(Reuters) - Chinese content aggregator Qutoutiao Inc, which is backed by technology giant Tencent Holdings Ltd, filed for an initial public offering of up to $300 million with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.
Qutoutiao, which means "fun headline", collects articles and short videos from professional media and freelancers and presents customized feeds to users on its namesake mobile application.
The company ranks fourth among the news apps in Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)'s Chinese App Store, after Toutiao, Alibaba (NYSE:BABA)'s UC Web Browser and Tencent News.
Qutoutiao, which counts Chinese internet search giant Baidu as its largest customer, said in its preliminary filing http://rrdoclib.amers.ime.reuters.com/doclibsite/EdgarView.aspx?_id=48092640 that it had 32.1 million monthly average users in the quarter ended June 30.
The Shanghai-based company said it plans to have its American Depository Shares listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "QTT".
The filing did not reveal how many shares the company planned to sell or their expected price.
The amount of money a company says it plans to raise in its first IPO filing is usually a placeholder. The final size of the IPO could be different.
Citigroup (NYSE:C) Global Markets, Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) Securities, China Merchants Securities (HK) Co Ltd and UBS Securities and KeyBanc Capital Markets are the underwriters for the IPO.