Kaisi's Push into Hong Kong Stocks: The "Auto Parts 1688" Still Loses 1.4 Billion After Three Years—Is There a Chance This Time?

On April 2, the digital automotive aftermarket supply chain platform “Kaisi” officially filed its listing application with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange’s Main Board.

From 2023 to 2025, Kaisi’s revenue continued to grow and has covered more than 375k stores, but its cumulative losses still exceeded RMB 1.4 billion. This also reveals the reality of intense industry competition where companies “burn cash to gain scale.”

Attracted by the trillion-level market size, Kaisi hopes, on the one hand, to ease cash flow pressure through fundraising from going public and consolidate its scale-based barriers; on the other hand, risks such as high customer concentration, supply-chain dependence, and fierce homogeneous competition are also continuing to mount pressure.

This listing is both a key step for Kaisi to ease funding pressure and consolidate its market moat, and it will also test its core competitiveness in the “elimination race” of the trillion-level automotive aftermarket.

Cumulative losses exceed RMB 1.4 billion in three years—IPO cash injection to break through with scale

On April 2, Kaisi Times Holdings Co., Ltd. (together, “Kaisi”) submitted a listing application to the HKEX Main Board, proposing to list on the Hong Kong Main Board.

Kaisi was founded in 2015 and uses an “F2B2b2C” end-to-end business model (the F2B2B2C model is a multi-tier business operation model that integrates Factory, Business 1 (primary wholesalers), Business 2 (secondary wholesalers), and Consumer (end consumers)), and it belongs to the automotive aftermarket parts industry.

The company’s Kaisi platform products include a digital auto-parts procurement and collection platform “Kaisi Select” (F2B, direct connection to OEMs/manufacturers; self-operated centralized procurement, wholesale distribution to dealers), an all-in-one automotive parts transaction platform “Kaisi Auto Parts” (B2b, an all-in-one automotive parts B2B e-commerce platform targeting repair shops and automotive parts dealers), and a professional automotive services shop digital certification system “Kaisi Certified Picks” (b2C, certified high-quality auto repair shops; outputs a standardized service system; connects car owners).

Composition and structure of Kaisi’s business ecosystem

As of December 31, 2025, Kaisi has more than 375k registered automotive service stores, distributed across 329 cities, covering more than 48 million automotive parts SKUs.

Practitioners in the industry told Caijia.com that “nearly 9 out of every 10 auto repair shops are users of Kaisi.”

The prospectus shows that in 2023, 2024, and 2025, Kaisi’s revenue was RMB 685 million, RMB 742 million, and RMB 930 million, respectively; gross profit was RMB 185 million, RMB 220 million, and RMB 263 million, respectively; gross margin was 27%, 29.7%, and 28.3%, respectively; losses were RMB 576 million, RMB 448 million, and RMB 399 million, respectively.

Kaisi’s financial performance in 2023, 2024, and 2025

Renowned angel investor and special researcher at the Wangjing Economic and Social E-commerce Research Center, Guo Tao, believes that Kaisi’s decision to go public at this time is based on a range of considerations. On the one hand, to ease ongoing funding pressure. Based on operating data, the company has had negative operating cash flow for consecutive years, with a relatively large scale of current liabilities; daily operations and business expansion both require continuous capital injection. Going public can quickly fill the funding gap, avoiding disruption to business progress due to tight cash flow. On the other hand, to leverage the attention of the capital markets. This move can enhance the brand’s credibility in the industry and attract more partners across the upstream and downstream supply chain—for example, expanding resources of high-quality suppliers, and attracting chain repair organizations to enter the platform—thereby further consolidating its market share.

The market is huge, but the landscape is still undecided; homogeneous competition and “dependency syndrome” coexist

Kaisi’s end customers are automotive service stores, while the customers of Kaisi Select are automotive parts distributors.

The prospectus shows that in 2023, 2024, and 2025, Kaisi’s revenue from its top five customers was RMB 145 million, RMB 144 million, and RMB 213 million, respectively, accounting for 21.2%, 19.4%, and 22.9% of its total revenue, respectively. Kaisi’s procurement amounts from its top five suppliers were RMB 190 million, RMB 123 million, and RMB 199 million, respectively, accounting for 35.3%, 22.4%, and 31.0% of its annual total procurement amounts, respectively.

Guo Tao believes that Kaisi’s customer concentration risk is clearly evident. If any one of those customers reduces its cooperation, it would directly affect performance. The stability of the supply chain also presents hidden concerns: some key parts depend on a small number of suppliers; if supply is disrupted or prices rise, operating costs would increase. In addition, regulation in the automotive aftermarket is tightening. The company’s compliance costs, such as those related to data security and labor employment, are also rising, which could further squeeze profit margins.

China’s automotive aftermarket is large and continues to grow. According to Frost & Sullivan, China’s overall automotive aftermarket market size reached approximately RMB 1.58 trillion in 2025, and it is expected to grow at a 7.4% CAGR to further reach RMB 2.25 trillion by 2030.

Chen Laiteng, deputy secretary-general of the Digital Economy Special Committee of Zhejiang Digital Intelligence Technology & Service Industry Association, and a senior analyst at the Wangjing Economic and Social E-commerce Research Center, said that although the automotive aftermarket in China is huge, it has long been highly fragmented. The market’s tens of millions of SKUs, the lengthy multi-tier distribution system, and scattered independent repair shops leave vast room for consolidation for digital supply chain platforms. The industry has also already formed a competitive landscape where niche vertical platforms such as Toutiao Auto (Tuo hu Yang che), Midchih Che Fu (AZI.US), Kuai Zhun Che Fu, San Tou Liu Bi, Batuluo, Xin Kangzhong, Youpei Che Lian, Haomeite, Jianguan Auto Parts, and Qipei Long, as well as internet giants like JD Yangche and Tmall Yangche, compete side by side. Today, concentration continues to increase, but there is still no absolute monopolist; the overall market is still mainly driven by scale competition and efficiency competition.

Chen Laiteng added that the industry’s overall homogeneous competition is fierce, with major platforms all focusing on digitalization, warehousing-and-distribution networks, and full-category supply. Repair shops purchase from multiple platforms and show relatively low stickiness; price wars and competition over payment terms directly compress profit space. This leads to Kaisi’s continued loss-making status overall: the scale effect has not yet effectively translated into profitability. Under the competitive model of continuously “burning cash for scale,” the pressure to realize profits is significant. And this Hong Kong stock IPO is, in essence, Kaisi replenishing ammunition in the intense industry elimination race. Whether it can establish truly defensible moats in technology and the supply chain amid homogeneous competition will directly determine its market position after listing and the valuation space it can command.