies so far in 2021 against the backdrop of an IPO boom.