RISK FACTORS

An investment in the ADSs involves significant risks. You should consider carefully all of the information in this prospectus, including the risks and uncertainties described below, before making an investment in the ADSs. Any of the following risks could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently deem to be immaterial may also materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and ability to pay dividends, and you may lose all or part of your investment.

Risks Relating to Our Business and Industry

Our limited operating history makes it difficult to evaluate our business and prospects. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to maintain the growth rate that we have experienced to date.

We commenced our commercial operations in 2017 and have a limited operating history. Our total number of orders and average monthly transacting users increased substantially in 2020, reaching 198.5 million and 4.6 million, respectively. In the first quarter of 2021, the total number of orders and average monthly transacting users were 69.7 million and 6.9 million, respectively. Our revenues increased by 192.2% from RMB3,880.1 million in 2019 to RMB11,335.8 million (US$1,730.2 million) in 2020 and increased by 46.0% from RMB2,603.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020 to RMB3,802.1 million (US$580.3 million) for the three months ended March 31, 2021. However, our historical performance may not be indicative of our future growth or financial results. We cannot assure you that we will be able to grow at the same rate as we did in the past, or avoid any decline in the future. For example, our total number of orders and average revenue per order increased substantially from approximately 93.9 million and RMB41 in 2019 to approximately 198.5 million and RMB57 in 2020, respectively, and such increases are even more pronounced in the first and second quarters of 2020, when the effects of the pandemic in China were the greatest. Our total number of orders increased from approximately 37.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020 to approximately 69.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2021. Average revenue per order in the first quarter of 2020 was RMB70, partially driven by the increased demand for online groceries during the COVID-19 restrains in China which gradually resumed to a lower level in the third and fourth quarter of 2020 when most of the travel restrictions were relaxed in China, and reached approximately RMB54 in the first quarter of 2021. Our growth may slow down or become negative, and revenues may decline for a number of possible reasons, some of which are beyond our control, including decreasing user spending, increasing competition, declining growth of our overall market or industry, the emergence of alternative business models, decreasing demand for online groceries, and changes in rules, regulations, government policies or general economic conditions. It is difficult to evaluate our prospects as we may not have sufficient experience in addressing the risks to which companies operating in rapidly evolving markets may be exposed. If our growth rate declines, investors’ perceptions of our business and prospects may be materially and adversely affected, and the market price of our ADSs could decline. You should consider our prospects in light of the risks and uncertainties that companies with a limited operating history may encounter.

We have incurred net losses in the past and we may continue to incur losses in the future.

Our total revenues grew from RMB3,880.1 million in 2019 to RMB11,335.8 million (US$1,730.2 million) in 2020, and our GMV grew from RMB4,709.7 million to RMB13,032.2 million (US$1,989.1 million) during the same period. Our total revenues grew form RMB2,603.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020, to RMB3,802.1 million (US$580.3 million) for the three months ended March 31, 2021, and our GMV grew from RMB2,915.3 million to RMB4,303.5 million (US$656.8 million) during the same period. We had net loss of RMB1,873.4 million in 2019 and RMB3,176.9 million (US$484.9 million) in 2020, while our net loss margin decreased from 48.3% in 2019 to 28.0% in 2020. We had net loss of RMB244.5 million for the three months of 2020 and RMB1,384.7 million (US$211.4 million) for the three months ended March 31, 2021, while our net loss margin increased from 9.4% for the three months ended March 31, 2020 to 36.4% for the three months ended March 31, 2021. We cannot assure you that we will be able to generate net profits in the future. Our ability

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to achieve and maintain profitability depends in large part on our ability to increase our gross margin by leveraging our growth in scale to obtain more favorable terms from our suppliers, manage our product mix, and expand our product offerings. Accordingly, we intend to continue to invest for the foreseeable future in the expansion of our user bases, as well as technology innovation and research and development capabilities to support such expansion. As a result of the foregoing, we may continue to incur losses in the future. In addition, any change in macroeconomic and regulatory environment, competitive dynamics and our inability to respond to these changes in a timely and effective manner may also cause us to incur losses in the future.

We face intense competition, and if we fail to compete effectively, we may lose market share, users and our business partners.

The e-commerce industry in China, in particular the on-demand e-commerce industry, is intensely competitive. We compete for users, orders, products and third-party suppliers. Our current or potential competitors include (i) other on-demand e-commerce players in China, (ii) traditional e-commerce and other Internet companies in China, and (iii) major traditional retailers in China that are moving into on-demand e-commerce and physical retail stores and supermarkets. See “Business—Competition.”

Increased competition may reduce our margins and market share and impact brand recognition, or result in significant losses. When we set prices, we have to consider how competitors have set prices for the same or similar products. When they cut prices or offer additional benefits to compete with us, we may have to lower our own prices or offer additional benefits or risk losing market share, either of which could harm our financial condition and results of operations.

Some of our current or future competitors may have longer operating histories, greater brand recognition, better supplier relationships, larger user bases, better access to users, higher penetration in certain regions or greater financial, technical or marketing resources than we do. In addition, smaller companies or new entrants may be acquired by, receive investment from or enter into strategic relationships with well-established and well-financed companies or investors which would help enhance their competitive positions. Some of our competitors may be able to secure more favorable terms from suppliers, devote greater resources to marketing and promotional campaigns, adopt more aggressive pricing or inventory policies and devote substantially more resources to their websites, mobile apps and systems development than us. We cannot assure you that we will be able to compete successfully against current or future competitors, and competitive pressures may have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

If we fail to anticipate user needs and provide superior user experience to attract and retain users and increase their purchase with us or fail to adapt our services or business model to evolving user needs or emerging industry standards, our business may be materially and adversely affected.

The on-demand e-commerce market in which we operate as well as user needs and preferences are constantly evolving. As a result, we must continuously respond to changes in the market and user demand and preferences to remain competitive, grow our business and maintain our market position. We intend to further diversify our product and service offerings to add to our revenue sources in the future. New products and services, new types of users or new business models may involve risks and challenges we do not currently face. Any new initiatives may require us to devote significant financial and management resources and may not perform as well as expected. Furthermore, we may have difficulty in anticipating user demand and preferences, and the products offered by us may not be accepted by the market. Therefore, any inability to adapt to these changes may result in a failure to capture new users or retain existing users, the occurrence of which would materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, to remain competitive, we must continue to enhance and improve the responsiveness, functionality and features of our app and mini programs. The internet and e-commerce markets are characterized

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by rapid technological evolution, changes in user requirements and preferences, frequent introductions of new products, features and services embodying new technologies and the emergence of new industry standards and practices, any of which could render our existing technologies and systems obsolete. Our success will depend, in part, on our ability to identify, develop and adapt to new technologies useful in our business, and respond to technological advances and emerging industry standards and practices, in particular with respect to mobile internet, in a cost-effective and timely way. We cannot assure you that we will be successful in these efforts.

We rely heavily on sales of perishable products, and ordering errors or product supply disruptions or disruptions to our storage and distribution network may have an adverse impact on the profitability and operating results.

We rely on various suppliers and vendors to provide and deliver our perishable product inventory promptly on an ongoing basis. We could suffer significant product inventory losses in the event of the loss of a major supplier or vendor, disruption of our storage and distribution network, extended power outages, natural disasters or other catastrophic occurrences. We have implemented certain systems to ensure our ordering is in line with demand. We cannot assure you, however, that our ordering system will always work efficiently, in particular in connection with expanding regional processing centers and frontline fulfillment stations to new geographic areas where we have limited local experience. If we were to over-order, we could suffer inventory losses, which would negatively impact our operating results.

Any harm to our brand or reputation may materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We believe that the recognition and reputation of our Dingdong or “叮咚买菜” brand among our users, suppliers and third-party service providers have contributed significantly to the growth and success of our business. Maintaining and enhancing the recognition and reputation of our brand are critical to our business and competitiveness. Many factors, some of which are beyond our control, are important to maintaining and enhancing our brand. These factors include our ability to:

Public perception that tainted, spoiled, counterfeit, unauthorized, illegal, or infringing products are sold on Dingdong Fresh or that we do not provide satisfactory consumer services, even if factually incorrect or based on isolated incidents, could damage our reputation, diminish the value of our brand, undermine the trust and credibility we have established and have a negative impact on our ability to attract new buyers or retain our current buyers. If we are unable to maintain our reputation, enhance our brand recognition or increase positive awareness of our brand products and services, it may be difficult to maintain and grow our buyer base, and our business and growth prospects may be materially and adversely affected.

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We rely on our suppliers and other business partners to provide quality products and services which are critical to our business. Any changes, interruptions or disruptions of our relationships with them or any interruptions or disruptions of, or negative publicity around, their business may adversely affect our operation.

We source products from third-party suppliers and vendors. We had over 1,600 suppliers in the first quarter of 2021. Our suppliers include local farms, regional distributors and manufacturers. Maintaining strong relationships with these suppliers is important to the growth of our business. In particular, we depend significantly on our ability to procure products from suppliers on favorable pricing and payment terms and in sufficient quantities. We typically enter into one-year framework agreements with suppliers on an annual basis, and these framework agreements do not ensure the availability of products or the continuation of particular pricing practices or payment terms beyond the end of the contractual term. In addition, our agreements with suppliers typically do not restrict the suppliers from selling products to other buyers. We cannot assure you that our current suppliers will continue to sell products to us on commercially acceptable terms, or at all, after the term of the current agreement expires. Even if we maintain good relationships with our suppliers, their ability to supply products to us in sufficient quantity and at competitive prices may be adversely affected by economic conditions, labor actions, regulatory or legal decisions, customs and import restrictions, pandemics, natural disasters or other causes. In the event that we are not able to procure products at favorable prices and at sufficient quantities, our revenues and cost of revenues may be materially and adversely affected. In the event any distributor or reseller does not have authority from the relevant farms or manufacturer to sell certain products to us, such distributor or reseller may cease selling such products to us at any time. If our suppliers cease to provide us with favorable payment terms, our requirements for working capital may increase and our operations may be materially and adversely affected. We will also need to establish new supplier relationships to ensure that we have access to a steady supply of products on favorable commercial terms. If we are unable to develop and maintain good relationships with suppliers that would allow us to obtain a sufficient amount and variety of authentic and quality merchandise on acceptable commercial terms, it may inhibit our ability to offer sufficient products sought by our users, or to offer these products at competitive prices. Any adverse developments in our relationships with suppliers could materially and adversely affect our business and growth prospects. Any disputes with suppliers could adversely affect our reputation and subject us to damages and negative publicity. In addition, as part of our growth strategy, we plan to further expand our product offerings. If we fail to attract new suppliers to sell their products to us due to any reason, our business and growth prospects may be materially and adversely affected.

Additionally, we also rely on a large number of business partners, such as logistic service providers, lessors of our equipment, warehouse and distributor centers, and labor service companies to provide various services to our customers and ourselves. To the extent they are unable to provide satisfactory services, which may be attributable to events that are beyond our or their control, such as inclement weather or transportation service quality disruptions, our business and reputation may be adversely affected. Claims and negative publicity related to their business, e.g. personal injury, death or property damage resulting from traffic accidents caused by our riders, may result in our liabilities or negatively affect our brand image and reputation among customers and in the local community. As our business partners are not directly managed by us, we cannot assure you that breaches will not occur in the future regardless of the precautionary measures we have taken, and will take, to screen and monitor their performance. If we are unable to effectively address these risks, our brand image, reputation and financial performance may be materially and adversely affected.

Our quality control procedures may not be entirely effective. Any failure of or delay in developing and implementing updates in our quality control system may materially and adversely affect our business prospects.

Although we have developed end-to-end quality control procedures through our 7+1 Quality Control Procedure across the entire procurement and fulfillment process, we cannot assure you that we can always identify every quality control issue due to potential flaws, loopholes and bugs of our procedures and human

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errors, and our efforts to patch up or update our quality control procedures may suffer from delays or failures due to external factors not entirely under our control. In addition, there are inherent limitations in sampling inspection of non-standard products such as fresh produce, seafood, meats, which may not identity all the defects and flaws. Our rapid expansion, which results in increased cooperation with an increasing number of suppliers and business partners, evolving and increasingly complex supply chain, and continued digitalization efforts across the fulfillment process all possess the potential to exacerbate the pressure on our quality control procedures, which are in turn required to be reinvented and perfected at a rapid pace. We have detected and remedied several cases of sub-par products being sold on Dingdong Fresh, e.g. excessive pesticide or heavy metal residues. Despite our rectification efforts, we are unable to entirely rule out the possibility that similar incidents will take place again in the future. As the performance, reliability and robustness of our quality control procedures are vital to our success, our reputation may be materially and adversely affected, our market share could decline and we could be subject to product recalls, penalties or liability claims if we encounter disruptions caused by failures in our quality control procedures.

If our expansion into new geographical areas is not successful, our business prospects and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

We have a track record of successfully expanding into new geographical areas. After the initial launch of our business in Shanghai, we selectively expanded into other cities. In 2019 and 2020, we commenced operations and generated GMV in 5 and 21 new cities, respectively. However, as of the date of this prospectus, a significant portion of our revenue and GMV was derived from the Yangtze River Delta megalopolis. We cannot assure you that we will be able to maintain this momentum in the future. We are expanding into more lower-tier cities and towns across China. Expansion into new geographical areas involves new risks and challenges. Our lack of familiarity with, and relevant user data relating to, these geographical areas may make it more difficult for us to keep pace with the evolving consumer demands and preferences. In addition, there may be one or more existing market leaders in any geographical area that we decide to expand into. Such companies may be able to compete more effectively than us by leveraging their experience in doing business in that market as well as their deeper data insight and greater brand recognition among consumers. We may need to adjust our pricing strategies and make additional marketing efforts to gain market share or remain competitive in new markets. Furthermore, we cannot assure you that we will be able to lease suitable fulfillment facilities on commercially acceptable terms or at all. Moreover, there may be a lack of demand for local on-demand fresh groceries and daily necessities, the order density in those smaller, less developed areas may not be sufficient to allow us to operate our own delivery network in a cost-efficient manner and we may need to adjust our pricing strategies to adapt to local economic condition. While we believe that order density in our newly entered cities need time to ramp up, we have maintained operations in all cities we expanded into and do not expect to end operations in any covered cities solely due to short-term low order density in the near future. Nonetheless, the expansion into new geographical areas may strain our managerial, financial, operational and other resources. If we fail to manage such expansion successfully, our growth potential, business and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

Our expansion into new product offerings or substantial increase in the number of our product offerings may expose us to new and increased challenges and risks.

We have expanded our offerings from fresh produce, meat and seafood to other daily necessities and products such as ready-to-eat, ready-to-heat and ready-to-cook, or 3R products, flowers and green plants and home care and personal care products, and we may further expand to other offerings. Offering new SKUs, expansion into diverse new products and offerings and increased number of products and SKUs involves new risks and challenges. Our lack of familiarity with new products and services and lack of relevant user data relating to these new offerings may make it more difficult for us to anticipate user demand and preferences. We may misjudge user demand and the potential profitability of a new product or service. We may find it more difficult to inspect and control quality and ensure proper handling, storage, and delivery of new products. We may experience higher return rates on new products, user complaints about new products and services, and costly liability claims as a result of selling such products and services, any of which would harm our brand and

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reputation as well as our results of operations. We may need to adjust our pricing strategies and make additional marketing efforts to gain market share or remain competitive in new categories including offering users category-specific coupons and organizing cross-category promotion events. It may be difficult for us to achieve profitability in the new product or service categories and our profit margin, if any, may be lower than we anticipate or have experienced historically, which would adversely affect our results of operations. We cannot assure you that we will be able to recoup our investments in introducing any new product and service categories.

We face potential liability, expenses for legal claims and harm to our business based on the nature of our business.

We face potential liability, expense for legal claims and harm to our business relating to the nature of our industry. For example, third parties could assert legal claims against us in connection with sub-quality products we sold and traffic accidents involving our riders, labor disputes, sales contract disputes, and lease disputes, etc., where we could be held liable. We have in the past received claims alleging our infringement of third parties’ rights and we currently do not have any material pending claims as of the date of this prospectus. Irrespective of the validity of such claims, we could incur significant costs and efforts in either defending against or settling such claims. Moreover, such third-party claims could result in negative publicity and our reputation could be severely damaged. Any of these events could have a material and adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.

