Recently, technology media The Information cited three informed sources, stating that ByteDance is seeking financing for its automotive information and trading platform "Dongchedi" in preparation for an independent IPO. After the completion of this financing, Dongchedi's valuation could reach $3 billion.

Earlier this year in January, "LatePost" reported that ByteDance was moving Dongchedi-related employees into a newly established wholly-owned subsidiary, with Dongchedi's strategic leader serving as the legal representative. The first batch of original ByteDance employees would be the first to transfer their labor relations to the new company by the end of January. As a giant unicorn company that has not yet been listed, ByteDance's news of spinning off Dongchedi and seeking financing is considered an important signal by the outside world that ByteDance will soon promote Dongchedi's separate listing, which means that ByteDance may gradually divest non-core businesses and gain its first IPO since its establishment.

Who is Dongchedi?

Compared to ByteDance's well-known products such as Toutiao, Douyin, TikTok, and Feishu, Dongchedi, as a relatively marginal business of ByteDance, is not very well-known, and many people even don't know that Dongchedi belongs to ByteDance. Dongchedi originated from Toutiao's automotive channel, incubated internally at an early stage, and officially launched as an independent app in 2017, becoming a one-stop automotive information and service network platform that covers content, tools, and communities, providing automotive content, car selection, and trading services.

Over the past seven years, Dongchedi has provided various services such as Dongchehao, car enthusiasts' circles, evaluation systems, and car models databases. In 2021, Dongchedi launched automotive trading services, followed by the launch of "Dongchedi Chongqing Live Car Sales" in May of the following year, and the opening of the first offline new car experience store in July. Soon after, Dongchedi's business segment expanded to the automotive aftermarket, including maintenance, repairs, second-hand cars, etc., after car sales. In August 2022, Dongchedi's second-hand car offline trading market "Dongdong Second-hand Cars" opened in Chongqing, and in May 2023, Dongchedi's offline automotive trading store "Dongchedi Auto Mall" officially entered Hefei and started deliveries, making it the first nationwide store after Dongchedi's offline trading stores were upgraded to "Dongchedi Auto Mall." As an automotive information and service platform, Dongchedi's business model is not different from the early automotive giants Autohome and Yiche.com, both of which rely primarily on lead services and advertising revenue.

However, Dongchedi, with its ByteDance genes, has advantages in terms of traffic and algorithms. In addition to the independent app, Dongchedi also operates automotive vertical content on platforms such as Toutiao, Douyin short videos, and Huoshan short videos. In 2018, Dongchedi, which had just been established for a year, invested 500 million yuan to produce 100 core video IP programs. In this year, Dongchedi's registered users exceeded 75 million, with a daily active user count (DAU) of 4 million. By the end of 2020, the daily active user data had grown to 5 million. In October 2022, Dongchedi also planned to invest 10 million yuan a year to build 50 new energy vehicle column IPs