Lashou: A New Race to Market for Homegrown China Groupon

A new race looks to be shaping up to be first to market in China’s wildly hot group buying space. First I wrote last month about a company named Dianping that was moving toward what looks like an IPO in the latter half of this year, (previous post). Now we’re hearing about another company called Lashou making similar moves (English article; Chinese article). According to one report, Lashou is getting a major round of late stage venture money around mid year, which looks  suspiciously like pre-IPO funding. This looks a lot like the race that developed late last year between video sharing sites Youku (NYSE: YOKU) and Tudou, which was ultimately won by Youku. It’s probably too early to say who’s ahead this time, though Dianping may have an early lead due to the more advanced stage of its venture funding. Look for some nice returns to whoever makes it first.

VERDICT: Look for a race between Dianping and Lashou to be China’s first group buying site to make an overseas IPO this year, with Dianping having a slight early lead.