We have been and expect to continue to be subject to legal claims. Potentially, the frequency of such claims could increase in proportion to the number of users that use our app and mini programs. After we become a publicly listed company with a higher profile, we may face additional exposure to claims and lawsuits. These claims could divert management time and attention away from our business and result in significant costs to investigate and defend, regardless of the merits of the claims. In some instances, we may elect or be compelled to remove content or may be forced to pay substantial damages if we are unsuccessful in our efforts to defend against these claims, which could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Failure to successfully manage our fulfillment infrastructure expansion or any interruption in the operation of the warehouse facilities for an extended period may negatively affect our business, prospects and results of operations.

We believe that our fulfillment infrastructure, consisting of strategically located regional processing centers and frontline fulfillment stations, is essential to our success. We plan to add new regional processing centers and frontline fulfillment stations in more locations across China, to enhance the efficiency in fulfilling the rapidly increasing orders placed from all areas in China. As we continue to add fulfillment capability, our fulfillment network becomes increasingly complex and challenging to operate. We cannot assure you that we will be able to add suitable warehouse facilities on commercially acceptable terms or at all. We may not be able to recruit a sufficient number of qualified employees in connection with the expansion of our fulfillment infrastructure. In addition, the expansion of our fulfillment infrastructure may strain our managerial, financial, operational and other resources. If we fail to manage such expansion successfully, our growth potential, business and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected. Even if we manage the expansion of our fulfillment infrastructure successfully, it may not give us the competitive advantage that we expect if improved third-party fulfillment services become widely available at reasonable prices to e-commerce companies in China.

In addition, our ability to process and fulfill orders accurately and provide high quality user service depends on the smooth operation of our regional processing centers and frontline fulfillment grid and their respective facilities. Most of the warehouses we use are operated by ourselves and staffed by our fulfillment specialists and outsourced workers recruited through third-party vendors. We provide our operating standards under our agreements with third-party vendors and typically renew these agreements on an annual basis. Any decrease in the quality of service offered by these third-party vendors will adversely affect our reputation and business operations. The warehouse facilities may be vulnerable to damage caused by fire, flood, power outage,

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telecommunications failure, break-ins, earthquake, human error and other events. If any of the warehouse facilities were rendered incapable of operations, then we may be unable to fulfill our orders on a timely basis. In addition, we may be required to search for and relocate to, alternative properties in case of such damages or if the properties concerned are challenged by third parties or governmental authorities, which would cause interruption to our business. Please also refer to “—The defects in certain leased property interests and failure to register certain lease agreements may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.” We do not carry business interruption insurance, and the occurrence of any of the foregoing risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

We may be subject to product liability claims.

The products we offer may be perished, tainted or defective. As a result, sales of such products could expose us to product liability claims relating to food poisoning or tampering and may require product recalls or other actions. Third parties subject to such injury or damage may bring claims or legal proceedings against us as the retailer of the product. Although we would have legal recourse against the suppliers of such products under PRC law, attempting to enforce our rights against the manufacturer may be expensive, time-consuming and ultimately futile. In addition, we do not currently maintain any third-party liability insurance or product liability insurance in relation to products we sell. As a result, any material product liability claim or litigation could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Even unsuccessful claims could result in the expenditure of funds and managerial efforts in defending them and could have a negative impact on our reputation. We may also experience negative impact on our reputation due to real or perceived quality or health issues with the food products we sold.

If we fail to manage our inventory effectively, our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity may be materially and adversely affected.

Our scale and business model require us to manage a large volume of inventory, including perishable produce and meats, effectively. We depend on our demand forecasts for various kinds of products to make purchase decisions and to manage our inventory. Demand for products, however, can change significantly between the time inventory is ordered and the date by which we target to sell it. Demand may be affected by seasonality, new product launches, changes in product cycles and pricing, product defects, changes in consumer spending patterns, changes in consumer tastes with respect to our products and other factors, and our users may not order products in the quantities that we expect. In addition, when we begin selling a new product, it may be difficult to establish supplier relationships, determine appropriate product selection, and accurately forecast demand. The acquisition of certain types of inventory may require significant lead time and prepayment, and they may not be returnable.

Our inventories have increased 139.4% from RMB161.4 million as of December 31, 2019 to RMB386.4 million (US$59.0 million) as of December 31, 2020 while our revenues increased 192.2% during the same period. As we plan to continue expanding our product offerings, we expect to include more products in our inventory, which will make it more challenging for us to manage our inventory effectively and will put more pressure on our warehousing system.

If we fail to manage our inventory effectively, we may be subject to a heightened risk of inventory obsolescence, a decline in inventory values, and significant inventory write-downs or write-offs. In addition, we may be required to lower sale prices in order to reduce inventory level, which may lead to lower gross margins. High inventory levels may also require us to commit substantial capital resources, preventing us from using that capital for other important purposes. Any of the above may materially and adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

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On the other hand, if we underestimate demand for our products, or if our suppliers fail to supply quality products in a timely manner, we may experience inventory shortages, which might result in missed sales, diminished brand loyalty and lost revenues, any of which could harm our business and reputation.

There could be adverse legal, tax, and other consequences if delivery riders or workers at our front fulfillment stations were to be classified as our employees or dispatched employees instead of independent contractors.

We have established business outsourcing relationships with third-party labor service companies for provision of delivery riders and workers at our regional processing centers and frontline fulfillment stations, pursuant to which we pay service fees to third-party labor service companies who, as our independent contractors, shall be responsible for the hire of workers and entry into relevant agreement with those workers accordingly. We believe that our workforce model is consistent with the prevailing practice in the on-demand e-commerce industry and recent policies of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, or the State Council, that promote on-demand consumer service businesses and the associated workforce model through flexible regulatory measures. Furthermore, as those workers do not have any contractual relationships with us and get paid from third-party labor service companies, we believe such delivery riders and workers are independent from us. As such, we do not believe that they should be deemed as our employees or dispatched employees under the relevant PRC laws and regulations. As of the date of this prospectus, our workforce model has not been investigated or challenged by any government authorities, nor are we aware of any government action contemplated or threatened. However, we have been previously involved in individual lawsuits brought by third parties to seek compensation from us for injuries caused by delivery riders during their course of service.

We cannot assure you that we will not be involved in lawsuits or arbitration cases in which the judge or arbitrator may side with the claimant in determining the relationship with delivery riders in the future. We also cannot assure you that we will not be subject to government investigations on or challenges to the legality of our workforce model in the future. If, as a result of legislation or judicial decisions, we are required to classify delivery riders or workers at our regional processing centers and front fulfillment stations as our employees or dispatched employees, we would incur significant additional expenses for compensating delivery riders, potentially including expenses associated with various employee benefits pursuant to relevant PRC laws and regulations. In addition, we may be required to fundamentally change our operation model to comply with the relevant PRC laws and regulations, including the requirement that the total number of dispatched employees may not exceed 10% of the total number of workforce. We would also be subject to claims for vicarious liability in relation to torts committed by delivery riders during their course of services, or other claims under the relevant PRC laws and regulations under such scenario. Any of the foregoing could significantly increase our costs to serve users, harm our reputation and brand, subject us to rectification orders and fines, and cause us to significantly alter our existing business model and operations. As a result, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects will be materially and adversely affected.

We engage labor service companies to provide outsourced personnel for a portion of our operations. We have limited control over these personnel and may be subject to liabilities arisen from contracts we enter into with such labor service companies.

We engage labor service companies who send a large number of their employees to work at our facilities for picking, packing and delivery, etc. We enter into agreements with the labor service companies only and therefore do not have any direct contractual relationship with these outsourced personnel. Since these outsourced personnel are not directly employed by us, our control over them is more limited as compared to our own employees. If any outsourced personnel fails to operate or perform its duties in accordance with our protocols, policies and business guidelines, our market reputation, brand image and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Our agreements with the labor service companies provide that they independently assume employers’ responsibilities or other responsibilities stipulated by laws and regulations for outsourced personnel and that they

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will be the party responsible for any personal or property losses during the outsourced personnel’s work. However, if the labor service companies violate any relevant requirements under the applicable PRC labor laws, regulations or their employment agreements with the personnel, such personnel may claim compensation from us as they provide their services at our facilities. As a result, we may incur legal or financial liability, and our market reputation, brand image as well as our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Failure in our IT systems or delays in the development and implementation of updates or enhancements to those systems could significantly disrupt our operations.

The proper functioning of our IT systems is essential to our business. The satisfactory performance, reliability and availability of our IT systems are critical to our success, our ability to attract and retain buyers and our ability to maintain and deliver consistent services to our buyers and merchants. However, our technology infrastructure may fail to keep pace with increased sales on Dingdong Fresh, in particular with respect to our new product and service offerings, and therefore our buyers may experience delays as we seek to source additional capacity, which would adversely affect our results of operations as well as our reputation.

Additionally, we must continue to upgrade and improve our technology infrastructure to support our business growth. However, we cannot assure you that we will be successful in executing these system upgrades, and the failure to do so may impede our growth. We currently rely on cloud services and servers operated by external cloud service providers to store our data, to allow us to analyze a large amount of data simultaneously and to update our buyer database and buyer profiles quickly. Any interruption or delay in the functionality of these external cloud service and server providers may materially and adversely affect the operations of our business.

We may be unable to monitor and ensure high-quality maintenance and upgrade of our IT systems and infrastructure on a real-time basis, and buyers have experienced service outages and delays in the past in accessing and using our app and mini programs to place orders. In addition, we may experience surges in online traffic and orders associated with promotional activities and generally as we scale, which can put additional online demand at specific times. Our technology or infrastructure may not function properly at all times. Any system interruptions caused by telecommunications failures, computer viruses, hacking or other attempts to harm our systems that result in the unavailability or slowdown of our app and mini programs or reduced order fulfillment performance could reduce the volume of products sold and the attractiveness of our product offerings. Our servers may also be vulnerable to computer viruses, physical or electronic break-ins and similar disruptions, which could lead to system interruptions, website or mobile app slowdown or unavailability, delays or errors in transaction processing, loss of data or the inability to accept and fulfill buyer orders. Any of such occurrences could cause severe disruption to our daily operations. As a result, our reputation may be materially and adversely affected, our market share could decline and we could be subject to liability claims.

Undetected programming errors or flaws or failure to maintain effective user service could harm our reputation or even cause direct loss to us which would materially and adversely affect our results of operations.

Our app, mini programs and internal systems rely on software that is highly technical and complex. In addition, our app, mini programs and internal systems depend on the ability of such software to store, retrieve, process and manage an immense amount of data and the ability of its operators to operate this complex system properly. The software on which we rely may contain undetected programming errors or design defects, some of which may only be discovered after the code has been released for external or internal use. Improper operations or other human errors may also occur from time to time as a result of operating this software and complex system. Programming errors or design defects within the software or human errors in connection with the operation of the software may result in negative user experience, disruptions to the operations of our merchants, delay in introductions of new features or enhancements or compromise our ability to provide effective user

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service and enjoyable buyer engagement. They could cause harm to our reputation, loss of buyers or merchants, and/or direct economic loss to us.

Failure to protect confidential information of our users and network against security breaches could damage our reputation and brand and substantially harm our business and results of operations.

A significant challenge to the e-commerce industry is the secure storage of confidential information and its secure transmission over public networks. A majority of the orders and the payments for our products are made through our mobile app. In addition, all online payments are settled through third-party online payment services. Maintaining complete security on app and mini programs and systems for the storage and transmission of confidential or private information, such as users’ personal information, payment-related information and transaction information, is essential to maintain consumer confidence in our systems.

We have adopted strict security policies and measures, including encryption technology, to protect our proprietary data and buyer information. We have not encountered instances of material data breach or unauthorized system intrusion. However, advances in technology, the expertise of hackers, new discoveries in the field of cryptography or other events or developments could result in a compromise or breach of the technology that we use to protect confidential information. We may not be able to prevent third parties, especially hackers or other individuals or entities engaging in similar activities, from illegally obtaining such confidential or private information we hold with respect to our users. Such individuals or entities obtaining confidential or private information may further engage in various other illegal activities using such information. In addition, we have limited control or influence over the security policies or measures adopted by third-party providers of online payment services through which some of our users may choose to make payment for purchases. Any negative publicity on our safety or privacy protection mechanisms and policies, and any claims asserted against us or fines imposed upon us as a result of actual or perceived failures, could have a material and adverse effect on our public image, reputation, financial condition and results of operations. Any compromise of our information security or the information security measures of our contracted third-party online payment service providers could have a material and adverse effect on our reputation, business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business is subject to complex and evolving laws and regulations regarding privacy and data protection. Many of these laws and regulations are subject to change and uncertain interpretation, and could result in claims, changes to our business practices, increased cost of operations, or declines in user growth or engagement, or otherwise harm our business.

We collect a large quantity of personal, transaction, demographic, behavior or other data from our users in order to better understand our users and their needs. Concerns about the collection, use, disclosure, or security of personal information or other privacy-related matters, even for those without merit, could damage our reputation, cause us to lose users and adversely affect our business and results of operations. In particular, we face a number of challenges relating to data from transactions and other activities on our app and mini programs, including:

We are required by privacy and data protection laws in China and other jurisdictions, including, without limitation, the PRC Cybersecurity Law, to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the information of our users, members, advertising customers, and third-party content providers, which is also essential to maintaining their confidence in our services. However, the interpretation and implementation of such laws in China and elsewhere are often uncertain and in flux.

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In November 2016, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress promulgated the PRC Cybersecurity Law, which provides that network operators must meet their cybersecurity obligations and must take technical measures and other necessary measures to protect the safety and stability of their networks. Although we only gain access to user information that is necessary for, and relevant to, the services provided, the data we obtain and use may include information that is deemed as “personal information” under the PRC Cybersecurity Law and related data privacy and protection laws and regulations. See “Regulation—Regulations Relating to Internet Privacy.”

While we take measures to comply with all applicable data privacy and protection laws and regulations, we cannot guarantee the effectiveness of the measures undertaken by us and our business partners. The activities of third parties, such as our users, merchants, brands, and other business partners are beyond our control. If any of these parties violate the PRC Cybersecurity Law and related laws and regulations, or fail to fully comply with the service agreements with us, or if any of our employees fails to comply with our internal control measures and misuses the information, we may be subject to regulatory actions. Any failure or perceived failure to comply with all applicable data privacy and protection laws and regulations, or any failure or perceived failure of our business partners to do so, or any failure or perceived failure of our employees to comply with our internal control measures, may result in negative publicity and legal proceedings or regulatory actions against us, and could damage our reputation, discourage current and potential users and business partners from using our services and subject us to claims, fines, and damages, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Furthermore, in April 2021, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress officially released the draft for the second reading of the Personal Information Protection Law, which provides the basic regime for personal information protection. New laws or regulations concerning data protection, or the interpretation and implementation of existing consumer and data protection laws or regulations, which is often uncertain and in flux, may be inconsistent with our practices. The introduction of new products or other actions that we may take may subject us to additional laws, regulations, or other government scrutiny. Complying with new laws and regulations could cause us to incur substantial costs or require us to change our business practices in a manner materially adverse to our business. In addition, some countries are considering or have passed legislation implementing data protection requirements or requiring local storage and processing of data or similar requirements that could increase the cost and complexity of delivering our services.

We are subject to payment processing risk.

Our users pay for our products using a variety of different online payment methods. We rely on third parties to process such payment. Acceptance and processing of these payment methods are subject to certain rules and regulations and require payment of interchange and other fees. To the extent there are increases in payment processing fees, material changes in the payment ecosystem, such as delays in receiving payments from payment processors and/or changes to rules or regulations concerning payment processing, our revenue, operating expenses and results of operation could be adversely impacted.

We also do not have control over the security measures of our third-party payment service providers, and security breaches of the online payment systems that we use could expose us to litigation and possible liability for failing to secure confidential customer information and could, among other things, damage our reputation and the perceived security of all of the online payment systems that we use. If a well-publicized internet security breach were to occur, users concerned about the security of their online payments may become reluctant to purchase our products and services through payment service providers even if the publicized breach did not involve payment systems or methods used by us. If any of the above were to occur and damage our reputation or the perceived security of the payment systems that we use, we may lose paying users as they may be discouraged from purchasing products or services in our community, which may adversely affect our business and results of operations.

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Any lack of requisite approvals, licenses, permits or filings or failure to comply with any requirements of PRC laws, regulations and policies may materially and adversely affect our daily operations and hinder our growth.

Our business is subject to governmental supervision and regulation by the relevant PRC governmental authorities, including the Ministry of Commerce, or MOFCOM, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, or the MIIT, the State Administration for Market Regulation and other governmental authorities in charge of the relevant categories of products sold by us. Together, these government authorities promulgate and enforce regulations that cover many aspects of the operation of online retailing, including entry into this industry, the scope of permissible business activities, licenses and permits for various business activities, and foreign investment.

