36Kr is approaching an inflection point with its strong 2022Q1 financial results

• total revenues increased by 14% YoY; net income reached a record high since IPO of RMB32.6 million

BEIJING, June 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The US-listed company 36Kr Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: KRKR) just reported its unaudited financial results for the first quarter of 2022 ended March 31, 2022. Total revenues increased by 14% year-over-year to RMB49.6 million; net income reached a record high since IPO of RMB32.6 million. Also, the newly incubated business 36Kr Enterprise Service Review platform showed robust growth momentum, and it would become the second growth curve for 36Kr.

As a prominent brand and a pioneering platform dedicated to serving New Economy participants in China, 36Kr consistently strives to broaden its media service boundaries and refine its business model while building a closed-loop service framework with new products and models. Both online advertising services revenues and enterprise value-added services revenues increased substantially in the first quarter.

As 36Kr's cash-cow business, advertising services performed remarkably well in the first quarter, achieving RMB37.6 million in revenue, an increase of 13% year-over-year. Its advertising performance in the first quarter was well above the industry average. Based on the recently released public companies' earnings reports, Tencent's (0700. HK) advertising revenue decreased 17% year over year in 2022Q1, iQiyi's (NASDAQ: IQ) advertising revenue decreased 30% year over year, and Autohome(NASDAQ: ATHM) advertising revenue decreased over 50% year over year.

Leveraging its short-form video, 36Kr achieved a new high in terms of contract size for its advertising services during the quarter. 36Kr helped various well-known companies, including Intel, Panasonic, Changan Auto, Toyota, BYD, Dali Education, and iFLYTEK, promote their brand concepts and create product launch videos. In the future, the short-form video advertisement will propel the expansion of 36Kr service presence and raise the advertising revenue ceiling.

36Kr enterprise value-added service offerings, which include integrated marketing services, online/offline events, consulting services, cater to different demands of customers. In the first quarter of 2022, 36Kr Enterprise value-added services reached RMB9.3 million, growing 35% year-over-year in the first quarter. Both the number of enterprise clients and the value of contract execution significantly increased year over year. During the first quarter, 36Kr entered into partnerships with many enterprise clients as well as government agencies, and continued to diversify its client roster.

36Kr's net income reached RMB32.6 million in the first quarter of 2022. This is 2nd consecutive quarter of profitability, and a record-high quarterly net income since its IPO in November 2019. The robust financial results implied 36Kr business vitality and superior operational efficiency. This also can be seen as an inflection point of the company, where it is bottoming out from its previous uncertainties.

To embrace the historic opportunities in the digital transformation and technology upgrade trends that have ushered the SaaS industry into an era of fast growth, 36Kr incubated its new business, Enterprise Service Review Platform, in late 2020.

Leveraging 36Kr vast enterprise database, proven content strengths, and deep understanding of client pain points, 36Kr is well-positioned to build 36Kr Enterprise Service Review Platform as a leading professional platform for enterprise-level applications and services selection in China. 36Kr Enterprise Service Review Platform effectively fills the information gap between sellers and buyers of enterprise services and aspires to be the go-to SaaS selection platform in China. 36Kr Enterprise Service Review Platform provides in-depth reports, rankings, and feedbacks for applications and services from real users. It also enables all categories of enterprise service providers to showcase their products, address the dynamic feedbacks of users, as well as capture potential customer needs and sales leads.

As of the first quarter of 2022, 36Kr Enterprise Service Review platform included close to 6,000 software applications and accumulated approximately 21,000 genuine comments from real users, up 27% sequentially, while its monthly active users (MAUs) reached around 900,000, up 49% sequentially. 36Kr Enterprise Service Review platform has become a leading, comprehensive, authoritative, objective, and independent platform in China for thousands of enterprises to make their procurement decisions or acquire customers for SaaS applications and services. The platform utilizes 36Kr enterprise network communities to boost traffic, build an enterprise services alliance community.

2022 is the year that 36Kr's Enterprise Service Review Platform kicked off its initial commercialization. Up to now, 36Kr has signed contracts with Kingdee, HiteVision, and EC SCRM and will empower these clients in customer acquisition, brand management, and marketing services.

Riding the waves of industry upgrades and digital transformation amid the rise of new consumption, advanced technology, and the booming of China's New Economy, 36Kr will seize this historic opportunity to build a system of optimized products and services, achieving faster and higher-quality business growth. This will result in a complete reshape of 36Kr's business fundamentals, prompting the market to re-assess 36Kr's valuation.

Mr. Dagang Feng, co-chairman and CEO of 36Kr commented that "We kicked off 2022 with robust first-quarter results, with 14% year-over-year growth in total revenues and a record high quarterly net income since our IPO of RMB32.6 million. We are also encouraged to see our user engagement metrics continue to improve, demonstrating our enhanced brand influence and elevated value proposition to our consumers. Notably, our new business initiative, 36Kr Enterprise Service Review platform continued its strong growth trajectory, with major operating metrics improving substantially year-over-year. Looking ahead, we will continue to be the torchbearer of China's New Economy space, and we believe we are well-positioned to seize the immense opportunities in the New Economy-driven growth prospects and scale new heights as we start the next chapter of our development."

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SOURCE 36Kr Holdings Inc