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Nano Labs files for a $50 mn Nasdaq IPO

The company plans to raise $50 million through an Initial Public Offering on Nasdaq

Published: Jun 15, 2022 10:44:26 AM IST

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Nano Labs, a Chinese mining chip designer, founded by two former executives at Bitcoin mining hardware maker Canaan, has filed an IPO with Nasdaq to raise approximately $50 million.

The company has filed with the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its upcoming IPO on Nasdaq–the world's second-largest stock exchange. The founders of Nano Labs, Kong Jianping and Sun Qifeng, own 32.8 percent and 22.3 percent of the stakes in the company. Kong used to be the co-chairman and non-executive director at the rival firm Canaan but left the organisation due to alleged power disputes within the firm.

Jianping made a statement while filing with the SEC stating, "It is my intention that Nano Labs will be committed to developing the power of the Metaverse and walking among the key players to help the world explore and cognise the Metaverse." He added, "I am earnestly confident that the Metaverse will open a new era for humankind."

The filing for American depositary shares comes amid a plethora of regulatory issues in both China and the United States, resulting in a lack of offshore funding for any potential issuers from China. In 2022, there have been only two IPOs in New York, each raising $49.5 million, compared with the 28 IPOs that raised $5.8 billion in the last year.

Nano Labs is planning to turn into a metaverse business and is still going to go through with the Nasdaq without a potential product. Nano Labs has been facing major difficulties since China’s crackdown on crypto mining last year. The new regulations have become an obstacle for the company even though the company is responsible for making the parts used for mining crypto.

The majority of their revenue came from clients from China. However, due to last year’s crackdown, the company has had to open subsidiaries in Singapore to venture into the international market.

The SEC filing also stated, "These China-related risks could result in a material change in our operations and/or the value of our securities, or could significantly limit or completely hinder our ability to offer or continue to offer securities."

Nano Labs works on making integrated chips, better known as HTCs (high-throughput computing chips), that are used for mining many different cryptos like Bitcoin and Ethereum. The company states, "Our mission is to provide ubiquitous computing power to the Metaverse computing network with our fabless logic-memory integrated circuits."

Nano Labs has filed an IPO but has also talked about how it may face high risks. If a U.S. auditing agency fails to review Chinese records for three years, mainland Chinese companies could be barred from U.S. markets by 2023.

The writer is the founder at yMedia. He ventured into crypto in 2013 and is an ETH maximalist. Twitter: @bhardwajshash