The on-demand e-commerce industry of fresh groceries is subject to comprehensive government regulations and supervisions, and we are required to hold or apply for various permits, licenses or filings for conducting our business covering various business type, such as hot or cold food production, food sale or food distribution. See “Regulation—Regulations Relating to Licenses, Permits, Registrations and Filings.” As of the date of this prospectus, we have not obtained and are still in the process of applying for some licenses and permits that are necessary for our business operation, which is subject to regulatory approvals, cooperation from contract counterparties and certain other factors that are beyond our control. In addition, under relevant PRC laws and regulations, we shall specify the addresses of the warehouses in each food operating license, or otherwise, may be subject to regulatory fines and administrative penalties. As of the date of this prospectus, not all of the addresses of our regional processing centers and frontline fulfillment stations are currently specified in the relevant food operating licenses. While we are in the process of completing such registration and update to cover the addresses of all of our regional processing centers and frontline fulfillment stations, we may be subject to regulatory fines of up to RMB2,000 per incidence of violation should we fail to rectify as required by regulators. As of the date of this prospectus, we have not received any notice of warning or been subject to penalties or other disciplinary action from the relevant governmental authorities regarding the conducting of our business without the above mentioned approvals, filings, registration and permits. However, we cannot assure you that we will not be subject to any penalties in the future.

As the online retail industry is still evolving in China, new laws and regulations may be adopted from time to time and regulators may interpret existing laws and regulations differently from what they do now to require additional licenses and permits other than those we currently have, and to address new issues that arise from time to time. As a result, substantial uncertainties exist regarding the interpretation and implementation of current and any future PRC laws and regulations applicable to online retail businesses. For example, if a warehouse is not involved in providing any operating service to third parties, such warehouse is not required to be registered as a branch or subsidiary under currently applicable PRC laws and regulations. However, if any operating service is conducted, a company shall register such warehouse in accordance with relevant laws and regulations. As of the date of this prospectus, all of our regional processing centers and frontline fulfillment stations have not conducted any operating services by providing warehousing or other service to any third parties as other warehouses which are required to be registered under applicable laws and regulations, but are used only for the purpose of sorting and storing our products before delivering such products to our users since their establishment. Therefore, we do not believe that we are required to register any of our regional processing centers and frontline fulfillment stations under relevant laws and regulations. Still, we chose to voluntarily register 215 regional processing centers and frontline fulfillment stations as of the date of this prospectus by registering branch offices or subsidiaries in cities where they are located, primarily because (i) we may consider introducing more services and functions to our regional processing centers and frontline fulfillment stations in the future, which may subject such centers and stations to registration requirements, (ii) it is more convenient for us to communicate with local authorities through such registered branch offices or subsidiaries, thereby improving our operational efficiency, and (iii) we have incurred minimal costs without additional burdens for us to complete the registrations. However, we cannot assure you that we will not be required to register our regional processing centers and frontline fulfillment stations in the future pursuant to then applicable laws or regulations. If the PRC government considers that we were operating without the proper approvals, licenses, filings, registration or

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permits or promulgates new laws and regulations that require additional approvals or licenses or impose additional restrictions on the operation of any part of our business, it has the power, among other things, to levy fines, confiscate our income, revoke our business licenses, and require us to discontinue our relevant business or impose restrictions on the affected portion of our business. Any of these and other regulatory actions by the PRC governmental authorities, including issuance of official notices, change of policies, promulgation of regulations and imposition of sanctions, may adversely affect our business and have a material and adverse effect on our results of operations. In addition, if we were to use new or additional domain names to conduct our business, we would have to apply for the same set of government authorizations or amend the current ones. There is no assurance that we will be able to complete such procedures timely.

In addition to licenses, filings, registration and permits, laws and regulations may require e-commerce operators to take measures to protect consumer rights. Failure to do so may subject the e-commerce operators to rectification requirements and penalties. Although we endeavor to follow the laws and regulations, there is no assurance that we can timely react to the evolving requirements, and the government authorities may, to certain extent, have discretion in determining whether such requirements have been strictly complied with. If the government authorities deem that we fail to meet such requirements, we may receive warnings, be ordered to make rectifications, or subject to other administrative sanctions that may have material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and our results of operations.

We may engage in acquisitions, investments or strategic alliances in the future, which could require significant management attention and materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We may identify strategic partners to form strategic alliances, invest in or acquire additional assets, technologies or businesses that are complementary to our existing business. These transactions may involve minority investments in other companies, acquisitions of controlling stakes in other companies or acquisitions of selected assets.

Any future strategic alliances, investments or acquisitions and the subsequent integration of the new assets and businesses obtained or developed from such transactions into our own may divert management from their primary responsibilities and subject us to additional liabilities. In addition, the costs of identifying and consummating investments and acquisitions may be significant. We may also incur costs and experience uncertainties in completing necessary registrations and obtaining necessary approvals from relevant government authorities in China and elsewhere in the world. The costs and duration of integrating newly acquired assets and businesses could also materially exceed our expectations. Any such negative developments could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flow.

If we fail to hire, retain and train qualified employees or sufficient workforce while controlling our labor costs, our business may suffer.

We depend on the continued contributions of our senior management and other key employees, many of whom are difficult to replace. The loss of the services of any of our executive officers or other key employees could harm our business. Our future success depends on our ability to attract, retain and train a large number of qualified employees. Our fulfillment infrastructure is labor intensive and requires a substantial number of workers, and these positions tend to have higher than average turnover. We have observed an overall tightening of the labor market and an emerging trend of shortage of labor supply. Failure to obtain stable and dedicated warehousing, delivery personnel and other labor support may lead to underperformance of these functions and cause disruption to our business. Labor costs in China have increased with China’s economic development, particularly in the large cities where we operate our regional fulfillment centers and more generally in the urban areas where we maintain our delivery and pickup stations. Because we operate our own fulfillment infrastructure, which requires a large and rapidly growing workforce, our cost structure is more vulnerable to labor costs than that of many of our competitors, which may put us at a competitive disadvantage. If we are unable to attract and retain sufficient and qualified personnel, our business and growth may be materially and adversely affected and

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the trading price of our ADSs could suffer. Our need to significantly increase the number of our qualified employees and retain key employees may cause us to materially increase compensation-related costs, including stock-based compensation.

Our user operating metrics and other estimates are subject to inherent challenges in measuring our operating performance, which may harm our reputation.

We regularly review our operating metrics in relation to our users to evaluate growth trends, measure our performance, and make strategic decisions. These metrics are calculated using our internal data, have not been validated by an independent third party, and may not be indicative of our future operation results. While these numbers are based on what we believe to be reasonable estimates for the applicable period of measurement, there are inherent challenges in measuring how our app and mini programs are used across a large population in China. Errors or inaccuracies in our metrics or data could result in incorrect business decisions and inefficiencies. For instance, if a significant understatement or overstatement of transacting users were to occur, we might expend resources to implement unnecessary business measures or fail to take required actions to remedy an unfavorable trend. If investors do not perceive our user or other operating metrics to accurately represent our user base, or if we discover inaccuracies in our user or other operating metrics, our reputation may be harmed.

We may be subject to intellectual property infringement claims, which may be expensive to defend and may disrupt our business and operations.

We cannot be certain that our operations or any aspects of our business do not or will not infringe upon or otherwise violate patents, copyrights or other intellectual property rights held by third parties. We have been, and from time to time in the future may be, subject to legal proceedings and claims relating to the intellectual property rights of others. In addition, there may be other third-party intellectual property that is infringed by products offered by our merchants and our services or other aspects of our business. There could also be existing patents of which we are not aware that our products may inadvertently infringe. We cannot assure you that holders of patents purportedly relating to some aspect of our technology platform or business, if any such holders exist, would not seek to enforce such patents against us in China, the United States or any other jurisdictions. Further, the application and interpretation of China’s patent laws and the procedures and standards for granting patents in China are still evolving and are uncertain, and we cannot assure you that PRC courts or regulatory authorities would agree with our analysis. If we are found to have violated the intellectual property rights of others, we may be subject to liability for our infringement activities or may be prohibited from using such intellectual property, and we may incur licensing fees or be forced to develop alternatives of our own. In addition, we may incur significant expenses, and may be forced to divert management’s time and other resources from our business and operations to defend against these infringement claims, regardless of their merits. Successful infringement or licensing claims made against us may result in significant monetary liabilities and may materially disrupt our business and operations by restricting or prohibiting our use of the intellectual property in question. Finally, we use open source software in connection with our products and services. Companies that incorporate open source software into their products and services have, from time to time, faced claims challenging the ownership of open source software and compliance with open source license terms. As a result, we could be subject to suits by parties claiming ownership of what we believe to be open source software or noncompliance with open source licensing terms. Some open source software licenses require users who distribute open source software as part of their software to publicly disclose all or part of the source code to such software and make available any derivative works of the open source code on unfavorable terms or at no cost. Any requirement to disclose our source code or pay damages for breach of contract could be harmful to our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We may not be able to prevent others from unauthorized use of our intellectual property, which could harm our business and competitive position.

We regard our trademarks, copyrights, patents, domain names, know-how, proprietary technologies, and similar intellectual property as critical to our success, and we rely on a combination of intellectual property laws

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and contractual arrangements, including confidentiality, invention assignment and non-compete agreements with our employees and others, to protect our proprietary rights. We are aware of certain copycat websites that attempt to cause confusion or diversion of traffic from us at the moment, against which we are considering initiating lawsuits, and we may continue to become an attractive target to such attacks in the future because of our brand recognition in the online retail industry in China. Despite these measures, any of our intellectual property rights could be challenged, invalidated, circumvented or misappropriated, or such intellectual property may not be sufficient to provide us with competitive advantages. In addition, there can be no assurance that (i) our application for registration of trademarks, patents, and other intellectual property rights will be approved, (ii) any intellectual property rights will be adequately protected, or (iii) such intellectual property rights will not be challenged by third parties or found by a judicial authority to be invalid or unenforceable. Further, because of the rapid pace of technological change in our industry, parts of our business rely on technologies developed or licensed by third parties, and we may not be able to obtain or continue to obtain licenses and technologies from these third parties at all or on reasonable terms.

It is often difficult to register, maintain and enforce intellectual property rights in China. Statutory laws and regulations are subject to judicial interpretation and enforcement and may not be applied consistently due to the lack of clear guidance on statutory interpretation. Confidentiality, invention assignment and non-compete agreements may be breached by counterparties, and there may not be adequate remedies available to us for any such breach. Accordingly, we may not be able to effectively protect our intellectual property rights or to enforce our contractual rights in China. Policing any unauthorized use of our intellectual property is difficult and costly and the steps we take may be inadequate to prevent the infringement or misappropriation of our intellectual property. In the event that we resort to litigation to enforce our intellectual property rights, such litigation could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management and financial resources, and could put our intellectual property at risk of being invalidated or narrowed in scope. We can provide no assurance that we will prevail in such litigation, and even if we do prevail, we may not obtain a meaningful recovery. In addition, our trade secrets may be leaked or otherwise become available to, or be independently discovered by, our competitors. Any failure in maintaining, protecting or enforcing our intellectual property rights could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We have granted and may continue to grant options and other types of awards under our share incentive plan, which may result in increased share-based compensation expenses.

We adopted a series of equity incentive plans to attract and retain key personnel and employees. For the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, we recorded RMB2.0 million and RMB153.1 million (US$23.4 million), respectively, in share-based compensation expenses. For the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2021, we recorded RMB0.8 million and RMB9.2 million (US$1.4 million), respectively, in share-based compensation expenses. Competition for highly skilled personnel is often intense and we may incur significant costs or may not be successful in attracting, integrating, or retaining qualified personnel to fulfill our current or future needs. We believe the granting of share-based awards is of significant importance to our ability to attract and retain key personnel and employees, and we will continue to grant share-based awards in the future. As a result, our expenses associated with share-based compensation may increase, which may have an adverse effect on our results of operations.

Our business may be subject to seasonal sales fluctuations.

We experience seasonality in our business, reflecting a combination of seasonal fluctuations in internet usage and traditional retail seasonality patterns. We have experienced seasonal fluctuations in customer purchases in our business. For example, we generally experience higher user traffic and more purchase orders during the summer holidays as families tend to cook more often for kids at home and lower traffic during the Chinese New Year. Due to the foregoing factors, our financial condition and results of operations for future quarters may continue to fluctuate and our historical quarterly results may not be comparable to future quarters. As a result, the trading price of our ADSs may fluctuate from time to time due to seasonality.

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We rely on proper operation and maintenance of our mobile platform and internet infrastructure and telecommunications networks in China. Any malfunction, capacity constraint or operation interruption may have an adverse impact on our business.

Currently, all of our sales of products are generated online through Dingdong Fresh, our mobile app and mini-programs. Therefore, the satisfactory performance, reliability and availability of our mobile platform are critical to our success and our ability to attract and retain buyers. Our business depends on the performance and reliability of the internet infrastructure in China. The reliability and availability of our mobile platform depends on telecommunications carriers and other third-party providers for communications and storage capacity, including bandwidth and server storage, among other things. If we are unable to enter into and renew agreements with these providers on acceptable terms, or if any of our existing agreements with such providers are terminated as a result of our breach or otherwise, our ability to provide our services to our buyers could be adversely affected. Access to internet in China is maintained through state-owned telecommunications carriers under administrative control, and we obtain access to end-user networks operated by such telecommunications carriers and internet service providers to give buyers access to our mobile platform. The failure of telecommunications network operators to provide us with the requisite bandwidth could also interfere with the speed and availability of our mobile platform. Service interruptions prevent buyers from accessing our mobile platform and placing orders, and frequent interruptions could frustrate buyers and discourage them from attempting to place orders, which could cause us to lose buyers and harm our operating results.

Misconduct, errors and failure to function by our employees could harm our business and reputation.

Illegal, fraudulent or collusive activities by our employees could also subject us to liability or negative publicity. Although we have implemented internal controls and policies with regard to sales activities and other relevant matters, we cannot assure you that our controls and policies will prevent fraud or illegal activity by our employees or that similar incidents will not occur in the future. Any illegal, fraudulent or collusive activity could severely damage our brand and reputation, which could drive consumers away from us, and materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Failure of us, our employees, affiliates and business partners such as suppliers and third-party couriers to comply with anti-corruption laws and regulations and our anti-corruption policies and procedures could severely damage our reputation, and materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We are subject to risks in relation to actions taken by us, our employees, affiliates and business partners such as suppliers, labor service companies and logistic service providers that constitute violations of the anti-corruption laws and regulations. While we have adopted anti-corruption policies, these policies may not be followed at all times, and they may not effectively detect and prevent all violations by us or our employees, affiliates or business partners. While we adopt strict internal procedures and work closely with relevant government agencies to ensure compliance with relevant laws and regulations, our efforts may not be sufficient to ensure that we, our employees, affiliates and business partners comply with relevant laws and regulations at all times. If we, our employees, affiliates and business partners violate these laws, rules or regulations or our policies, we could be subject to fines and/or other penalties and our reputation, corporate image and business operations may be materially and adversely affected. Actions by PRC regulatory authorities or the courts to provide an interpretation of PRC laws and regulations that differs from our interpretation or to adopt additional anti-bribery or anti-corruption related regulations could also require us to make changes to our operations. If we are unable to effectively address these risks, fail to comply with these measures, or become the target of any negative publicity as a result of actions taken by us, our employees, affiliates and business partners, our brand image, reputation and financial performance may be materially and adversely affected.

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User growth and activity on mobile devices depend upon effective use of mobile operating systems, networks and standards that are beyond our control.

Purchases using mobile devices by consumers generally, and by our users specifically, have increased significantly, and we expect this trend to continue. To optimize the mobile shopping experience, we are somewhat dependent on our users downloading our specific mobile apps for their particular devices as opposed to accessing our sites from an internet browser on their mobile device. As new mobile devices and platforms are released, it is difficult to predict the problems we may encounter in developing applications for these alternative devices and platforms, and we may need to devote significant resources to the development, support and maintenance of such applications. In addition, our future growth and our results of operations could suffer if we experience difficulties in the future in integrating our mobile apps into mobile devices or if problems arise with our relationships with providers of mobile operating systems or mobile app download stores, if our apps receive unfavorable treatment compared to competing apps on the download stores, or if we face increased costs to distribute or have users use our mobile apps. We are further dependent on the interoperability of our sites with popular mobile operating systems that we do not control, such as iOS and Android, and any changes in such systems that degrade the functionality of our sites or give preferential treatment to competitive products could adversely affect the usage of our sites on mobile devices. In the event that it is more difficult for our users to access and use our sites on their mobile devices, or if our users choose not to access or to use our sites on their mobile devices or to use mobile products that do not offer access to our sites, our user growth could be harmed and our business, financial condition and operating results may be adversely affected.

