Most American investors hadn't heard of Xiaohongshu a year ago. Then TikTok went dark for a weekend in January, and millions of users went hunting for a new place to scroll.
The app that caught them is known in the US as RedNote. The company is now preparing for a Hong Kong IPO that could put its value north of $70 billion - one of the city's biggest listings in years.
When TikTok briefly shut off in the US in January 2025, millions of users went looking for somewhere else to post. They landed on Xiaohongshu, the app known in US stores as RedNote.
The download surge pushed RedNote to the top of US free app charts within days. The wild part: most new users didn't speak Mandarin, and the app had no English version.
American users called themselves "TikTok refugees" and figured the app out as they went. They posted in English on a Mandarin-first platform and learned the rest from each other.
That weekend turned RedNote from a regional Chinese app into a global story almost overnight. Its parent company is now using that momentum to push for one of the biggest Hong Kong listings in years.
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Calling RedNote "China's Instagram" sells it short. The app blends social feeds, product reviews, in-app shopping, and search - all in one place.
Users post about skincare, restaurants, travel, and fashion. Then they buy directly from those same posts without leaving the app.
For younger Chinese shoppers, RedNote is the default place to check out a product before buying. Think Instagram, Yelp, and Amazon stitched into a single feed.
That mix is why advertisers and investors care - a platform that owns both the discovery and the sale is harder for rivals to copy and easier to make money from.
Hong Kong's IPO market has been waking up after a long stretch of quiet. A $70 billion-plus listing from RedNote would be the clearest sign yet that big Chinese tech names are ready to test public markets again.
Few mainland Chinese tech firms have pursued blockbuster Hong Kong listings in recent years. Many have held off amid weaker valuations and tougher rules.
A successful RedNote debut could change that math. It would give global investors a rare way to own a piece of the new Chinese consumer internet.
Most of the biggest names in that space already trade in the US or Hong Kong. But few have the cultural pull RedNote built last year.
The valuation isn't set in stone. Before the TikTok moment, private markets had RedNote at a much lower number - around $17 billion in its 2024 funding round.
Hong Kong investors will decide how much of that bump is built to last versus a flash in the pan.
Pricing will be the tell.
Beyond the price, watch whether RedNote can keep its American users engaged long after TikTok came back online. The staying power of those January downloads will shape how investors size up its long-term growth story.
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