Meituan Dianping, an online food delivery-to-ticketing services firm, closed 5.29% higher on its trading debut on the Hong Kong stock exchange as investors were confident that such platforms would continue to expand. Meituan priced its initial public offering (IPO) at HKD69 per share and aimed to raise USD4.9 billion as investors were banking on the growth potential of the online lifestyle services platform. At the listing ceremony in Hong Kong, Wang Xing, Meituan’s CEO, praised the role of the company’s almost 600,000 delivery persons and 50,000 employees in fueling its growth. “I also want to thank Steve Jobs, thank Apple, without iPhone, without mobile internet, everything we do today wouldn’t have been possible,” he said.

Founded in 2010 by Wang Xing, Meituan merged in 2015 with its then main rival Dianping. In 2017, the Meituan Dianping platform generated over 5.8 billion transactions, with total transaction volume of CNY357 billion. Meituan’s total revenue in 2017 amounted to CNY33.9 billion, up from CNY13 billion the year before. In the 12 months ended April, Meituan saw more than 6.9 billion transactions valued at CNY410 billion. It has been expanding services from food delivery to ordering groceries, booking hotels, paying bills and bike rentals. CEO Wang Xing pointed out that the firm has expanded the search and booking of restaurants to include online information for entertainment services and food delivery. Meituan’s USD4.2 billion IPO was Hong Kong’s second-biggest tech-related IPO this year, and lifted 39-year old Wang’s net worth to USD5.3 billion based on his 11% stake in the company. At the company’s IPO roadshow in Hong Kong earlier this month, Wang told investors that Meituan “will be an indispensable part of the Chinese people’s lives and it’ll help Chinese eat better and live better”.

The overall size of China’s on-demand food delivery market is projected at CNY360 billion by the end of this year, according to mobile internet research firm Trustdata.