How lonely is China’s Gen Z? Tencent-backed social networking app Soul poses the question as it files for Hong Kong IPO

Soulgate, the Tencent Holdings-backed operator of Soul, an app that helps China’s Generation Z to make friends, has filed for a listing in Hong Kong after last month officially ending its plan for a US initial public offering.

Soulgate’s market debut will be a test of whether investors have appetite for a business based on lonely hearts and China’s fickle but digitally-savvy youth.

Since its launch in 2016, Soul has gained popularity among China’s Gen Z, which includes teenagers and those in their early 20s, allowing like-minded users to connect quickly. According to a prospectus filed last week, the app made a loss of 1.32 billion yuan (US$197 million) in 2021 and has 9.3 million daily active users.

Li Chunjiao first met the man who became her husband on a digital square – which resembles Instagram’s Explore – in the Soul app in 2020. Her first comment was: “I think you look great”. They started chatting and then exchanged contact details. They talked for hours on the phone over the next few months before finally meeting in person for the first time.

“I was single and stressed out from work when I first started using Soul in 2018, I also had a paid membership to see how many people visited my profile,” said Li.

However, after she got married, both Li and her partner stopped using the app – and this is a love-hate reality that Soulgate has to contend with when it comes to its user base.