Soul四闯IPO三年烧23亿广告费 5600条投诉指向两方面

Core Viewpoint - Soul APP has submitted its IPO application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange for the fourth time, facing challenges due to high advertising costs and a plateau in user growth [1][3]. Group 1: Financial Performance - Soul has incurred nearly 2.3 billion yuan in advertising expenses over three years, indicating a "burn money for growth" strategy that is becoming unsustainable [1][5]. - The company's revenue has shown steady growth, with projected revenues of 16.67 billion yuan in 2022, 18.46 billion yuan in 2023, and 22.11 billion yuan in 2024, reflecting a compound annual growth rate of over 15% [4]. - For the first eight months of 2025, revenue reached 1.683 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.86%, surpassing the average growth rate of the past three years [4]. - Soul's revenue is primarily derived from emotional value services, accounting for over 90% of total income, while advertising and other services contribute less than 10% [4]. Group 2: User Growth and Complaints - The monthly active users (MAU) declined from 29.4 million in 2022 to 26.2 million in 2023, remaining stagnant in 2024, indicating a significant challenge in user growth [5]. - As of December 2025, there have been over 5,600 user complaints, primarily concerning automatic renewals, inability to refund, and misleading recharge practices [6][7]. - The platform's anonymous mechanism has led to safety risks and has been associated with numerous emotional fraud cases, with reports of scams involving significant amounts of money [9][10]. Group 3: Marketing and Operational Challenges - Soul's marketing expenses remain high, with sales and marketing costs of 8.44 billion yuan, 7.52 billion yuan, and 8.89 billion yuan from 2022 to 2024, constituting approximately 40% of annual revenue [5]. - The company reported net losses of 508 million yuan, 129 million yuan, and 152 million yuan from 2022 to 2024, indicating ongoing profitability challenges [5]. - Despite implementing AI models for risk management, the platform continues to face issues with fraud and user trust, as evidenced by ongoing complaints and reports of scams [10][11].