中国“独角兽”企业上市前融资数字遭质疑

Jianpu Technology, the Chinese financial comparison site poised to list later this year, has been stripped of its status as a “unicorn” worth $1bn after regulatory filings revealed it had inflated the funds raised from investors.

中国金融比价网站简普科技(Jianpu Technology)准备于今年晚些时候上市。在监管申报文件披露其夸大了从投资者手中融得的资金的金额后，该公司被剥夺了“独角兽”企业(估值超10亿美元的高科技企业)的地位。

Jianpu’s filing is the latest to raise questions over the veracity of fundraising claims by Chinese private companies, a flurry of which are now heading to market.

一些中国私人公司的申报文件让人们对它们融资说法的真实性产生了怀疑，简普科技的申报文件是最新的例子。目前，有一连串中国私人公司正准备上市。

Peer-to-peer lender Ppdai’s fundraisings detailed in its filing also fall short of earlier disclosures, according to calculations by Crunchbase, which collates its data from a variety of mostly publicly available channels, including US Securities and Exchange Commission documents.

Crunchbase的计算显示，P2P贷款机构拍拍贷(ppdai)在其申报文件中详述的融资额也低于其先前披露的金额。Crunchbase核对整理的数据来自多个渠道，其中大多为可公开访问的渠道，包括美国证交会(SEC)的文件。

The disparity in numbers, first reported in China Money Network, stands to undermine confidence in China’s unicorns — tech companies valued at more than $1bn — and prompt greater scrutiny of filings, most of which are lodged with the SEC.

这些数字上的出入最早是由中国金融投资网(China Money Network)报道出来的。它很可能会削弱外界对中国“独角兽”企业的信心，并使这些企业的申报文件(多寄存在美国证交会)受到更严格审视。

Investors have already balked at Qudian, the online lender backed by Alibaba’s payments affiliate Ant Financial. They sent its shares down some 20 per cent last week, an expression of suspicions Qudian had inaccurately described its business operations before its blockbuster $900m IPO on the New York Stock Exchange the week before.

之前，投资者已对线上贷款机构趣店(Qudian)表现出了踌躇不前的情绪。趣店得到了阿里巴巴(Alibaba)做支付业务的关联企业蚂蚁金服(Ant Financial)的投资。上周，投资者推动趣店的股价下跌了约20%，说明他们怀疑趣店在上市前对自己的业务经营描述得并不准确。不久前，趣店在纽约证交所(NYSE)重磅上市，融资9亿美元。

Qudian’s initial public offering prospectus put its bad-loan ratio at 0.5 per cent — an unusually low but not impossible figure, especially if was selling off bad debt to third parties, which is a common practice among online lenders.

趣店的首次公开发行(IPO)招股书称，其坏账率为0.5%——这是一个低得非同寻常、但也并非不可能的数字，尤其是如果它把坏账抛售给第三方的话(对线上贷款机构而言，把坏账抛售给第三方是一种常见做法)。

However, the actual bad-loan rate may be higher, given Chinese local media reports citing an interview with Qudian chief executive Luo Min that suggested the company had written off delinquent loans as charity payments to borrowers.

然而，趣店的真实坏账率也许要高一些，因为中国国内媒体援引趣店首席执行官罗敏在接受一次采访时说的话称，该公司把逾期贷款一笔勾销，就当是送给借款人的福利。

“For our bad debts, we will not do anything to collect the debt. If you do not return the money, then never mind,” said Mr Luo. “We will gift it to you as charity.”

“我们的坏账，一律不会催促他们来还钱，”罗敏说，“你不还钱，就算了，当作福利送你了。”

Qudian also states in its prospectus that about “90.8 per cent of active borrowers are between 18 and 35 years of age”, a description that local media criticised as a group most likely to include students. China banned online student loans in June after a spree of financial scams, including porn-for-payment schemes, targeted university students.

趣店还在其招股书中称“活跃用户有90.8%在18岁到35岁之间”，中国国内媒体针对这一表述提出了批评，称该群体很可能包含学生。在一连串金融诈骗——包括“裸条借贷”——瞄准大学生之后，中国于今年6月叫停了线上校园贷。

Qudian’s prospectus did not advertise a clear pre-IPO fundraising figure. However, Crunchbase says the company raised about $873m from a number of investors before it went public.

趣店的招股书未公布明确的IPO前融资数字。但Crunchbase表示，趣店在上市前从多家投资者手中融入了约8.73亿美元。

Chinese unicorns are fast catching up with their US peers in terms of value. According to CBInsights, which ranks and tracks the unicorn universe, three of the four biggest unicorns are Chinese. Altogether, Chinese unicorns comprise 41 per cent of the total global pie by value, not far below the 46 per cent for the US, according to Boston Consulting Group.

在估值方面，中国“独角兽”们正在飞快赶超美国同行。对“独角兽”企业进行排名和追踪的CBInsights表示，4家最大的“独角兽”中，有3家来自中国。波士顿咨询集团(Boston Consulting Group)表示，按估值衡量，中国“独角兽”合计占全球“独角兽”的41%，与美国46%的份额差距不大。

Ppdai, the online peer-to-peer lending platform, raised a total of $70.2m in five funding rounds, according to the Crunchbase database. But in its IPO filing it says it has raised $61.7m.

Crunchbase数据库显示，线上P2P贷款平台拍拍贷在5轮融资中总共融到7020万美元。但是，拍拍贷在其IPO申报文件中称，它融到了6170万美元。

Jianpu, which operates the Rong360 platform, claimed to have raised four rounds of funding worth a total $258m, according to Crunchbase. That compares with $186m detailed in its IPO filing. CBInsights last week dropped Rong360 from its unicorns list.

Crunchbase数据显示，作为融360 (Rong360)平台的运营方，简普科技声称自己进行了4轮融资，融资总额为2.58亿美元。这与其在IPO申报文件中逐项列出的1.86亿美元融资额差距明显。上周，CBInsights将融360剔除出其“独角兽”名单。

Ppdai and Rong360 declined to comment. Qudian did not respond several requests for comment.

拍拍贷和融360都拒绝置评。趣店未回应记者发出的数次置评请求。

Additional reporting by Don Weinland 唐•温兰(Don Weinland)补充报道