Uncertainties exist with respect to the interpretation and implementation of Anti-Monopoly Guide of the Antimonopoly Commission of the State Council for the Platform Economy Sector and how these may impact our business operations.

On February 7, 2021, Anti-Monopoly Guide of the Anti-monopoly Commission of the State Council for the Platform Economy Sector, or the Guide, was officially issued and became effective. The Guide provides operational standards and guidelines to be applied in identifying certain monopolistic acts of internet platforms which are prohibited to restrict unfair competition and safeguard users’ interests, including without limitation, prohibiting personalized pricing using big data and analytics, selling products below cost without reasonable causes, actions or arrangements seen as exclusivity arrangements, using technology means to block competitors’ interface, using bundle services to sell services or products. In addition, internet platforms’ compulsory collection of unnecessary user data may be viewed as abuse of dominant market position that may have the effect to eliminate or restrict competition. As the Guide only became effective recently, uncertainties exist with respect to its interpretation and implementation. The enactment of the Guide may significantly change the competitive landscape of overall e-commerce industry, which may have adversely affect on our business operation.

If we fail to implement and maintain an effective system of internal controls to remediate our material weaknesses over financial reporting, we may be unable to accurately report our results of operations, meet our reporting obligations or prevent fraud.

Prior to this offering, we were a private company with limited accounting and financial reporting personnel and other resources with which to address our internal controls and procedures. Our independent registered public accounting firm has not conducted an audit of our internal control over financial reporting. However, in the course of auditing our consolidated financial statements as of and for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, we and our independent registered public accounting firm identified two material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. As defined in the standards established by the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or PCAOB, a “material weakness” is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. The material weaknesses identified relate to our (i) lack of sufficient accounting and financial reporting personnel with requisite knowledge and experience in application of U.S. GAAP and SEC rules, and (ii) lack of financial

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reporting policies and procedures that are commensurate with U.S. GAAP and SEC reporting requirements. We are in the process of implementing a number of measures to address the material weaknesses and deficiencies that have been identified. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Internal Control Over Financial Reporting.” However, we cannot assure you that these measures may fully address the material weaknesses and deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting or that we may conclude that they have been fully remediated.

Upon the completion of this offering, we will become a public company in the United States subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or Section 404, will require that we include a report from management on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting in our annual report on Form 20-F beginning with our annual report for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2022. In addition, our independent registered public accounting firm must attest to and report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Our management may conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is not effective. Moreover, even if our management concludes that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, our independent registered public accounting firm, after conducting its own independent testing, may issue a report that is qualified if it is not satisfied with our internal controls or the level at which our controls are documented, designed, operated, or reviewed, or if it interprets the relevant requirements differently from us. In addition, after we become a public company, our reporting obligations may place a significant strain on our management, operational and financial resources and systems for the foreseeable future. We may be unable to timely complete our evaluation testing and any required remediation.

During the course of documenting and testing our internal control procedures, in order to satisfy the requirements of Section 404, we may identify other material weaknesses and deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting. In addition, if we fail to maintain the adequacy of our internal control over financial reporting, as these standards are modified, supplemented, or amended from time to time, we may not be able to conclude on an ongoing basis that we have effective internal control over financial reporting in accordance with Section 404. We may not be able to anticipate and identify accounting issues, or other risks critical to financial reporting that could materially impact the consolidated financial statements. Generally speaking, if we fail to achieve and maintain an effective internal control environment, we could suffer material misstatements in our financial statements and fail to meet our reporting obligations, which would likely cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information. This could in turn limit our access to capital markets, harm our results of operations and lead to a decline in the trading price of our ADSs. Additionally, ineffective internal control over financial reporting could expose us to increased risk of fraud or misuse of corporate assets and subject us to potential delisting from the stock exchange on which we list, regulatory investigations, and civil or criminal sanctions. We may also be required to restate our financial statements from prior periods.

The defects in certain leased property interests and failure to register certain lease agreements may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.

We lease premises in China in various locations for our fulfillment facilities and offices. With respect to our leased premises, some lessors do not possess or have not provided us with property ownership certificates or other documents evidencing their rights to lease such premises to us, have other restrictions on their ownership or the usage of the properties, or have not completed required registrations. Therefore, we cannot assure you that we will not be subject to any challenges, lawsuits, or other actions taken against us with respect to our leased premises. In addition, although we are in the process of obtaining fire-control registration for these leased premises as required by relevant PRC laws and regulations, we cannot control whether our lessors have completed or would cooperate with us to complete the required fire-control registration, or whether we would be able to obtain such fire control registrations in a timely manner or at all. Substantially all of our leased properties in China have not obtained fire-control registrations as required by relevant PRC laws. If our lessors’ right to lease premises is successfully challenged by any third party or governmental authority or if they fail to cooperate with us to complete the required registrations, or the registrations are otherwise not completed, our lease agreements may not be enforceable and we may be forced to vacate the premise and relocate to a different premise and/or subject to fines or other penalties.

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We have not registered any of our lease agreements with the relevant government authorities. Under the relevant PRC laws and regulations, all lease agreements are required to be registered and filed with the relevant government authority. The failure to register the lease agreements for our leased properties will not affect the validity of these lease agreements, but the relevant government authorities may order us to register the lease agreements in a prescribed period of time and impose a fine ranging from RMB1,000 to RMB10,000 for each non-registered lease if we fail to complete the registration within the prescribed timeframe after receiving the notice from the relevant PRC government authorities. As of the date of this prospectus, we have not been ordered by relevant government authorities to register our lease agreements or been subject to any administrative penalties or other disciplinary actions from the relevant governmental authorities for failure of registering our lease agreements. Although we have proactively requested that the applicable lessors complete or cooperate with us to complete the registration in a timely manner, we are unable to control whether and when such lessors will do so and therefore we cannot assure you that we will complete registration of our lease agreements in a timely manner or at all. In the event that a fine is imposed on both the lessor and lessee, and if we are unable to recover from the lessor any fine paid by us, such fine will be borne by us.

We have limited business insurance coverage.

In line with general market practice, we maintain business insurances covering damages to our properties and IT infrastructures, but do not maintain any business interruption insurance or key man life insurance, which are not mandatory under the applicable laws. We cannot assure you that our insurance coverage is sufficient to prevent us from any loss or that we will be able to successfully claim our losses under our current insurance policy on a timely basis, or at all.

If we incur any loss that is not covered by our insurance policies, or the compensated amount is significantly less than our actual loss, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. In addition, not all of our regional processing centers and frontline fulfillment stations are covered by insurances. Consequently, any material or extended business disruption may result in substantial costs and expenses and the diversion of our resources, financial, managerial, or otherwise, which could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and prospects.

We face risks related to natural disasters, health epidemics and other outbreaks, most notably those related to the outbreak of COVID-19.

Our business could be adversely affected by the effects of epidemics, including COVID-19, avian influenza, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), influenza A (H1N1), Ebola or another epidemic. Any such occurrences could cause severe disruption to our daily operations, including our fulfillment infrastructure and our customer service centers, and may even require a temporary closure of our facilities.

In recent years, there have been outbreaks of epidemics in China and globally. For example, since December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus, later named COVID-19, has severely impacted China and many other countries and regions globally. In early 2020, in response to intensifying efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19, the Chinese government took a number of actions, which included extending the Chinese New Year holiday, quarantining individuals infected with or suspected of having COVID-19, prohibiting residents from free travel, encouraging employees of enterprises to work remotely from home and cancelling public activities, among others. The COVID-19 has also resulted in temporary closure of many corporate offices, retail stores, manufacturing facilities and factories across China. Our operations were affected to a certain extent by delays in our business activities, such as the expansion of our fulfillment network, commercial and corporate transactions and general uncertainties surrounding the duration of the government’s extended restrictive measures. In particular, the travel restrictions resulted in a short-term shortage of migrant workers in large cities who could serve as our delivery riders, which temporarily and adversely affected the delivery speed for products ordered on Dingdong Fresh.

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In response to the outbreak of COVID-19, we have taken a series of measures, including among others, remote working arrangements for some of our employees and temporarily allowing the government to utilize our fulfillment infrastructure and logistics services for crisis relief. These measures have temporarily affected the capacity and efficiency of our operations, in particular, our fulfillment capabilities, and negatively impacted the procurement of products and speed of expansion. In addition, we have also provided our riders and fulfillment workers with masks, hand sanitizers and other protective equipment immediately after the outbreak, which increased and may continue to increase costs and expenses of our operations. Furthermore, our business operations could be disrupted if any of our employees contracts or is suspected of contracting COVID-19 or any other epidemic disease, since our employees could be subject to contact tracing and quarantined and/or our offices be shut down for quarantine control. The extent to which COVID-19 impacts our results of operations will depend on the future developments of the outbreak, including new information concerning the global severity of and actions taken to contain the outbreak, which are highly uncertain and unpredictable. In addition, our results of operations could be adversely affected to the extent that the outbreak harms the Chinese economy in general. To the extent the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affects our business and financial results, it may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this prospectus, such as those relating to our level of indebtedness, our need to generate sufficient cash flows to service our indebtedness and our ability to comply with the covenants contained in the agreements that govern our indebtedness.

Despite the adverse impacts of COVID-19 mentioned above, since the outbreak of the pandemic, consumption patterns have rapidly moved from offline to online which boost the growth of e-commerce players, including us. We have seen increasing user acceptance of online grocery shopping, which positively affected both of our total number of orders and average revenue per order in 2020, especially in the first and second quarters of 2020, when the effects of the pandemic in China were the greatest. Since the second half of 2020, the growth of our business continued at a more stable rate compared to the first and second quarters of 2020, when most of the travel restrictions were relaxed in China. Please also refer to “Management Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Our Operations and Financial Performance.” We cannot assure you that as China and world economies re-open after the end of pandemic, consumers’ demand for online products will remain as much as it was during the pandemic, or consumers’ buying behaviors will continue to shift from offline to online. Any of such trend may have an adverse impact on us.

We are also vulnerable to natural disasters and other calamities. If any such disaster were to occur in the future affecting Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Nanjing, or any other city where we have major operations in China, our operations could be materially and adversely affected due to loss of personnel and damages to property, including our inventory and our technology systems. Our operation could also be severely disrupted if our suppliers, users or business partners were affected by such natural disasters or health epidemics.

The current tensions in international trade and rising political tensions, particularly between the United States and China, may adversely impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Recently there have been heightened tensions in international economic relations, such as the one between the United States and China. The U.S. government has recently imposed, and has recently proposed to impose additional, new, or higher tariffs on certain products imported from China to penalize China for what it characterizes as unfair trade practices. China has responded by imposing, and proposing to impose additional, new, or higher tariffs on certain products imported from the United States. Following mutual retaliatory actions for months, on January 15, 2020, the United States and China entered into the Economic and Trade Agreement between the United States of America and the People’s Republic of China as a phase one trade deal, effective on February 14, 2020.

In addition, political tensions between the United States and China have escalated due to, among other things, trade disputes, the COVID-19 outbreak, sanctions imposed by the U.S. Department of Treasury on certain officials of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the PRC central government and the executive

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orders issued by the U.S. government in August 2020 that prohibit certain transactions with certain selected leading Chinese internet companies as well as their products. Rising political tensions could reduce levels of trades, investments, technological exchanges, and other economic activities between the two major economies. Such tensions between the United States and China, and any escalation thereof, may have a negative impact on the general, economic, political, and social conditions in China and, in turn, adversely impacting our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

The audit report included in this prospectus is prepared by an auditor who is not inspected by the PCAOB and, as such, our investors are deprived of the benefits of such inspection. In addition, the adoption of any rules, legislations or other efforts to increase U.S. regulatory access to audit information could cause uncertainty, and we could be delisted if we are unable to meet the PCAOB inspection requirement in time.

Our auditor, the independent registered public accounting firm that issues the audit report included elsewhere in this prospectus, as an auditor of companies that are traded publicly in the United States and a firm registered with the PCAOB is subject to laws in the United States pursuant to which the PCAOB conducts regular inspections to assess its compliance with the applicable professional standards. Since our auditors are located in China, a jurisdiction where the PCAOB has been unable to conduct inspections without the approval of the Chinese authorities, our auditors are not currently inspected by the PCAOB.

In May 2013, the PCAOB announced that it had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding on Enforcement Cooperation with the China Securities Regulatory Commission, or the CSRC, and the PRC Ministry of Finance, which establishes a cooperative framework between the parties for the production and exchange of audit documents relevant to investigations undertaken by the PCAOB, the CSRC, or the PRC Ministry of Finance in the United States and China, respectively. The PCAOB continues to be in discussions with the CSRC, and the PRC Ministry of Finance to permit joint inspections in China of audit firms that are registered with PCAOB and audit Chinese companies that trade on U.S. exchanges.

On December 7, 2018, the SEC and the PCAOB issued a joint statement highlighting continued challenges faced by the U.S. regulators in their oversight of financial statement audits of U.S.-listed companies with significant operations in China. The joint statement reflects a heightened interest in an issue that has vexed U.S. regulators in recent years.

On April 21, 2020, the SEC and the PCAOB issued another joint statement reiterating the greater risk that disclosures will be insufficient in many emerging markets, including China, compared to those made by U.S. domestic companies. In discussing the specific issues related to the greater risk, the statement again highlights the PCAOB’s inability to inspect audit work paper and practices of accounting firms in China, with respect to their audit work of U.S. reporting companies. However, it remains unclear what further actions the SEC and PCAOB will take to address the problem.

On June 4, 2020, the then U.S. President issued a memorandum ordering the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, or the PWG, to submit a report to the President within 60 days of the memorandum that includes recommendations for actions that can be taken by the executive branch and by the SEC or PCAOB on Chinese companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges and their audit firms, in an effort to protect investors in the United States.

On August 6, 2020, the PWG released a report recommending that the SEC take steps to implement the five recommendations outlined in the report. In particular, to address companies from jurisdictions that do not provide the PCAOB with sufficient access to fulfill its statutory mandate, or NCJs, the PWG recommends enhanced listing standards on U.S. stock exchanges. This would require, as a condition to initial and continued exchange listing, PCAOB access to work papers of the principal audit firm for the audit of the listed company. Companies unable to satisfy this standard as a result of governmental restrictions on access to audit work papers and practices in NCJs may satisfy this standard by providing a co-audit from an audit firm with comparable resources

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and experience where the PCAOB determines it has sufficient access to audit work papers and practices to conduct an appropriate inspection of the co-audit firm. There is currently no legal process under which such a co-audit may be performed in China. The report permits the new listing standards to provide for a transition period until January 1, 2022 for listed companies, but would apply immediately to new listings once the necessary rulemakings and/or standard-setting are effective. The measures in the PWG Report are presumably subject to the standard SEC rulemaking process before becoming effective. After we are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, if we fail to meet the new listing standards before the deadline specified thereunder due to factors beyond our control, we could face possible de-listing from the New York Stock Exchange, deregistration from the SEC, and other risks, which may materially and adversely affect, or effectively terminate, our ADS trading in the United States.

This lack of the PCAOB inspections in China prevents the PCAOB from fully evaluating audits and quality control procedures of our independent registered public accounting firm. As a result, we and investors in our ordinary shares are deprived of the benefits of such PCAOB inspections. The inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections of auditors in China makes it more difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of our independent registered public accounting firm’s audit procedures or quality control procedures as compared to auditors outside of China that are subject to the PCAOB inspections, which could cause investors and potential investors in our stock to lose confidence in our audit procedures and reported financial information and the quality of our financial statements.

