Singapore’s government-owned Temasek Holdings is one of several blue-chip investors on the verge of losing “hundreds of millions of dollars” in the aftermath of Shanghai-based residential property tech startup Ai Wu Ji Wu (Iwjw)’s liquidation.
Tech and venture capital markets data intelligence platform China Money Network reported on Wednesday (27 Feb) that the Chinese startup had “reportedly gone into liquidation after raising a total of $305 million in funding since its inception in 2014”.
Should Iwjw’s liquidation be confirmed, it would signal “millions of dollars” of losses in investments on the part of Temasek Holdings and other “big-ticket investors” such as GGV Capital, Hillhouse Capital, and Morningside Group, the report added.
China Money Network noted that “Temasek Holdings and Hillhouse Capital led Iwjw’s $150-million Series E round in November 2015,” while “GGV Capital and Morningside anchored the $120-million Series D in May of the same year”.
The data intelligence platform’s investigation revealed that Iwjw’s website “has already been replaced by information about a new apartment rental”, and that its app “also appears to display an error message when opened”.
“A report by Chinese media outlet Yi Magazine also said Iwjw’s official registered office does not exist,” according to China Money Network.
Iwjw was set up in 2014 “to disrupt the traditional real estate agency business by offering a platform that allows online processing of home-buying and renting”, and “charges a 0.5 per cent commission fee from both buyers and sellers on home sales”, added the data intelligence platform.
The proptech startup’s meteoric rise to “unicorn status” from “just five rounds of financing” in 18 months took a hit last year, as the real estate market began to cool, amid increasing macroeconomic uncertainties.