The Chinese chat app Momo is planning a US IPO, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The maker of the flirting app, Beijing Momo Technology Co, are apparently working with Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse, for a proposed listing later this year.
Launched in September 2011, the app is a location-based messaging service that lets you chat to people in your vicinity.
Users can also share photos, audio and their location on a Facebook-style timeline — as well as set up group chats.
In February, Momo’s CEO Tang Yan said they had reached 100m users.
In a post on Zhihu, he said they had around 40m monthly users and 15m daily users.
They monetise through in-app purchase of stickers and games — the latest of which was downloaded 1.4m times and made Momo around $2m.
Momo was valued at $2bn in a private fundraising, according to people close to the deal.
In August 2013 the app received $40m in Series B funding, a large portion of which was from Alibaba, who are planning their own IPO later this year.
Momo would follow Weibo – a Chinese Twitter-style messaging platform – in going public, who Alibaba also invest in.
The chat and dating app was dubbed “the magical tool to getting laid”, in a widely circulated viral video by Chinese comedian Mike Sui.
Momo was recently singled out by the Chinese government, after a crackdown on online porn.
China’s state news agency, Xinhua, called the app “hormone-filled”, and said it was rife with prostitutes.
In a recent Weibo post, CEO Tang Yan said they had put in place the “most stringent” measures to counter porn and prostitution on the app.