China Groupon Charging for IPO Gate

Looks like another China web wannabe is charging for the IPO gate, looking to be the latest first in its class to tap Western markets frothing at the mouth for the latest foamy Chinese Internet offerings. This time it’s an e-coupon web site called Dianping, and a report says the company’s gearing up for a financing round of more than $100 million which smells an awful lot like pre-IPO funding (Chinese article). I tend to be a bit of a naysayer on these first-to-market China web IPOs, but have no doubts that this one will be a hot one given Groupon’s rapid rise as a fast-rising bearer of e-coupons in the West. And Dianping has even been profitable if reports are to be believed. That comes in sharp contrast to Youku (Nasdaq: YOKU), China’s first video-sharing site to list, which hosted a red-hot IPO late last year but has posted a spottier record since then.