In a blink of an eye: Meitu users can use MeituPic, a photo-editing app, for some easy and quick enhancements of pictures. (Photo : Meitu)
Who doesn’t want to look good?
Meitu wants people to look good and, in the process, aims to earn some billions of dollars making people look strikingly attractive.
Xiamen Meitu Technology targets to gather up to $200 million by reportedly considering an initial public offering (IPO) this year in Hong Kong, according to ZDNet.
If such push through, the company’s valuation may balloon to “as much as $3 billion.”
Qiming Venture Partners, a Chinese venture capital firm, and International Data Group (IDG), an American technology media, data and marketing services company headquartered in Boston, supported Meitu when it sought venture capital financing.
Meitu’s valuation hit $2 billion in 2014 after it gained $360 million from finishing three rounds of venture capital financing, according to its website.
For long-term results, people who wish to have fair and blemish-free skin would normally see a dermatologist; on the other hand, those who seek instant gratification from a picture-perfect shot of themselves tend to download Meitu’s image-editing app.
The app can also make a person’s face, arms, legs and thighs appear thinner and longer.
The Chinese embraces having fair skin because it is one of their standards of beauty. Therefore, it’s not surprising anymore why so many in the country download picture-enhancing apps.
As of February, Meitu ranked fifth and eighth in China and in the world, respectively, on the list of the top 10 companies with most number of downloaded apps, according App Annie, a San Francisco-based analyst and business intelligence firm.
Meitu’s website said that as of Oct. 31, 2015, the app’s monthly active users reached 210 million, with 52 million active users daily.
The app is known in 18 countries, and the company estimates to provide services to more than 1 million subscribers worldwide.
Founded in Oct. 2008, Xiamen Meitu Technology operates branches in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Xiamen. Abroad, Meitu makes its presence felt in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taipei, and in Los Angeles and San Francisco in California.
