Vaporesso Parent Smoore Becomes First Vape Company To IPO With $21B Valuation

After raising $910 million through an initial public offering (IPO) at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in July, Chinese e-cigarette maker Smoore's stock has soared, tripling its total market value to over $21.8 billion in one month. Smoore is the global leader in vaping technology products and solutions, and is also the market leader in terms of revenue last year.

Smoore's flagship brand, Vaporesso, has 800 million users across 60 countries and has a massive brand reach across Europe, America, and the emerging markets. A vape brand since 2015, Vaporesso counts VECO, ZERO, LUXE, and GEN in its product lineup, effectively covering the full range of open system vapes and fulfilling the various choice of vapers around the world.

Smoore submitted its listing application documents to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Dec. 19, 2019 under the name of its holding company, SMOORE International Holdings Limited. The company was officially listed on the exchange on July 10, 2020 and began trading under the 6969.HK ticker.

Smoore offered 574 million shares priced at HK$12.40 during the IPO, which soared to HK$44.85 by July 28, making it one of the most successful debuts in Hong Kong this year. Investors were confident with the Shenzhen-based company as its listing documents showed $307.8 million in profits in 2019 alone, up from $106 million the previous year.

Among its investors, Huaneng Trust invested in $80 million worth of stock while Prime Capital took $50 million according to listing documents.

“The listing in Hong Kong has provided Smoore with a strong industry benchmark,” the company said in a statement.

With a committment to bring a unified and complete standard to the entire vaping industry, Smoore worked on internal improvements to achieve its current position in the market. In another statement, Smoore Spokesperson Cloris Li said the company plans to set up new manufacturing facilities and research institutes as well as install automated production lines and IT equipment.

To innovate, Smoore has hired more personnel in its Research & Development (R&D) team to improve, among other things, its heating element technologies. The company website listed 5 research institutes around the world and 100 researchers led by nine industry experts, all working to make Smoore the world leader in atomization technology.

Vaporesso, for its part, has global partners where vapers can find legitimate Vaporesso products. One of its most programs is to help in the fight against COVID-19 by preparing 10,000 OSMALL kits for its customers to cope with the lockdowns and stay-ins. Vaporesso said the initiative aims to increase people's awareness on the importance of staying at home. As the leader in atomizing technology, Vaporesso entered into an agreement to develop atomization treatment method for Ampligen, a drug said to have a potential to fight against the new coronavirus.

Smoore holds more than 30 ceramic heating elements patents, more than 20 child protection patents and more than 30 e-cigarette control & detection method patents. Smoore claims its ceramic atomizing core has an atomization rate of 80% vs. the traditional 70% in the industry. With 70 million pieces of high-tech research and development equipment, the company plans to further improve its core atomization products.

Smoore also has 13 factories with 13,000 workers that produce over 2 million batteries, 20 million atomizers and 100 million coils annually. These factories have passed the ISO9001 certification and have met GMP requirements to ensure product safety and quality.

Research and Consulting firm Frost & Sullivan said Smoore accounts for 16.5% of the vaping industry’s total market share, based on 2019 revenue calculations.

The entire e-cigarettes or vaping market was valued at $14.05 billion in 2018 and is expected to grow to $29 billion according to the Business Research Company. With an expected Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of more than 20% through 2022, the research firm points to the growing awareness about tobacco alternatives as the major driving force for the growth of the vaping market.