By Ken Lo

Perhaps it hoped a star-studded investor lineup and use of a germ-safe non-contact automated retail concept would spare it from the worst of the pandemic. But if high-tech vending machine maker Beijing Ubox Online Technology Corp. believed it was safe, it has been sorely mistaken as it heads toward a Hong Kong IPO pocked with hardships.

This isn’t the first time going to market for Ubox. The company first listed in February 2016 on the thinly-traded National Equities Exchange and Quotations in Beijing. It later planned a backdoor listing on the A-share market in Shenzhen using New Huadu Supercenter (002264.SZ) as a vehicle, only to see the deal collapse over pricing. It found funds and a big-name backer in August 2019, when Alibaba’s (BABA.US; 9988.HK) Ant Financial affiliate led a 1.6 billion yuan ($240 million) funding round for the company.