Unprofitable, fast-growing Chinese startups have, for the last five years, been able to tap private investors flush with cash, allowing them to put off filing for an initial public offering and the associated public scrutiny of their accounts that will no longer be the easy option.
China’s fund-raising machine has nurtured a herd of Chinese unicorns, privately owned companies valued at over a billion dollars, like Alibaba’s unit Ant Financial, ride-hailing giant Didi and ByteDance, the parent of video sharing app TikTok.
It now appears to be grinding to a halt.
Greater Chinese private investments plunged 77% in the second quarter to...