As part of a continued regulatory focus in the United States on access to audit and other information currently protected by national law, in particular China’s, in June 2019, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced bills in both houses of the U.S. Congress, which if passed, would require the SEC to maintain a list of issuers for which PCAOB is not able to inspect or investigate an auditor report issued by a foreign public accounting firm. The proposed Ensuring Quality Information and Transparency for Abroad-Based Listings on our Exchanges (EQUITABLE) Act prescribes increased disclosure requirements for these issuers and, beginning in 2025, the delisting from U.S. national securities exchanges of issuers included on the SEC’s list for three consecutive years. On December 18, 2020, the president of the United States signed into law the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act , or the HFCAA. In essence, the HFCAA requires the SEC to prohibit foreign companies from listing securities on U.S. securities exchanges if a company retains a foreign accounting firm that cannot be inspected by the PCAOB for three consecutive years, beginning in 2021. The HFCAA also requires companies on the list to certify that they are not owned or controlled by a foreign government and make certain additional disclosures in their SEC filings, including disclosure of whether governmental entities in the applicable non-U.S. jurisdiction have a controlling financial interest in the issuer, the names of Chinese Communist Party members on the issuer or the issuer’s operating entity’s board of directors and whether the issuer’s articles contain a charter of the Chinese Communist Party. On March 24, 2021, the SEC adopted interim final rules relating to the implementation of certain disclosure and documentation requirements of the HFCAA. We will be required to comply with these rules if the SEC identifies us as having a “non-inspection” year under a process to be subsequently established by the SEC. The SEC is assessing how to implement other requirements of the HFCAA, including the listing and trading prohibition requirements described above. The enactment of the HFCAA and any additional rulemaking efforts to increase U.S. regulatory access to audit information in China could cause investor uncertainty for affected issuers, including us, and the market price of our ADSs could be adversely affected, and we could be delisted if we are unable to cure the situation to meet the PCAOB inspection requirement in time. Furthermore, there has been recent media reports on deliberations within the U.S. government regarding potentially limiting or restricting China-based companies from accessing U.S. capital markets. If any such deliberations were to materialize, the resulting legislation may materially and adversely affect the stock performance of China-based issuers listed in the United States.

It may be difficult for overseas regulators to conduct investigations or collect evidence within China.

Shareholder claims or regulatory investigation that are common in jurisdictions outside China are difficult to pursue as a matter of law or practicality in China. For example, in China, there are significant legal and other

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obstacles to providing information needed for regulatory investigations or litigation initiated outside China. Although the authorities in China may establish a regulatory cooperation mechanism with the securities regulatory authorities of another country or region to implement cross-border supervision and administration, such cooperation with the securities regulatory authorities in the United States or other jurisdictions may not be efficient in the absence of mutual and practical cooperation mechanism. Furthermore, according to Article 177 of the PRC Securities Law which became effective in March 2020, no overseas securities regulator is allowed to directly conduct investigations or evidence collection activities within the PRC territory, and without the consent by the Chinese securities regulatory authorities and the other competent governmental agencies, no entity or individual may provide documents or materials related to securities business to any foreign party. While detailed interpretation of or implementation rules under the article have yet to be promulgated, the inability for an overseas securities regulator to directly conduct investigations or evidence collection activities within China and the potential obstacles for information provision may further increase difficulties faced by you in protecting your interests. See also “—Risks Relating to Our ADSs and This Offering—You may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through U.S. courts may be limited, because we are incorporated under Cayman Islands law” for risks associated with investing in us as a Cayman Islands company.

Proceedings instituted by the SEC against PRC-based “big four” accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm, could result in financial statements being determined to not be in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act.

Starting in 2011 the PRC-based “big four” accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm, were affected by a conflict between U.S. and PRC law. Specifically, for certain U.S.-listed companies operating and audited in China, the SEC and the PCAOB sought to obtain from the Chinese firms access to their audit work papers and related documents. The firms were, however, advised and directed that under Chinese law, they could not respond directly to the U.S. regulators on those requests, and that requests by foreign regulators for access to such papers in China had to be channeled through the CSRC.

In late 2012, this impasse led the SEC to commence administrative proceedings under Rule 102(e) of its Rules of Practice and also under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 against the Chinese accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm. A first instance trial of the proceedings in July 2013 in the SEC’s internal administrative court resulted in an adverse judgment against the firms. The administrative law judge proposed penalties on the firms including a temporary suspension of their right to practice before the SEC, although that proposed penalty did not take effect pending review by the Commissioners of the SEC. On February 6, 2015, before a review by the Commissioner had taken place, the firms reached a settlement with the SEC. Under the settlement, the SEC accepts that future requests by the SEC for the production of documents will normally be made to the CSRC. The firms will receive matching Section 106 requests, and are required to abide by a detailed set of procedures with respect to such requests, which in substance require them to facilitate production via the CSRC. If they fail to meet specified criteria, the SEC retains authority to impose a variety of additional remedial measures on the firms depending on the nature of the failure. Remedies for any future non-compliance could include, as appropriate, an automatic six-month bar on a single firm’s performance of certain audit work, commencement of a new proceeding against a firm, or, in extreme cases, the resumption of the current proceeding against all four firms. If additional remedial measures are imposed on the PRC-based “big four” accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm, in administrative proceedings brought by the SEC alleging the firms’ failure to meet specific criteria set by the SEC with respect to requests for the production of documents, we could be unable to timely file future financial statements in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act.

In the event that the SEC restarts the administrative proceedings, depending upon the final outcome, listed companies in the United States with major PRC operations may find it difficult or impossible to retain auditors in respect of their operations in China, which could result in financial statements being determined not to be in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, including possible delisting. Moreover, any negative news about any such future proceedings against these audit firms may cause investor uncertainty regarding China-based, U.S.-listed companies and the market price of our ADSs may be adversely affected.

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If our independent registered public accounting firm was denied, even temporarily, the ability to practice before the SEC and we were unable to timely find another registered public accounting firm to audit and issue an opinion on our financial statements, our financial statements could be determined to be not in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act. Such a determination could ultimately lead to the delisting of the ADSs or deregistration from the SEC, or both, which would substantially reduce or effectively terminate the trading of the ADSs in the United States.

A severe or prolonged downturn in the Chinese or global economy could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

The global macroeconomic environment is facing challenges. The growth rate of the Chinese economy has gradually slowed in recent years and the trend may continue. There is considerable uncertainty over the long-term effects of the monetary and fiscal policies adopted by the central banks and financial authorities of some of the world’s leading economies, including the United States and China. Unrest, terrorist threats and the potential for war in the Middle East and elsewhere may increase market volatility across the globe. There have also been concerns on the relationship among China and other countries, including the surrounding Asian countries, which may potentially have economic effects. In particular, there is significant uncertainty about the future relationship between the United States and China with respect to trade policies, treaties, government regulations and tariffs. Economic conditions in China are sensitive to global economic conditions, as well as changes in domestic economic and political policies and the expected or perceived overall economic growth rate in China. Any severe or prolonged slowdown in the global or PRC economy may materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition. In addition, continued turbulence in the international markets may adversely affect our ability to access capital markets to meet liquidity needs.

We may be subject to legal, regulatory and/or administrative proceedings in the ordinary course of our business. If the outcomes of these proceedings are adverse to us, it could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

We have been and in the future may be subject to regulatory actions, litigation, penalties, disputes or claims of various types brought by relevant regulatory authorities or our competitors, users, employees, delivery riders, suppliers, landlords or other third parties against us in the ordinary course of our business. Such regulatory actions, disputes, allegations, complaints, or legal proceedings may damage our reputation, evolve into litigations or otherwise have a material adverse impact on our reputation and business. Litigation is expensive, may subject us to the risk of significant damages, requires significant managerial resources and attention, and could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. The outcomes of actions we institute may not be successful or favorable to us. Lawsuits against us may also generate negative publicity that significantly harms our reputation, which may adversely affect our user base.

Risks Relating to Doing Business in China

Changes in China’s economic, political or social conditions or government policies could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Substantially all of our operations are conducted in China. Accordingly, our results of operations, financial condition, and prospects are influenced by economic, political, and legal developments in China. China’s economy differs from the economies of most developed countries in many respects, including with respect to the amount of government involvement, level of development, growth rate, control of foreign exchange, and allocation of resources. The PRC government exercises significant control over China’s economic growth through strategically allocating resources, controlling the payment of foreign currency-denominated obligations, setting monetary policy, and providing preferential treatment to particular industries or companies. While the PRC economy has experienced significant growth over the past decades, that growth has been uneven across different regions and between economic sectors and may not continue. The growth of the Chinese economy may

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not continue at a rate experienced in the past, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the corresponding vaccination campaign on the Chinese economy may continue. Any prolonged slowdown in the Chinese economy may reduce the demand for our services and materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations. Furthermore, any adverse changes in the policies of the PRC government or in the laws and regulations in China could have a material adverse effect on China’s overall economic growth. Such developments could adversely affect our business and results of operations, lead to reduction in demand for our products and services and adversely affect our competitive position.

The legal system in China embodies uncertainties which could limit the legal protections available to us or impose additional requirements and obligations on our business, which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

We conduct our business primarily through our PRC subsidiaries. Our operations in China are governed by PRC laws and regulations. The legal system in China is a civil law system based on written statutes. Unlike common law systems, it is a system in which decided legal cases may be cited for reference but have less precedential value. The legal system in China evolves rapidly, and the interpretations of laws, regulations, and rules may contain inconsistencies. However, these laws, regulations, and legal requirements are constantly changing and their interpretation and enforcement involve uncertainties. These uncertainties could limit the legal protections available to us. In addition, we cannot predict the effect of future developments in the PRC legal system, particularly with regard to internet-related industries, including the promulgation of new laws, changes to existing laws or the interpretation or enforcement thereof, or the preemption of local regulations by national laws. Such unpredictability towards our contractual, property (including intellectual property) and procedural rights could adversely affect our business and impede our ability to continue our operations. Furthermore, any litigation in China may be protracted and result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and management attention.

In addition, new laws and regulations may be enacted from time to time and substantial uncertainties exist regarding the interpretation and implementation of current and any future PRC laws and regulations applicable to our businesses. In particular, the PRC government authorities may continue to promulgate new laws, regulations, rules and guidelines governing internet companies with respect to a wide range of issues, such as intellectual property, competition and antitrust, privacy and data protection, and other matters, which may result in additional obligations imposed on us. Compliance with these laws, regulations, rules, guidelines, and implementations may be costly, and any incompliance or associated inquiries, investigations, and other governmental actions may divert significant management time and attention and our financial resources, bring negative publicity, subject us to liabilities or administrative penalties, or materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

We may be adversely affected by the complexity, uncertainties and changes in PRC regulation of internet-related businesses and companies, and any lack of requisite approvals, licenses or permits applicable to our business may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

The PRC government extensively regulates the internet industry, including foreign ownership of, and the licensing and permit requirements pertaining to, companies in the internet industry. These internet-related laws and regulations are relatively new and evolving, and their interpretation and enforcement involve significant uncertainties. As a result, in certain circumstances it may be difficult to determine what actions or omissions may be deemed to be in violation of applicable laws and regulations.

The evolving PRC regulatory system for the internet industry may lead to the establishment of new regulatory agencies. For example, in May 2011, the State Council announced the establishment of the State Internet Information Office (with the involvement of the State Council Information Office, MIIT, and the Ministry of Public Security). The primary role of the State Internet Information Office is to facilitate the policy-making and legislative development in this field, to direct and coordinate with the relevant departments in connection with the relevant administration and to deal with cross-ministry regulatory matters in relation to the internet industry.

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We are required to hold a number of licenses and permits for our business operation, including food operating permit and we are in the process of applying for additional licenses to cover other aspects of our business, the approval of which cannot be guaranteed. Furthermore, as we offer and plan to continue to offer content in various formats, including certain video and live streaming content on our Dingdong Fresh, our content offerings may be considered as online transmission of audio and video programs, if the PRC regulatory authorities deem that we are not in compliance with the relevant legal requirements to hold a valid audio-visual permit or other registration or filing to cover the video and live streaming content, we may be subject to fines, penalties, and/or orders to cease offering video and live streaming content, shut down website or revoke licenses, which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

The interpretation and application of existing PRC laws, regulations and policies and possible new laws, regulations or policies relating to the internet industry have created substantial uncertainties regarding the legality of existing and future foreign investments in, and the businesses and activities of, internet businesses in China, including our business. We cannot assure you that we have obtained all the permits or licenses or filings required for conducting our business in China or will be able to maintain our existing licenses or obtain new ones. If the PRC government considers that we were operating without the proper approvals, licenses or permits or filings or promulgates new laws and regulations that require additional approvals or licenses or imposes additional restrictions on the operation of any part of our business, it has the power, among other things, to levy fines, confiscate our income, revoke our business licenses, and require us to discontinue our relevant business or impose restrictions on the affected portion of our business. Any of these actions by the PRC government may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

We may be classified as a “PRC resident enterprise” for PRC enterprise income tax purposes, which could result in unfavorable tax consequences to us and our shareholders and have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and the value of your investment.

Under the People’s Republic of China Enterprise Income Tax Law, or the EIT Law, which became effective on January 1, 2008 and was most recently amended on December 29, 2018, an enterprise established outside China whose “de facto management body” is located in China is considered a “PRC resident enterprise” and will generally be subject to the uniform 25% enterprise income tax rate, or the EIT rate, on its global income. Under the implementation rules of the EIT Law, “de facto management body” is defined as the organization body that effectively exercises full management and control over such aspects as the business operations, personnel, accounting and properties of the enterprise.

On April 22, 2009, State Administration of Taxation, or SAT, released the Circular Regarding the Determination of Chinese-Controlled Offshore Incorporated Enterprises as People’s Republic of China Tax Resident Enterprises on the Basis of De Facto Management Bodies, or Circular 82, that sets out the standards and procedures for determining whether the “de facto management body” of an enterprise registered outside of China and controlled by PRC enterprises or PRC enterprise groups is located within China. Further to SAT Circular 82, on July 27, 2011, SAT issued the Administrative Measures for Enterprise Income Tax of Chinese-Controlled Offshore Incorporated Resident Enterprises (Trial), or SAT Bulletin 45, to provide more guidance on the implementation of SAT Circular 82, which became effective on September 1, 2011 and latest revised on June 15, 2018. SAT Bulletin 45 clarified certain issues in the areas of resident status determination, post-determination administration and competent tax authorities’ procedures.

Under Circular 82, a foreign enterprise controlled by a PRC enterprise or PRC enterprise group is considered a PRC resident enterprise if all of the following apply: (i) the senior management and core management departments in charge of daily operations are located mainly within China; (ii) financial and human resources decisions are subject to determination or approval by persons or bodies in China; (iii) major assets, accounting books, company seals, and minutes and files of board and shareholders’ meetings are located or kept within China; and (iv) at least half of the enterprise’s directors with voting rights or senior management reside within China. SAT Bulletin 45 specifies that when provided with a copy of Chinese tax resident determination

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certificate from a resident Chinese controlled offshore incorporated enterprise, the payer should not withhold 10% income tax when paying the Chinese-sourced dividends, interest, royalties, etc. to the PRC controlled offshore incorporated enterprise.

Although Circular 82 and SAT Bulletin 45 explicitly provide that the above standards only apply to enterprises which are registered outside of China and controlled by PRC enterprises or PRC enterprise groups, not those controlled by PRC individuals or foreign individuals, Circular 82 and SAT Bulletin 45 may reflect SAT’s criteria for how the “de facto management body” test should be applied in determining the tax residence of foreign enterprises in general, regardless of whether they are controlled by PRC enterprises or PRC enterprise groups or by PRC or foreign individuals. If the PRC tax authorities determine that we were treated as a PRC resident enterprise for PRC enterprise income tax purposes, the 25% PRC enterprise income tax on our global taxable income could materially and adversely affect our ability to satisfy any cash requirements we may have.

PRC laws and regulations establish more complex procedures for some acquisitions of PRC companies by foreign investors, which could make it more difficult for us to pursue growth through acquisitions in China.

A number of PRC laws and regulations, including the M&A Rules, the Anti-monopoly Law promulgated by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress in August 2007, the Rules of Ministry of Commerce on Implementation of Security Review System of Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors promulgated by the Ministry of Commerce in August 2011, and the Measures for the Security Review of Foreign Investment promulgated by the NDRC and the Ministry of Commerce in December 2020 have established procedures and requirements that are expected to make merger and acquisition activities in China by foreign investors more time-consuming and complex. These include requirements in some instances that the approval from the Ministry of Commerce be obtained in circumstances where overseas companies established or controlled by PRC enterprises or residents acquire affiliated domestic companies. PRC laws and regulations also require certain merger and acquisition transactions involving an industry that implicates national security to be subject to merger control review or security review.

We may grow our business by acquiring complementary businesses. Complying with the requirements of the above-mentioned regulations and other relevant rules to complete such transactions could be time-consuming, and any required approval processes, including obtaining approval from the Ministry of Commerce or its local counterparts may delay or inhibit our ability to complete such transactions. It is unclear whether our business would be deemed to be in an industry that raises “national defense and security” or “national security” concerns. However, the Ministry of Commerce or other government agencies may publish explanations in the future determining that our business is in an industry subject to the security review, in which case our future acquisitions in China, including those by way of entering into contractual control arrangements with target entities, may be closely scrutinized or prohibited. Our ability to expand our business or maintain or expand our market share through future acquisitions would as such be materially and adversely affected.

