HONG KONG, June 16 (Reuters) - Chinese social media platform

Xiaohongshu has tapped banks including Goldman Sachs ( GS ) and

CICC to work on a potential Hong Kong initial public

offering, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.

The potential IPO size and valuation are not immediately

known, but another two separate sources said that Xiaohongshu

was valued in private secondary trades at as much as $50 billion

towards the end of last year.

The company, also known as RedNote, could list as early as the

second half of this year, the two separate sources said. All the

sources declined to be named as they were not authorised to

speak to the media.

Shanghai-based Xiaohongshu did not respond to requests

seeking comment. Goldman declined to comment, while CICC did not

immediately respond to a request seeking comment.

Bloomberg first reported the firm's IPO plan on Monday, and

said the company was preparing to confidentially file for the

Hong Kong listing by the end of June.

Founded in 2013, Xiaohongshu, whose name translates to

"little red book", is similar to Meta's Instagram in

that it allows users to curate photos, videos and text

documenting their lives.

In recent years it has also become a de-facto search engine

for young people looking for travel tips, lifestyle hacks and

restaurant recommendations, with over 400 million monthly active

users since 2025.

Xiaohongshu's projected profit for 2026 could reach $3

billion, one of the sources said.

The startup in 2021 had confidentially filed for a U.S. IPO,

but the process failed to materialise after Chinese regulators

voiced concerns about the listing venue, said one of the sources

and a fifth person with knowledge of the plans.

China tightened its grip over private media and internet

businesses in 2021 amid China-U.S. tensions, and strengthened

supervision of offshore listed companies.

Xiaohongshu's Hong Kong IPO plan still needs a green light from

the China Securities Regulatory Commission, which could take

months to make a decision, sources said.

The firm's valuation, which reached $20 billion in a funding

round in 2021, dropped to a reported $17 billion in 2024.

Investors however warmed to the company again in 2025 after

TikTok users in the U.S. flooded its pages, driven by a looming

U.S. ban on TikTok in early January.

(Reporting by Kane Wu in Hong Kong and Yantoultra Ngui in

Singapore; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )