SBUX Starbucks Corporation

   By Josh Beckerman 
 

Luckin Coffee Inc., a rapidly growing Chinese coffee chain, disclosed its plans for a U.S. initial public offering.

Luckin, which filed confidentially in February, said last that week it had a valuation of $2.9 billion after raising $150 million from investors including BlackRock Inc. (BLK).

Luckin was founded by Qian Zhiya, 42, who previously co-founded Chinese car-sharing service UCAR.

Within 18 months, Luckin expanded from a single trial store to 2,370 locations as of March 31. The vast majority of these are "pick-up" sites with limited seating, a format that helps Luckin "expand rapidly with low rental and decoration costs."

"We aim to become the largest coffee network in China, in terms of number of stores, by the end of 2019," Luckin said in its filing Monday. Its 2018 revenue was $125.3 million.

Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) has more than 3,600 China locations.

Luckin's growth has been fueled by strength in technology and delivery, including some "delivery kitchen" locations. Last year, Starbucks formed a delivery partnership with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA).

Luckin's IPO filing lists a $100 million amount of Class A ordinary shares, but that is a placeholder figure likely to change. The company has applied to list American depositary shares on Nasdaq under LK.

Write to Josh Beckerman at josh.beckerman@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 22, 2019 15:39 ET (19:39 GMT)

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