The heightened scrutiny over acquisition transactions by PRC tax authorities may have a negative impact on our business operations, our acquisition or restructuring strategy or the value of your investment in us.

On February 3, 2015, SAT issued the Public Notice Regarding Certain Enterprise Income Tax Matters on Indirect Transfer of Assets by Non-PRC Resident Enterprises, or SAT Bulletin 7, which provided comprehensive guidelines relating to, and also heightened the PRC tax authorities’ scrutiny over, indirect transfers by a non-resident enterprise of PRC taxable assets. Under SAT Bulletin 7, the PRC tax authorities are entitled to reclassify the nature of an indirect transfer of PRC taxable assets, when a non-resident enterprise transfers PRC taxable assets indirectly by disposing of equity interests in an overseas holding company directly or indirectly holding such PRC taxable assets, by disregarding the existence of such overseas holding company and considering the transaction to be a direct transfer of PRC taxable assets and without any other reasonable commercial purpose. However, SAT Bulletin 7 contains certain exemptions, including (i) where a non-resident enterprise derives income from the indirect transfer of PRC taxable assets by acquiring and selling shares of an

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overseas listed company which holds such PRC taxable assets on a public market; and (ii) where there is an indirect transfer of PRC taxable assets, but if the non-resident enterprise had directly held and disposed of such PRC taxable assets, the income from the transfer would have been exempted from PRC enterprise income tax under an applicable tax treaty or arrangement.

On October 17, 2017, SAT issued the Announcement on Issues Concerning the Withholding of Enterprise Income Tax at Source on Non-PRC Resident Enterprises, or SAT Circular 37, which became effective on December 1, 2017 and abolish certain provisions in SAT Bulletin 7. SAT Circular 37 further clarifies the practice and procedure of withholding non-resident enterprise income tax. Pursuant to SAT Circular 37, where the party responsible to deduct such income tax did not or was unable to make such deduction, or the non-resident enterprise receiving such income failed to declare and pay the taxes that should have been deducted to the relevant tax authority, both parties may be subject to penalties. The taxable gain is calculated as balance of the total income from such transfer net of the net book value of equity interest.

We may conduct acquisitions involving changes in corporate structures. We cannot assure you that the PRC tax authorities will not, at their discretion, adjust any capital gains and impose tax return filing obligations on us or require us to provide assistance for the investigation of PRC tax authorities with respect thereto. Any PRC tax imposed on a transfer of our ADSs or any adjustment of such gains would cause us to incur additional costs and may have a negative impact on the value of your investment in us.

Discontinuation of preferential tax treatments we currently enjoy or other unfavorable changes in tax law could result in additional compliance obligations and costs.

A number of our PRC operating entities enjoy various types of preferential tax treatment pursuant to the prevailing PRC tax laws. Our PRC subsidiaries may, if they meet the relevant requirements, qualify for certain preferential tax treatment.

For a qualified “high and new technology enterprise,” the applicable enterprise income tax rate is 15%. Shanghai 100me is certified as a “high and new technology enterprise” under the relevant PRC laws and regulations. If Shanghai 100me fails to maintain its qualification under the relevant PRC laws and regulations, its applicable enterprise income tax rates may increase to up to 25%, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition.

PRC regulations of loans and direct investment by offshore holding companies to PRC entities may delay or prevent us from using the proceeds of our offshore financing to make loans or additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries, which could materially and adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business.

We may transfer funds to our PRC subsidiaries or finance our PRC subsidiaries by means of shareholders’ loans or capital contributions after completion of this offering. Any loans to our PRC subsidiaries, which are foreign-invested enterprises, cannot exceed a statutory limit, and shall be filed with the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, or SAFE, or its local counterparts, or local banks. Furthermore, any capital contributions we make to our PRC subsidiaries shall be registered with the State Administration for Market Regulation or its local counterparts, and reported to the Ministry of Commerce or its local counterparts.

On March 30, 2015, SAFE promulgated the Circular on Reforming the Management Approach Regarding the Foreign Exchange Capital Settlement of Foreign-Invested Enterprises, or SAFE Circular 19. SAFE Circular 19, however, allows foreign invested enterprises in China to use their registered capital settled in RMB converted from foreign currencies to make equity investments, but the registered capital of a foreign invested company settled in RMB converted from foreign currencies remains not allowed to be used, among other things, for investment in the security markets, or offering entrustment loans, unless otherwise regulated by other laws and regulations. On June 9, 2016, SAFE further issued the Circular on Reforming and Regulating Policies on the

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Control over Foreign Exchange Settlement of Capital Accounts, or SAFE Circular 16, which, among other things, amended certain provisions of Circular 19. According to SAFE Circular 19 and SAFE Circular 16, the flow and use of the RMB capital converted from foreign currency-denominated registered capital of a foreign invested company is regulated such that Renminbi capital may not be used for purposes beyond its business scope or to provide loans to non-affiliates unless otherwise permitted under its business scope. On October 23, 2019, SAFE promulgated the Circular of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Further Promoting the Facilitation of Cross-Border Trade and Investment, or SAFE Circular 28, which removes the restrictions on domestic equity investments by non-investment foreign-invested enterprises with their capital funds, provided that certain conditions are met. If our subsidiaries require financial support from us or our other PRC subsidiaries in the future, and we find it necessary to use foreign currency-denominated capital to provide such financial support, our ability to fund our subsidiaries’ operations will be subject to statutory limits and restrictions, including those described above. The applicable foreign exchange circulars and rules may limit our ability to transfer the net proceeds from this offering to our PRC subsidiaries and convert the net proceeds into RMB, which may adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

We may be subject to penalties, including restriction on our ability to inject capital into our PRC subsidiaries and our PRC subsidiaries’ ability to distribute profits to us, if our resident shareholders or beneficial owners in China fail to comply with relevant PRC foreign exchange regulations.

SAFE issued the Circular on Relevant Issues Concerning Foreign Exchange Control on Domestic Residents’ Overseas Investment, Financing and Round-Trip Investment through Special Purpose Vehicles, or SAFE Circular 37, effective on July 4, 2014. The SAFE Circular 37 requires PRC residents, including PRC individuals and institutions, to register with SAFE or its local branches in connection with their direct establishment or indirect control of an offshore special purpose vehicle, for the purpose of overseas investment and financing, with such PRC residents’ legally owned assets or equity interests in domestic enterprises or offshore assets or interests. In addition, such PRC residents shall update their foreign exchange registrations with SAFE or its local branches when the offshore special purpose vehicle in which such residents directly hold the equity interests undergoes any change of basic information (including change of such PRC individual shareholder, name and operation term), increases or decreases in investment amount, share transfers or exchanges, or mergers or divisions.

If any shareholder holding interest in an offshore special purpose vehicle, who is a PRC resident as determined by SAFE Circular 37, fails to fulfill the required foreign exchange registration with the local SAFE branches, the PRC subsidiaries of that offshore special purpose vehicle may be prohibited from distributing their profits and dividends to their offshore parent company or from carrying out other subsequent cross-border foreign exchange activities, and the offshore special purpose vehicle may be restricted in its ability to contribute additional capital to its PRC subsidiaries. Moreover, failure to comply with SAFE registration described above could result in liability under PRC laws for evasion of applicable foreign exchange restrictions.

On February 13, 2015, SAFE promulgated a Notice on Further Simplifying and Improving Foreign Exchange Administration Policy on Direct Investment, or SAFE Notice 13, effective on June 1, 2015 and was amended on December 30, 2019. In accordance with SAFE Notice 13, entities and individuals are required to apply for foreign exchange registration of foreign direct investment and overseas direct investment, including those required under Circular 37, with qualified banks, instead of SAFE or its local branches. The qualified banks, under the supervision of SAFE, directly examine the applications and conduct the registration.

We may not be fully informed of the identities of all our shareholders or beneficial owners who are PRC residents, and therefore, we may not be able to identify all our shareholders or beneficial owners who are PRC residents to ensure their compliance with SAFE Circular 37 or other related rules. In addition, we cannot provide any assurance that all of our shareholders and beneficial owners who are PRC residents will comply with our request to make, obtain or update any applicable registrations or comply with other requirements required by the SAFE Circular 37 or other related rules in a timely manner. Even if our shareholders and beneficial owners who

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are PRC residents comply with such request, we cannot provide any assurance that they will successfully obtain or update any registration required by the SAFE Circular 37 or other related rules in a timely manner due to many factors, including those beyond our and their control. If any of our shareholders who is a PRC resident as determined by SAFE Circular 37 fails to fulfill the required foreign exchange registration, they could be subject to fines or legal sanctions, our PRC subsidiaries may be prohibited from distributing their profits and dividends to us or from carrying out other subsequent cross-border foreign exchange activities, and we may be restricted in our ability to contribute additional capital to our PRC subsidiaries, which may adversely affect our business.

We principally rely on dividends and other distributions on equity paid by our PRC subsidiaries to fund any cash and financing requirements we may have. Any limitation on the ability of our PRC subsidiaries to make payments to us could have a material adverse effect on our ability to conduct our business or financial condition.

We are a holding company that has no material operation of our own, and we principally rely on dividends and other distributions on equity that may be paid by our PRC subsidiaries for our cash and financing requirements, including the funds necessary to pay dividends and other cash distributions to the holders of our ordinary shares and service any debt we may incur. If any of our PRC subsidiaries incur debt on their own behalf in the future, the instruments governing the debt may restrict their ability to pay dividends or make other distributions to us.

Under PRC laws and regulations, wholly foreign-owned enterprises in China, may pay dividends only out of their accumulated after-tax profits as determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations. In addition, a wholly foreign-owned enterprise is required to set aside at least 10% of its after-tax profits each year, after making up previous years’ accumulated losses, if any, to fund certain statutory reserve funds, until the aggregate amount of such a fund reaches 50% of its registered capital. At the discretion of the wholly foreign-owned enterprise, it may allocate a portion of its after-tax profits based on PRC accounting standards to enterprise expansion funds, and staff welfare and bonus funds. These reserve funds and staff welfare and bonus funds are not distributable as cash dividends.

Restrictions on the remittance of Renminbi into and out of China and governmental control of currency conversion may limit our ability to pay dividends and other obligations, and affect the value of your investment.

The PRC government imposes controls on the convertibility of Renminbi into foreign currencies and the remittance of currency out of China. Under our current corporate structure, our income is primarily derived from dividend payments from our PRC subsidiaries in Renminbi. We may convert a portion of our revenue into other currencies to meet our foreign currency obligations, such as payments of dividends declared in respect of our ADSs, if any. Shortages in the availability of foreign currency may restrict the ability of our PRC subsidiaries to remit sufficient foreign currency to pay dividends or other payments to us, or otherwise satisfy their foreign currency denominated obligations.

Under existing PRC foreign exchange regulations, payments of current account items, including profit distributions, interest payments, and trade and service-related foreign exchange transactions, can be made in foreign currencies without prior SAFE approval by complying with certain procedural requirements. However, approval from or registration or filings with competent government authorities is required where Renminbi is to be converted into foreign currency and remitted out of China to pay capital expenses such as the repayment of loans denominated in foreign currencies. Pursuant to SAFE Circular 19, a foreign-invested enterprise may convert up to 100% of the foreign currency in its capital account into Renminbi on a discretionary basis according to the actual needs. The SAFE Circular 16 provides for an integrated standard for conversion of foreign exchange under capital account items on a discretionary basis, which applies to all enterprises registered in China. In addition, SAFE Circular 16 has narrowed the scope of purposes for which an enterprise must not use the Renminbi funds so converted, which include, among others, (i) payment for expenditure beyond its business

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scope or otherwise as prohibited by the applicable laws and regulations, (ii) investment in securities or other financial products other than banks’ principal-secured products, (iii) provision of loans to non-affiliated enterprises, except where it is expressly permitted in the business scope of the enterprise, and (iv) construction or purchase of non-self-used real properties, except for real estate developers. The PRC government may at its discretion further restrict access to foreign currencies for current account transactions or capital account transactions in the future. If the foreign exchange control system prevents us from obtaining sufficient foreign currencies to satisfy our foreign currency needs, we may not be able to pay dividends in foreign currencies to our shareholders. Further, there is no assurance that new regulations will not be promulgated in the future that would have the effect of further restricting the remittance of Renminbi into or out of China.

Fluctuations in exchange rates could result in foreign currency exchange losses.

The value of Renminbi against the U.S. dollar and other currencies fluctuates, is subject to changes resulting from the PRC government’s policies and depends to a large extent on domestic and international economic and political developments as well as supply and demand in the local market. In July 2005, the PRC government changed its decades-old policy of pegging the value of Renminbi to the U.S. dollar, and Renminbi appreciated more than 20% against the U.S. dollar over the following three years. Between July 2008 and June 2010, this appreciation halted and the exchange rate between Renminbi and the U.S. dollar remained within a narrow band. Since June 2010, Renminbi has fluctuated against the U.S. dollar, at times significantly and unpredictably. With the development of the foreign exchange market and progress towards interest rate liberalization and Renminbi internationalization, the PRC government may in the future announce further changes to the exchange rate system and we cannot assure you that Renminbi will not appreciate or depreciate significantly in value against the U.S. dollar in the future. It is difficult to predict how market forces or PRC or U.S. government policy may impact the exchange rate between Renminbi and the U.S. dollar in the future.

The proceeds from this offering will be received in U.S. dollars. As a result, any appreciation of the Renminbi against the U.S. dollar may result in the decrease in the value of our proceeds from this offering. Conversely, any depreciation of the Renminbi may adversely affect the value of, and any dividends payable on, our ADSs in foreign currency. As of the Latest Practicable Date, we have not entered into any hedging transactions in an effort to reduce our exposure to foreign currency exchange risk. While we may decide to enter into hedging transactions in the future, the availability and effectiveness of these hedges may be limited and we may not be able to adequately hedge our exposure or at all. All of these factors could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects, and could reduce the value of, and dividends payable on, our ADSs in foreign currency terms.

Any failure to comply with PRC regulations regarding the registration requirements for employee stock incentive plans may subject the PRC plan participants or us to fines and other legal or administrative sanctions.

In February 2012, SAFE promulgated the Notice on Issues Concerning the Foreign Exchange Administration for Domestic Individuals Participating in Stock Incentive Plan of Overseas Publicly-Listed Company. Pursuant to these notices, PRC citizens and non-PRC citizens who reside in China for a continuous period of not less than one year who participate in any stock incentive plan of an overseas publicly listed company, subject to a few exceptions, are required to register with SAFE or its local branches through a domestic qualified agent, which could be the PRC subsidiaries of such overseas-listed company, and complete certain other procedures. In addition, an overseas-entrusted institution must be retained to handle matters in connection with the exercise or sale of stock options and the purchase or sale of shares and interests. We and our executive officers and other employees who are PRC citizens or who reside in China for a continuous period of not less than one year and who have been granted options will be subject to these regulations when our Company becomes an overseas-listed company upon the completion of this offering. Failure to complete SAFE registrations may subject them or us to fines, and legal sanctions and may also limit our ability to contribute additional capital into our PRC subsidiary and limit our PRC subsidiary’s ability to distribute dividends to us. We

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also face regulatory uncertainties that could restrict our ability to adopt additional incentive plans for our directors, executive officers and employees under PRC law.

In addition, the SAT has issued certain circulars concerning employee share options and restricted shares. Under these circulars, our employees working in China who exercise share options or are granted restricted shares will be subject to PRC individual income tax. Our PRC subsidiaries have obligations to file documents related to employee share options or restricted shares with relevant tax authorities and to withhold individual income taxes of those employees who exercise their share options. If our employees fail to pay or we fail to withhold their income taxes according to relevant laws and regulations, we may face sanctions imposed by the tax authorities or other PRC government authorities.

Failure to make adequate contributions to various employee benefit plans as required by PRC regulations or otherwise comply with labor-related laws and regulations may subject us to penalties and other risks.

Companies operating in China are required to participate in various employee benefit plans, including certain social insurance, housing funds and other welfare-oriented payment obligations, and contribute to the plans in amounts equal to certain percentages of salaries, including bonuses and allowances, of their employees up to a maximum amount specified by the local government from time to time at locations where the businesses are operated. The requirement of employee benefit plans has not been implemented consistently by the local governments in China given the different levels of economic development in different locations. We have not made full contribution to the social insurance and housing funds for a small number of our employees as required by applicable PRC laws and regulations, and we have recorded accruals for estimated underpaid amounts in our financial statements. In addition, we are required by PRC laws and regulations to comply with labor laws and regulations, including obtaining approvals for flexible working hour and comprehensive working hour systems. If the relevant PRC authorities determine that we shall make supplemental contributions, that we are not in compliance with labor laws and regulations, or that we fail to obtain any approval, license, registration or filing as required under relevant labor laws and regulations or become subject to fines or other legal sanctions, such as order of timely rectification, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected.

