Qudian (趣店)

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    Qudian (趣店集团) (NYSE:QD) is a Chinese fintech company that specialises in the provision of small online credit to consumers as well as tech services to established financial institutions.

    The company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange on 18 October 2017, and as of 2018 claims to have provided consumer finance services to over 60 million customers during the more than four years since its establishment in April 2014.

    Alibaba-affiliated Ant Financial is a key investor in the company.

    According to Qudian’s Chinese-language website the company uses big data in tandem with a “purely online automated model to identify customer behaviours and analyse customer needs, reducing customer acquisition costs for financial institutions, raising operating efficiencies and heightening the consumer experience.”

    Qudian also touts its “continuous expansion of research, development and investment in big data, cloud computing and AI, in order to provide better service to financial institutions.”

    The company was established in March 2014 by Luo Min (罗敏), and in November 2016 joined the National Internet Finance Association of China as a directing institute, providing it with strong ties to both government and industry.

    The company originally focused on computer, communication and consumer electronics products before gradually expanding to sporting, luggage and cosmetics, as well as mobile phone leasing and second-hand mobile phone sales.

    Qudian is an authorised Apple dealer, and has also executed long-term strategic agreements with a number of well-known brands including OPPO, vivo, Lenovo and Dell.

    In August 2018 Qudian obtained USD$10 million from Series B Round funding, with investors including Source Code Capital (源码资本) and Bluerun Ventures (蓝驰创投).

    Series D Round financing in April 2015 raised approximately $100 million, with investors including Beijing Kunlun, Source Code and Bluerun, while Series Round financing raised a further $200 million August 2015, with Ant Financial serving as a key investor.

    Qudian listed on the New York Stock Exchange on 18 October 2017 with the $900 million IPO seeing the issuance of 37.5 million shares at $24.00 a piece.

    In January 2016 Qudian was listed by the Hurun report was one of China’s top 50 new finance companies for the year, while also placing fourth on the 2015 Fintech 100 list  and second on the 2016 Fintech 100 list released by KPMG.