Xiaohongshu to set up office in HK

Xiaohongshu is planning to set up an office in Hong Kong, as part of its effort to expand its footprint across North Asia, MARKETING-INTERACTIVE understands.

It is understood that the team size of the HK office will be around 20, led by Qianyue, head of global business solution at Xiaohongshu.

Most recently, the Chinese social platform denied rumours regarding its plan to complete a new round of pre-IPO financing. It was reportedly said to include participation from venture capital firms DST Global, HongShan, Hillhouse, Boyu and CITIC Capital, with a post-investment valuation of US$17 billion, and that the company would prepare for its first listing in Hong Kong.

However, Chinese media such as Sina later clarified that the so-called pre-IPO financing is actually a transfer of existing shares.

Xiaohongshu (小紅書), also known as RED or the Little Red Book, is undoubtedly one of the most coveted social media platforms in China with over 200 million monthly active users, according to Chinese martech agency EternityX Marketing Technology. The social media app is also rapidly budding in Hong Kong as Eternity X saw a 50% growth in daily active users in Hong Kong year over year, reaching 1.13M+ users as of April last year.

As such, the Hong Kong government has leveraged the power of the platform to amplify its tourism exposure, with the tie-up between the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) and Xiaohongshu generating more than 200 million exposure for Hong Kong tourism.  

Algernon Yau, secretary for commerce and economic development, said in a written statement in response to lawmaker Martin Liao's inquiry that, this came from the strategic partnership between the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) and Xiaohongshu to launch the "Hong Kong Travel Time Machine" (香港旅行時光機) and "Art Travel to Hong Kong" (藝起遊香港) programmes in the first half of this year. 

“Since reopening, Hong Kong has topped the list of outbound travel destinations for users of the mainland online platform Xiaohongshu,” Yau said.

Furthermore, the HKTB collaborated with Xiaohongshu to launch the "Hong Kong Citywalk Guide" (香港漫步指南) in September, introducing five distinctive Hong Kong itineraries for mainland visitors to assist them in conveniently planning their trips. The itineraries cover popular tourist attractions in Hong Kong and introduce major festivals and events.

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