Furthermore, pursuant to the Individual Income Tax Law of the PRC, as amended on August 31, 2018, which became effective on January 1, 2019, an individual’s taxable income shall be an amount equal to such individual’s total annual income less a general deductible of RMB60,000 and various special deductibles permitted under relevant laws. Determination and calculation of such special deductibles in accordance with relevant laws may result in an increase of our operating costs and expenses. However, as there exist uncertainties with respect to the interpretation and implementation of the Individual Income Tax Law, our determination and calculation of the special deductibles based on our understanding may be different from how the tax authorities or our employees would do. These differences may result in inquiries or reassessment by the tax authorities and potential disputes between the tax authorities and our employees.

Risks Relating to Our ADSs and This Offering

There has been no public market for our shares or ADSs prior to this offering, and you may not be able to resell our ADSs at or above the price you paid, or at all.

Prior to this initial public offering, there has been no public market for our ordinary shares or ADSs. Our ADSs have been approved for listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Our shares will not be listed on any exchange or quoted for trading on any over-the-counter trading system. If an active trading market for our ADSs does not develop after this offering, the market price and liquidity of our ADSs will be materially and adversely affected.

Negotiations with the underwriters determined the initial public offering price for our ADSs which may bear no relationship to their market price after the initial public offering. We cannot assure you that an active trading

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market for our ADSs will develop or that the market price of our ADSs will not decline below the initial public offering price.

The trading price of the ADSs is likely to be volatile, which could result in substantial losses to investors.

The trading price of the ADSs is likely to be volatile and could fluctuate widely due to factors beyond our control. This may happen because of broad market and industry factors, including the performance and fluctuation of the market prices of other companies with business operations located mainly in China that have listed their securities in the United States. In addition to market and industry factors, the price and trading volume for the ADSs may be highly volatile for factors specific to our own operations, including the following:

Any of these factors may result in large and sudden changes in the volume and price at which the ADSs will trade. Furthermore, the stock market in general experiences price and volume fluctuations that are often unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of companies like us. These broad market and industry fluctuations may adversely affect the market price of our ADSs. Volatility or a lack of positive performance in our ADS price may also adversely affect our ability to retain key employees, most of whom have been granted equity incentives.

In the past, shareholders of public companies have often brought securities class action suits against companies following periods of instability in the market price of their securities. If we were involved in a class action suit, it could divert a significant amount of our management’s attention and other resources from our business and operations and require us to incur significant expenses to defend the suit, which could harm our results of operations. Any such class action suit, whether or not successful, could harm our reputation and restrict our ability to raise capital in the future. In addition, if a claim is successfully made against us, we may be required to pay significant damages, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

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If securities or industry analysts cease to publish research or reports about our business, or if they adversely change their recommendations regarding the ADSs, the market price for the ADSs and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for the ADSs will be influenced by research or reports that industry or securities analysts publish about our business. If one or more analysts who cover us downgrade the ADSs, the market price for the ADSs would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease to cover us or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which, in turn, could cause the market price or trading volume for the ADSs to decline.

Techniques employed by short sellers may drive down the market price of the ADSs.

Short selling is the practice of selling securities that a seller does not own but rather has borrowed from a third party with the intention of buying identical securities back at a later date to return to the lender. Short sellers hope to profit from a decline in the value of the securities between the sale of the borrowed securities and the purchase of the replacement shares, as short sellers expect to pay less in that purchase than they received in the sale. As it is in short sellers’ interest for the price of the security to decline, many short sellers publish, or arrange for the publication of, negative opinions and allegations regarding the relevant issuer and its business prospects in order to create negative market momentum and generate profits for themselves after selling a security short. These short attacks have, in the past, led to selling of shares in the market.

We have been the subject of short selling, and it is not clear what long-term effect such negative publicity could have on us. We may also be subject to short seller attacks from time to time in the future. If we were to become the subject of any unfavorable allegations, whether such allegations are proven to be true or untrue, we may have to expend a significant amount of resources to investigate such allegations and/or defend ourselves. While we would strongly defend against any such short seller attacks, we may be constrained in the manner in which we can proceed against the relevant short sellers by principles of freedom of speech, applicable state law or issues of commercial confidentiality. Such a situation could be costly and time-consuming, and could divert management’s attention from the day-to-day operations of our company. Even if such allegations are ultimately proven to be groundless, allegations against us could severely impact the market price of our ADSs and our business operations.

Our dual-class voting structure will concentrate a majority of voting power in our founder and Chief Executive Officer, and will limit your ability to influence corporate matters and could discourage others from pursuing any change of control transactions that holders of our Class A ordinary shares and ADSs may view as beneficial.

Our authorized and issued ordinary shares will be divided into Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares immediately prior the completion of this offering (with certain shares remaining undesignated, with power for our directors to designate and issue such classes of shares as they think fit). Holders of Class A ordinary shares will be entitled to one vote per share, while holders of Class B ordinary shares will be entitled to 20 votes per share. We will issue Class A ordinary shares represented by our ADSs in this offering. Each Class B ordinary share is convertible into one Class A ordinary share at any time by the holder thereof, while Class A ordinary shares are not convertible into Class B ordinary shares under any circumstances. Any future issuances of Class B ordinary shares may be dilutive to the voting power of holders of Class A ordinary shares. Any conversions of Class B ordinary shares into Class A ordinary shares may dilute the percentage ownership of the existing holders of Class A ordinary shares within their class of ordinary shares. Such conversions may increase the aggregate voting power of the existing holders of Class A ordinary shares. In the event that we have multiple holders of Class B ordinary shares in the future and certain of them convert their Class B ordinary shares into Class A ordinary shares, the remaining holders who retain their Class B ordinary shares may experience increases in their relative voting power.

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Upon the completion of this offering, Mr. Changlin Liang will beneficially own 54,543,800 Class B ordinary shares. Mr. Changlin Liang will beneficially own approximately 28.6% of our total issued and outstanding share capital immediately after the completion of this offering and 81.3% of the aggregate voting power of our total issued and outstanding share capital immediately after the completion of this offering due to the disparate voting powers associated with our dual-class share structure, assuming the underwriters do not exercise their option to purchase additional ADSs. As a result of the dual-class share structure and the concentration of ownership, holders of Class B ordinary shares will have considerable influence over matters such as decisions regarding mergers and consolidations, election of directors, and other significant corporate actions. Such holders may take actions that are not in the best interest of us or our other shareholders. This concentration of ownership may discourage, delay, or prevent a change in control of our company, which could have the effect of depriving our other shareholders of the opportunity to receive a premium for their shares as part of a sale of our company and may reduce the price of our ADSs. This concentrated control will limit your ability to influence corporate matters and could discourage others from pursuing any potential merger, takeover, or other change of control transactions that holders of Class A ordinary shares and ADSs may view as beneficial.

Our dual-class voting structure may render the ADSs representing our Class A ordinary shares ineligible for inclusion in certain stock market indices, and thus adversely affect the trading price and liquidity of the ADSs.

We cannot predict whether our dual-class share structure with different voting rights will result in a lower or more volatile market price of the ADSs, adverse publicity, or other adverse consequences. Certain index providers have announced restrictions on including companies with multi-class share structures in certain of their indices. For example, S&P Dow Jones and FTSE Russell have changed their eligibility criteria for inclusion of shares of public companies on certain indices, including the S&P 500, to exclude companies with multiple classes of shares and companies whose public shareholders hold no more than 5% of total voting power from being added to such indices. As a result, our dual-class voting structure may prevent the inclusion of the ADSs representing our Class A ordinary shares in such indices, which could adversely affect the trading price and liquidity of the ADSs representing our Class A ordinary shares. In addition, several shareholder advisory firms have announced their opposition to the use of multiple class structure and our dual-class structure may cause shareholder advisory firms to publish negative commentary about our corporate governance, in which case the market price and liquidity of the ADSs could be adversely affected.

We currently do not expect to pay dividends in the foreseeable future after this offering. Therefore, you must rely on price appreciation of our ADSs for return on your investment.

We currently intend to retain most, if not all, of our available funds and any future earnings after this offering to fund the development and growth of our business. As a result, we do not expect to pay any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Therefore, you should not rely on an investment in our ADSs as a source for any future dividend income.

Our board of directors has complete discretion as to whether to distribute dividends, subject to certain requirements of Cayman Islands law. In addition, our shareholders may by ordinary resolution declare a dividend, but no dividend may exceed the amount recommended by our directors. Under Cayman Islands law, a Cayman Islands company may pay a dividend out of either profit or share premium account, provided that in no circumstances may a dividend be paid if this would result in the company being unable to pay its debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business. Even if our board of directors decides to declare and pay dividends, the timing, amount and form of future dividends, if any, will depend on our future results of operations and cash flow, our capital requirements and surplus, the amount of distributions, if any, received by us from our subsidiaries, our financial condition, contractual restrictions and other factors deemed relevant by our board of directors. Accordingly, the return on your investment in our ADSs will likely depend entirely upon any future price appreciation of our ADSs. There is no guarantee that our ADSs will appreciate in value after this offering or even maintain the price at which you purchased the ADSs. You may not realize a return on your investment in our ADSs and you may even lose your entire investment in our ADSs.

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Because our initial public offering price is substantially higher than our net tangible book value per share, you will experience immediate and substantial dilution.

If you purchase ADSs in this offering, you will pay more for your ADSs than the amount paid by our existing shareholders for their ordinary shares on a per ADS basis. As a result, you will experience immediate and substantial dilution, representing the difference between the initial public offering price of per ADS, and our adjusted net tangible book value per ADS as of December 31, 2020, after giving effect to our sale of the ADSs offered in this offering. In addition, you may experience further dilution to the extent that our Class A ordinary shares are issued upon the exercise of share options. See “Dilution” for a more complete description of how the value of your investment in the ADSs will be diluted upon completion of this offering.

Substantial future sales or perceived potential sales of our ADSs in the public market could cause the price of our ADSs to decline.

Sales of our ADSs in the public market after this offering, or the perception that these sales could occur, could cause the market price of our ADSs to decline. All ADSs sold in this offering will be freely transferable without restriction or additional registration under the Securities Act. The remaining ordinary shares issued and outstanding after this offering will be available for sale, upon the expiration of the 180-day lock-up period beginning from the date of this prospectus, subject to volume and other restrictions as applicable provided in Rules 144 and 701 under the Securities Act. Any or all of these shares may be released prior to the expiration of the lock-up period at the discretion of the representatives of the underwriters of this offering. To the extent shares are released before the expiration of the lock-up period and sold into the market, the market price of our ADSs could decline.

After completion of this offering, certain holders of our Class A ordinary shares may cause us to register under the Securities Act the sale of their shares, subject to the 180-day lock-up period in connection with this offering. Registration of these shares under the Securities Act would result in ADSs representing these shares becoming freely tradable without restriction under the Securities Act immediately upon the effectiveness of such registration. Sales of these registered shares in the form of ADSs in the public market could cause the price of our ADSs to decline.

Our post-offering memorandum and articles of association contain anti-takeover provisions that could have a material adverse effect on the rights of holders of our ordinary shares and the ADSs.

We will adopt the ninth amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that will become effective immediately prior to the completion of this offering. Our post-offering memorandum and articles of association contain provisions to limit the ability of others to acquire control of our company or cause us to engage in change-of-control transactions. These provisions could have the effect of depriving our shareholders of an opportunity to sell their shares at a premium over prevailing market prices by discouraging third parties from seeking to obtain control of our company in a tender offer or similar transaction. Our board of directors has the authority, without further action by our shareholders, to issue preferred shares in one or more series and to fix their designations, powers, preferences, privileges and relative participating, optional or special rights and the qualifications, limitations, or restrictions, including dividend rights, conversion rights, voting rights, terms of redemption, and liquidation preferences, any or all of which may be greater than the rights associated with our ordinary shares, including ordinary shares represented by ADSs. Preferred shares could be issued quickly with terms calculated to delay or prevent a change in control of our company or make removal of management more difficult. If our board of directors decides to issue preferred shares, the price of the ADSs may fall and the voting and other rights of the holders of our ordinary shares and the ADSs may be materially and adversely affected.

The voting rights of holders of ADSs are limited by the terms of the deposit agreement, and you may not be able to exercise your right to direct the voting of the underlying ordinary shares represented by your ADSs.

Holders of ADSs do not have the same rights as our registered shareholders. As a holder of ADSs, you will not have any direct right to attend general meetings of our shareholders or to cast any votes at such meetings.

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You will only be able to exercise the voting rights attached to the ordinary shares underlying your ADSs indirectly by giving voting instructions to the depositary in accordance with the provisions of the deposit agreement. Where any matter is to be put to a vote at a general meeting, then upon receipt of your voting instructions, the depositary will try, as far as is practicable, to vote the underlying ordinary shares represented by your ADSs in accordance with your instructions. You will not be able to directly exercise your right to vote with respect to the underlying ordinary shares unless you cancel and withdraw the shares and become the registered holder of such shares prior to the record date for the general meeting.

When a general meeting is convened, you may not receive sufficient advance notice of the meeting to withdraw the ordinary shares represented by your ADSs and become the registered holder of such shares to allow you to attend the general meeting and to vote directly with respect to any specific matter or resolution to be considered and voted upon at the general meeting. In addition, under our post-offering memorandum and articles of association that will become effective immediately prior to completion of this offering, for the purposes of determining those shareholders who are entitled to attend and vote at any general meeting, our directors may close our register of members and/or fix in advance a record date for such meeting, and such closure of our register of members or the setting of such a record date may prevent you from withdrawing the underlying ordinary shares represented by your ADSs and from becoming the registered holder of such shares prior to the record date, so that you would not be able to attend the general meeting or to vote directly. Where any matter is to be put to a vote at a general meeting, upon our instruction the depositary will notify you of the upcoming vote and will arrange to deliver our voting materials to you. We cannot assure you that you will receive the voting materials in time to ensure that you can instruct the depositary to vote the underlying ordinary shares represented by your ADSs.

In addition, the depositary and its agents are not responsible for failing to carry out voting instructions or for their manner of carrying out your voting instructions. This means that you may not be able to exercise your right to direct how the underlying ordinary shares represented by your ADSs are voted and you may have no legal remedy if the underlying ordinary shares represented by your ADSs are not voted as you requested. In addition, in your capacity as an ADS holder, you will not be able to call a shareholders’ meeting.

Further, under the deposit agreement for the ADSs, if you do not vote, the depositary will give us a discretionary proxy to vote the Class A ordinary shares underlying your ADSs at shareholders’ meetings unless:

The effect of this discretionary proxy is that you cannot prevent our Class A ordinary shares underlying your ADSs from being voted, except under the circumstances described above. This may adversely affect your interests and make it more difficult for shareholders to influence the management of our company. Holders of our Class A ordinary shares are not subject to this discretionary proxy.

You may not receive cash dividends if the depositary decides it is impractical to make them available to you.

The depositary will pay cash distributions on the ADSs only to the extent that we decide to distribute dividends on our ordinary shares or other deposited securities, and we do not have any present plan to pay any cash dividends on our ordinary shares in the foreseeable future. To the extent that there is a distribution, the depositary has agreed to pay you the cash dividends or other distributions it or the custodian receives on our shares or other deposited securities after deducting its fees and expenses. You will receive these distributions in proportion to the number of shares your ADSs represent. However, the depositary may, at its discretion, decide

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that it is inequitable or impractical to make a distribution available to any holders of ADSs. For example, the depositary may determine that it is not practicable to distribute certain property through the mail, or that the value of certain distributions may be less than the cost of mailing them. In these cases, the depositary may decide not to distribute such property to you.

You may be subject to limitations on transfer of your ADSs.

Your ADSs are transferable on the books of the depositary. However, the depositary may close its books at any time or from time to time when it deems expedient in connection with the performance of its duties. The depositary may close its books from time to time for a number of reasons, including in connection with corporate events such as a rights offering, during which time the depositary needs to maintain an exact number of ADS holders on its books for a specified period. The depositary may also close its books in emergencies, and on weekends and public holidays. The depositary may refuse to deliver, transfer or register transfers of the ADSs generally when our share register or the books of the depositary are closed, or at any time if we or the depositary thinks it is advisable to do so because of any requirement of law or of any government or governmental body, or under any provision of the deposit agreement, or for any other reason.

You may experience dilution of your holdings due to inability to participate in rights offerings.

