Staying with tech financing. China's Meituan Dianping filed for an initial public offering in Hong Kong over a month ago. The startup has built an ecosystem that some say defies categorization, spanning food delivery, movie ticketing, hotel booking, and even bike-sharing. Just how far-reaching this mobile app is? And what does the local community think of the company's listing? Wei Lynn Tang reports.

Living in a big city means plenty of choices, food, entertainment, transport options. But who has the time to sieve out the best?

In China, many go on to this app to save time and energy, whether it's checking out a new or nearby restaurant after seeing reviews, or trying a newly launched car-hailing service.

WEI LYNN TANG BEIJING "I am on my way to catch a movie now, of which, I got the tickets from the very same app that I ordered my lunch from. It's amazing what this all-in-app can do, you can even plan your wedding on it! It has brought convenience to people's everyday lives, so much so, that almost a quarter of China's 1.4 billion people are transacting on it."

The company behind this so-called "Super App", is a result of a merger between Meituan and Dianping in 2015 and it's just filed for an IPO in Hong Kong.

Food delivery, in which the company charges restaurants a commission, remains its core business, contributing 62 percent to overall revenue. Over the years, Meituan Dianping has expanded its scope, it has its own grocery store, runs a bike sharing service, and handles hotel bookings.

And despite being in a net cash position, it aims to use a bulk of its listing proceeds to boost its research and development capabilities, develop new services and products, as well as pursue mergers and acquisitions. While the company isn't profitable yet, its operating loss has been coming down year-on-year, as revenue grew faster than costs.

Media reports state Meituan Dianping could be looking at raising 4 billion US dollars in its listing. This would double its valuation from 30 billion now to 60 billion.

A tech entrepreneur who has been in China for two decades says it's a growth story right now for the company, as it needs to reinvest into marketing to grab more market share.

RICHARD ROBINSON FOUNDING PARTNER, NHACK "When is the timing ever right? Can you really ever time the market? This is the second longest recession that we have ever seen historically and we're probably due for a correction. Other companies are also raising money, so you should raise the same time as other competitors are raising so you also are not caught out without a war chest, but you should also try to raise before the market tanks. There's a gigantic opportunity for a company like MD to take their model and to bring that into other markets both organically and to also acquire a lot of companies and become a global player in this space."

Others, though, are a little more cautious when it comes to its business model and timing of the listing.

LIU CHUNSHENG, ASSOC. PROFESSOR CENTRAL UNIV. OF FINANCE AND ECONOMICS "I think in the future Meituan should build some their unique competitiveness, they have to input a lot of money in R&D, for AI, big data or even robots to deliver food to people because our labour cost is increasing. So I think the timing is not very good for their high valuation."

Professor Liu also says the company has to make a profit as soon as possible, having entered the Chinese market for 8 years now.

And although consumer stickiness on this app has been increasing, it appears that it has yet to reach its full potential.

DIANPING APP USER "My reliance towards the app is very high because whenever I eat out, I first check the reviews on the app. But it's impossible for each platform to achieve what it wants to achieve with its full suite of functions. I still rather use other apps individually."

For now, markets and investors are waiting to see just how much Meituan Dianping is looking to raise from its listing, and if it can get the valuation it's hoping for. But one can't deny that this IPO would mark yet another rise of China's technological might. WLT, CGTN, Beijing.