Zhihu

InternetChina
New to Unitard
πŸ“‰ Public < $1B
PeakΒ $5 BillionToday
βˆ’95%
from peak
  1. πŸ¦„
    Became a unicorn
    2019
  2. πŸ“ˆ
    Peak valuation
    $5 Billion ’21
  3. πŸ’”
    Became a Unitard
    ~2022
  4. πŸ’Έ
    Last valuation
    ~$265M
Current status
Public (ZH)
Live Β· ZHΒ· NYSE
as of 2026-09-17
$3.12β–² 11.03% today
β‰ˆΒ $265 Million market cap Β· βˆ’94.7% from peak

The rise & fall

6 moments Β· 2011–2022

The key moments.

2011
Launches as an invite-only Q&A site
Zhou Yuan's 'Quora of China' starts as a closed community for considered answers on tech, business and culture.
Wikipedia
2019
Joins the unicorn club
Backed by Tencent, Sinovation Ventures, Qiming and Sequoia China, a late private round pushes the valuation past $1B.
TechCrunch
Mar 2021
The peak: NYSE IPO at ~$5B$5B
Zhihu lists in New York at the crest of the Chinese-ADR wave.
SEC filing
2021–22
Crackdown, ad slump, ADR selloff
Beijing's tech crackdown and a weak online-advertising market hit just as US-listed Chinese stocks crater.
Reuters
2022
Slips out of the club
Market value shrinks to a few hundred million dollars β€” a small fraction of the IPO peak.
stockanalysis
Today
Still in the club β€” and still trading
Live Β· ZH Β· NYSEas of 2026-09-17
$3.12β–² 11.03% todayβ‰ˆ $265M cap Β· βˆ’94.7% from peak

How it happened

Zhihu is a leading Chinese online question-and-answer community β€” often called 'the Quora of China' β€” where users ask and answer questions and follow expert content across technology, business and culture.

Backed by Tencent, Sinovation Ventures, Qiming and Sequoia China, it became a unicorn in private rounds and then listed on the NYSE in March 2021 at roughly a $5B valuation.

Beijing's crackdown on its tech sector, a weak online-advertising market and the broad sell-off in U.S.-listed Chinese stocks battered Zhihu, cutting its market capitalization to only a few hundred million dollars β€” around $0.4B, a small fraction of its peak.

Source: SEC filings / stockanalysis (Chinese question-and-answer and content community, the 'Quora of China,' backed by Tencent, Sinovation Ventures, Qiming and Sequoia China; reached a ~$5B valuation at its March 2021 NYSE IPO after earlier private rounds made it a unicorn; Beijing's tech crackdown, a weak online-ad market and the ADR sell-off cut its market value to a few hundred million dollars, around $0.4B)

Founder

  • Zhou Yuan
    Founder & CEO
    No public profile matched

More from the club

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