We may, from time to time, distribute rights to our shareholders, including rights to acquire securities. Under the deposit agreement, the depositary will not distribute rights to holders of ADSs unless the distribution and sale of rights and the securities to which these rights relate are either exempt from registration under the Securities Act with respect to all holders of ADSs, or are registered under the provisions of the Securities Act. The depositary may, but is not required to, attempt to sell these undistributed rights to third parties, and may allow the rights to lapse. We may be unable to establish an exemption from registration under the Securities Act, and we are under no obligation to file a registration statement with respect to these rights or underlying securities or to endeavor to have a registration statement declared effective. Accordingly, holders of ADSs may be unable to participate in our rights offerings and may experience dilution of their holdings as a result.

You may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through U.S. courts may be limited, because we are incorporated under Cayman Islands law.

We are an exempted company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. Our corporate affairs are governed by our eighth amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands, and the common law of the Cayman Islands. The rights of shareholders to take action against our directors, actions by our minority shareholders and the fiduciary duties of our directors to us under Cayman Islands law are to a large extent governed by the common law of the Cayman Islands. The common law of the Cayman Islands is derived in part from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the Cayman Islands as well as from the common law of England, the decisions of whose courts are of persuasive authority, but are not binding, on a court in the Cayman Islands. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary duties of our directors under Cayman Islands law are not as clearly established as they would be under statutes or judicial precedents in some jurisdictions in the United States. In particular, the Cayman Islands has a less developed body of securities laws than the United States. Some U.S. states, such as Delaware, have more fully developed and judicially interpreted bodies of corporate law than the Cayman Islands. In addition, Cayman Islands companies may not have the standing to initiate a shareholder derivative action in a federal court of the United States.

Shareholders of Cayman Islands exempted companies like us have no general rights under Cayman Islands law to inspect corporate records (other than the memorandum and articles of association and any special resolutions passed by such companies, and the registers of mortgages and charges of such companies) or to obtain copies of lists of shareholders of these companies. Under Cayman Islands law, the names of our current directors can be obtained from a search conducted at the Registrar of Companies. Our directors have discretion

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under our post-offering memorandum and articles of association that will become effective immediately prior to completion of this offering to determine whether or not, and under what conditions, our corporate records may be inspected by our shareholders, but are not obliged to make them available to our shareholders. This may make it more difficult for you to obtain the information needed to establish any facts necessary for a shareholder motion or to solicit proxies from other shareholders in connection with a proxy contest.

As a result of all of the above, our public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions taken by management, members of our board of directors or controlling shareholders than they would as public shareholders of a company incorporated in the United States. For a discussion of significant differences between the provisions of the Companies Act of the Cayman Islands and the laws applicable to companies incorporated in the United States and their shareholders, see “Description of Share Capital—Our Post-Offering Memorandum and Articles of Association—Differences in Corporate Law.”

Certain judgments obtained against us by our shareholders may not be enforceable.

We are a Cayman Islands company and substantially all of our assets are located outside of the United States. All of our current operations are conducted in China. In addition, most of our current directors and officers are nationals and residents of countries other than the United States. As a result, it may be difficult or impossible for you to bring an action against us or against these individuals in the United States in the event that you believe that your rights have been infringed under the U.S. federal securities laws or otherwise. Even if you are successful in bringing an action of this kind, the laws of the Cayman Islands and of China may render you unable to enforce a judgment against our assets or the assets of our directors and officers. For more information regarding the relevant laws of the Cayman Islands and China, see “Enforceability of Civil Liabilities.”

Forum selection provisions in our post-offering memorandum and articles of association and our deposit agreement with the depositary bank could limit the ability of holders of our Class A ordinary shares, ADSs, or other securities to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us, our directors and officers, the depositary bank, and potentially others.

Our post-offering memorandum and articles of association provide that the federal district courts of the United States are the exclusive forum within the United States (or, if the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York lacks subject matter jurisdiction over a particular dispute, the state courts in New York County, New York) for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising out of or relating in any way to the federal securities laws of the United States, regardless of whether such legal suit, action, or proceeding also involves parties other than us. Our deposit agreement with the depositary bank also provides that the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (or, if the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York lacks subject matter jurisdiction over a particular dispute, the state courts in New York County, New York) will have jurisdiction to hear and determine any suit, action, or proceeding and to settle any dispute between the depositary bank and us that does not involve any other person or party that may arise out of or relate in any way to the deposit agreement, including claims under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act. Holders and beneficial owners of our ADSs, by holding an ADS or an interest therein, understand and irrevocably agree that any legal suit, action, or proceeding against or involving us or the depositary bank arising out of or related in any way to the deposit agreement, ADSs, or the transactions contemplated thereby or by virtue of ownership thereof, including without limitation claims under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act, may only be instituted in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (or, if the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York lacks jurisdiction or such designation of the exclusive forum is, or becomes, invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, in the state courts of New York County, New York). However, the enforceability of similar federal court choice of forum provisions has been challenged in legal proceedings in the United States, and it is possible that a court could find this type of provision to be inapplicable, unenforceable, or inconsistent with other documents that are relevant to the filing of such lawsuits. If a court were to find the federal choice of forum provision contained in our post-offering memorandum and articles of association or our deposit agreement with the depositary bank to be inapplicable or unenforceable in

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an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions. If upheld, the forum selection clause in our post-offering memorandum and articles of association, as well as the forum selection provisions in the deposit agreement, may limit a security-holder’s ability to bring a claim against us, our directors and officers, the depositary bank, and potentially others in his or her preferred judicial forum, and this limitation may discourage such lawsuits. In addition, the Securities Act provides that both federal and state courts have jurisdiction over suits brought to enforce any duty or liability under the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. Accepting or consent to this forum selection provision does not constitute a waiver by you of compliance with federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. You may not waive compliance with federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. The exclusive forum provision in our post-offering memorandum and articles of association will not operate so as to deprive the courts of the Cayman Islands from having jurisdiction over matters relating to our internal affairs.

ADSs holders may not be entitled to a jury trial with respect to claims arising under the deposit agreement, which could result in less favorable outcomes to the plaintiff(s) in any such action.

The deposit agreement governing the ADSs representing our ordinary shares provides that, to the fullest extent permitted by law, ADS holders waive the right to a jury trial of any claim they may have against us or the depositary arising out of or relating to our shares, the ADSs or the deposit agreement, including any claim under the U.S. federal securities laws.

If we or the depositary opposed a jury trial demand based on the waiver, the court would determine whether the waiver was enforceable based on the facts and circumstances of that case in accordance with the applicable state and federal law. To our knowledge, the enforceability of a contractual pre-dispute jury trial waiver in connection with claims arising under the federal securities laws has not been finally adjudicated by the United States Supreme Court. However, we believe that a contractual pre-dispute jury trial waiver provision is generally enforceable, including under the laws of the State of New York, which govern the deposit agreement, by a federal or state court in the City of New York, which has nonexclusive jurisdiction over matters arising under the deposit agreement. In determining whether to enforce a contractual pre-dispute jury trial waiver provision, courts will generally consider whether a party knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily waive the right to a jury trial. We believe that this is the case with respect to the deposit agreement and the ADSs. It is advisable that you consult legal counsel regarding the jury waiver provision before entering into the deposit agreement.

If you or any other holders or beneficial owners of ADSs bring a claim against us or the depositary in connection with matters arising under the deposit agreement or the ADSs, including claims under federal securities laws, you or such other holder or beneficial owner may not be entitled to a jury trial with respect to such claims, which may have the effect of limiting and discouraging lawsuits against us or the depositary, lead to increased costs to bring a claim, limited access to information and other imbalances of resources between such holder and us, or limit such holder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that such holder finds favorable. If a lawsuit is brought against us or the depositary under the deposit agreement, it may be heard only by a judge or justice of the applicable trial court, which would be conducted according to different civil procedures and may result in different outcomes than a trial by jury would have had, including results that could be less favorable to the plaintiff(s) in any such action.

Nevertheless, if this jury trial waiver provision is not permitted by applicable law, an action could proceed under the terms of the deposit agreement with a jury trial. No condition, stipulation or provision of the deposit agreement or ADSs shall relieve us or the depositary from our respective obligations to comply with the Securities Act and the Exchange Act nor serve as a waiver by any holder or beneficial owner of ADSs of compliance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.

An ADS holder’s right to pursue claims against the depositary is limited by the terms of the deposit agreement.

Under the deposit agreement, the United States District Court of the Southern District of New York (or, if the United States District Court of the Southern District of New York lacks subject matter jurisdiction over a

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particular dispute, the state courts of New York County, New York) will have jurisdiction to hear and determine any suit, action, or proceeding and to settle any dispute between the depositary bank and us that does not involve any other person or party that may arise out of or relate in any way to the deposit agreement, including claims under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act. Holders and beneficial owners of our ADSs, by holding an ADS or an interest therein, understand and irrevocably agree that any legal suit, action, or proceeding against or involving us or the depositary, arising out of or related in any way to the deposit agreement, ADSs, or the transactions contemplated thereby or by virtue of ownership thereof, including without limitation claims under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act, may only be instituted in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (or, if the Southern District of New York lacks jurisdiction or such designation of the exclusive forum is, or becomes, invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, in the state courts of New York County, New York), and a holder of our ADSs will have irrevocably waived any objection which such holder may have to the laying of venue of any such proceeding, and irrevocably submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of such courts in any such suit, action, or proceeding. However, the enforceability of similar federal court choice of forum provisions in other companies’ organizational documents has been challenged in legal proceedings in the United States, and it is possible that a court could find this type of provision to be inapplicable or unenforceable. Accepting or consenting to this forum selection provision does not represent you are waiving compliance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder. Furthermore, investors cannot waive compliance with the U.S. federal securities laws and rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.

The depositary may, in its sole discretion, require that any dispute or difference arising from the relationship created by the deposit agreement, our shares, the ADSs, or the transactions contemplated thereby be referred to and finally settled by an arbitration conducted under the terms described in the deposit agreement, while to the extent there are specific federal securities law violation aspects to any claims against us and/or the depositary brought by any holder or beneficial owner of ADSs, the federal securities law violation aspects of such claims may, at the option of such holders or beneficial owners, remain in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (or, if the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York lacks subject matter jurisdiction over a particular dispute or such designation of the exclusive forum is, or becomes, invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, in the state courts of New York County in New York). We believe that a contractual arbitration provision, especially when excluding matters relating to federal securities law violation, is generally enforceable, including under the laws of the State of New York, which govern the deposit agreement.

Upon the completion of this offering, we will be a “controlled company” within the meaning of the NYSE Listed Company Manual and, as a result, can rely on exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements that provide protection to shareholders of other companies.

Upon the completion of this offering, we will be a “controlled company” within the meaning of the NYSE Listed Company Manual, because our founder and chief executive officer, Mr. Changlin Liang, will beneficially own more than 50% of our total voting power. For so long as we remain a controlled company under that definition, we are permitted to elect to rely on, and may rely on, certain exemptions from corporate governance rules, including an exemption from the rule that a majority of our board of directors must be independent directors. As a result, you may not have the same protection afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to these corporate governance requirements.

As a company incorporated in the Cayman Islands, we are permitted to adopt certain home country practices in relation to corporate governance matters that differ significantly from the New York Stock Exchange listing standards.

As a Cayman Islands company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, we are subject to the New York Stock Exchange listing standards, which requires listed companies to have, among other things, a majority of their board members to be independent and independent director oversight of executive compensation and nomination of directors. However, the New York Stock Exchange rules permit a foreign private issuer like us to

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follow the corporate governance practices of its home country. Certain corporate governance practices in the Cayman Islands, which is our home country, may differ significantly from the New York Stock Exchange listing standards. For instance, we are not required to (i) have a majority of independent directors, (ii) have a minimum of three members at our audit committee, (iii) have a nominating committee composed entirely of independent directors, and (iv) have a compensation committee composed entirely of independent directors.

We are permitted to elect to rely on home country practice to be exempted from the corporate governance requirements. If we choose to follow home country practice in the future, our shareholders may be afforded less protection than they would otherwise enjoy if we complied fully with the New York Stock Exchange listing standards.

We are a foreign private issuer within the meaning of the rules under the Exchange Act, and as such we are exempt from certain provisions applicable to U.S. domestic public companies.

Because we qualify as a foreign private issuer under the Exchange Act, we are exempt from certain provisions of the securities rules and regulations in the United States that are applicable to U.S. domestic issuers, including:

We will be required to file an annual report on Form 20-F within four months of the end of each fiscal year. In addition, we intend to publish our results on a quarterly basis as press releases, distributed pursuant to the rules and regulations of the New York Stock Exchange. Press releases relating to financial results and material events will also be furnished to the SEC on Form 6-K. However, the information we are required to file with or furnish to the SEC will be less extensive and less timely compared to that required to be filed with the SEC by U.S. domestic issuers. As a result, you may not be afforded the same protections or information that would be made available to you were you investing in a U.S. domestic issuer.

There can be no assurance that we will not be a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC, for U.S. federal income tax purposes for any taxable year, which could subject U.S. investors in our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares to significant adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences.

We will be classified as a passive foreign investment company (“PFIC”) for U.S. federal income tax purposes for any taxable year if either (a) 75% or more of our gross income for such year consists of certain “passive income” (as defined in the relevant provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended), or (b) 50% or more of the value of our assets (generally based on an average of the quarterly value of the assets) during such year is attributable to assets that produce or are held for the production of passive income. PFIC status is a factual determination that must be made annually after the close of each taxable year. Based on our anticipated market capitalization and the composition of our income and assets (including the proceeds from this offering), we do not expect to be a PFIC for U.S. federal income tax purposes for the current taxable year or the foreseeable future, although there can be no assurances in this regard. Moreover, the application of the PFIC rules is subject to uncertainty in several respects, and we cannot assure you that the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) will not take a contrary position.

Changes in the composition of our income or composition of our assets may cause us to be or become a PFIC for the current or subsequent taxable years. The determination of whether we will be a PFIC for any taxable

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year will also depend in part upon the value of our goodwill and other unbooked intangibles not reflected on our balance sheet (which may be determined by reference to the market value of the ADSs or Class A ordinary shares from time to time, which may be volatile) and also may be affected by how, and how quickly we spend our liquid assets, including the cash raised in any offering. In estimating the value of our goodwill and other unbooked intangibles, we have taken into account our anticipated market capitalization following this offering. Among other matters, if our market capitalization is less than anticipated or subsequently declines, we may become a PFIC for the current or future taxable years because our liquid assets and cash (which are for this purpose considered assets that produce passive income) may then represent a greater percentage of our overall assets. Further, while we believe our classification methodology and valuation approach are reasonable, it is possible that the IRS may challenge our classification or valuation of our goodwill and other unbooked intangibles, which may result in our being or becoming a PFIC for the current or one of more future taxable years.

Certain adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences could apply to a U.S. Holder (as defined in “Taxation—United States Federal Income Tax Considerations) if we are treated as a PFIC for any taxable year during which such U.S. Holder holds our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares. U.S. Holders should consult their tax advisors about the potential application of the PFIC rules to their investment in our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares. For further discussion, see “Taxation—United States Federal Income Tax Considerations—Passive Foreign Investment Company.”

We have not determined a specific use for a portion of the net proceeds from this offering, and we may use these proceeds in ways with which you may not agree.

We have not determined a specific use for a portion of the net proceeds of this offering, and our management will have considerable discretion in deciding how to apply these proceeds. You will not have the opportunity to assess whether the proceeds are being used appropriately before you make your investment decision. You must rely on the judgment of our management regarding the application of the net proceeds of this offering. We cannot assure you that the net proceeds will be used in a manner that will improve our results of operations or increase our ADS price, nor that these net proceeds will be placed only in investments that generate income or appreciate in value.

We may incur increased costs as a result of being a public company.

Upon completion of this offering, we will become a public company and expect to incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as well as rules subsequently implemented by the SEC and the New York Stock Exchange, impose various requirements on the corporate governance practices of public companies. We expect these rules and regulations to increase our legal and financial compliance costs and to make some corporate activities more time-consuming and costly.

As a result of becoming a public company, we will need to increase the number of independent directors and adopt policies regarding internal controls and disclosure controls and procedures. We also expect that operating as a public company will make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. In addition, we will incur additional costs associated with our public company reporting requirements. It may also be more difficult for us to find qualified persons to serve on our board of directors or as executive officers. We are currently evaluating and monitoring developments with respect to these rules and regulations, and we cannot predict or estimate with any degree of certainty the amount of additional costs we may incur or the timing of such costs.

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