Hypebeast Ltd., the collection of fashion and entertainment blogs that started out as an online sneaker forum, is on track for the best debut of any Asian initial public offering this year.
The company jumped as much as 2,000 percent on Hong Kong’s Growth Enterprise Market. It was up about eight-fold Monday afternoon, conferring a valuation of HKD2.1 billion ($270 million) on the company. If that holds, the 10-year-old company could chalk up Asia’s best first-day performance in 2016, surpassing the near-700 percent gain that Ching Lee Holdings Ltd. managed in March, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Chief Executive Officer Kevin Ma founded the company in 2005 to indulge his passion for athletic footwear. Hypebeast, a slang term for people who obsess over sneakers and lifestyle trends, has since morphed into a family of websites and an online store that generated HKD99 million in revenue in the year ended March 2015.
(Source: Business Of Fashion)