UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 20-F

(Mark One)

OR

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2014.2015.

OR

For the transition period from             to             .

OR

Date of event requiring this shell company report

Commission file number: 001-36765

Momo Inc.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

N/A

(Translation of Registrant’s name into English)

Cayman Islands

(Jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)

20^th Floor, Block B

Tower 2, Wangjing SOHO

No.1 Futongdong Street

Chaoyang District, Beijing 100102

People’s Republic of China

(Address of principal executive offices)

Jonathan Xiaosong Zhang, Chief Financial Officer

Telephone: +86-10-5731-0567

Email: ir@immomo.com

20^th Floor, Block B

Tower 2, Wangjing SOHO

No.1 Futongdong Street

Chaoyang District, Beijing 100102

People’s Republic of China

(Name, Telephone, Email and/or Facsimile number and Address of Company Contact Person)

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act.

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act.

NONE

(Title of Class)

Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act.

NONE

(Title of Class)

Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report: 280,869,740286,865,033 Class A ordinary shares and 96,886,370 Class B ordinary shares, par value US$0.0001 per share, as of December 31, 2014.2015.

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes  ¨    No  x

If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.    Yes  ¨    No  x

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  x    No  ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).    Yes  ¨x    No  ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, or a non-accelerated filer. See definition of “accelerated filer and large accelerated filer” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

Large accelerated filer  ¨                 Accelerated filer  ¨x                 Non-accelerated filer  x¨

Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:

If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow.    Item 17  ¨    Item 18  ¨

If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).    Yes  ¨    No  x

(APPLICABLE ONLY TO ISSUERS INVOLVED IN BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS DURING THE PAST FIVE YEARS)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed all documents and reports required to be filed by Sections 12, 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 subsequent to the distribution of securities under a plan confirmed by a court.    Yes  ¨    No  ¨

TABLE OF CONTENTS

i

INTRODUCTION

In this annual report, except where the context otherwise requires and for purposes of this annual report only:

Our reporting and functional currency is U.S. dollar. This annual report contains translations of certain foreign currency amounts into U.S. dollars for the convenience of the reader. Unless otherwise stated, all translations of Renminbi into U.S. dollars were made at the rate at RMB6.2046RMB6.4778 to US$1.00, the noon buying rate on December 31, 20142015 as set forth in the H.10 statistical release of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board. We make no representation that the Renminbi or U.S. dollar amounts referred to in this annual report could have been or could be converted into U.S. dollars or Renminbi, as the case may be, at any particular rate or at all. On April 10, 2015,15, 2016, the noon buying rate for Renminbi was RMB6.2082RMB6.4730 to US$1.00.

Unless the context indicates otherwise, all share and per share data in this annual report give effect to a share split effected on September 12, 2012 in which each of the previously issued ordinary shares and preferred shares were split into 10 ordinary shares and preferred shares, respectively.

FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This annual report on Form 20-F contains forward-looking statements that reflect our current expectations and views of future events. These statements are made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify these forward-looking statements by words or phrases such as “may,” “could,” “should,” “would,” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “aim,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “likely to,” “project,” “continue,” “potential,” or other similar expressions. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about:

You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements and you should read these statements in conjunction other sections of this annual report, in particular the risk factors disclosed in “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors.” These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Moreover, we operate in a rapidly evolving environment. New risks emerge from time to time and it is impossible for our management to predict all risk factors, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ from those contained in any forward-looking statement. The forward-looking statements made in this annual report relate only to events or information as of the date on which the statements are made in this annual report. We do not undertake any obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements except as required under applicable law.

PART I

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Item 3.

Item 3.

Key Information

The following table presents the selected consolidated financial information of our company. The selected consolidated statements of comprehensive (loss) income data for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 20142015 and the selected consolidated balance sheets data as of December 31, 20132014 and 20142015 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements which are included in this annual report beginning on page F-1. The selected consolidated statements of comprehensive (loss) income data for the year ended December 31, 2012 and the selected consolidated balance sheets data as of December 31, 2012 and 2013 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2012, which are not included in this annual report. We have not included financial information for the year ended December 31, 2010 or 2011, as such information is not available on a basis that is consistent with the consolidated financial information for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 20142015 and cannot be obtained without unreasonable effort or expense. Our audited consolidated financial statements are prepared and presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, or U.S. GAAP. Our historical results do not necessarily indicate results expected for any future period. You should read the following selected financial data in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and related notes and “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects” included elsewhere in this annual report.

The following table presents our selected consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2014.2015.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

We experienced a significant decrease in the growth rate of our user base in 2015. If we fail to retain our existing users, further grow our user base, or if user engagement on our platform declines, our business and operating results may be materially and adversely affected.

The size of our user base and the level of our user engagement are critical to our success. Our MAUs reached 69.8 million in December 2015, representing a 0.7% increase from 69.3 million in December 2014, representing ancompared to a 105.6% increase of 105.6% from December 2013. The growth rate of our MAUs significantly decreased in 2015 primarily due to the reduced growth of number of smartphone users in China, and upgrades to our platform that take time for users to adapt to. Growing our user base and increasing the overall level of user engagement on our social networking platform are critical to our business. If our user growth rate continues to slows down, as it did in 2015, our success will become increasingly dependent on our ability to retain existing users and enhance user engagement on our platform. If our Momo mobile application is no longer one of the social networking tools that people frequently use, or if people do not perceive our services to be interesting or useful, we may not be able to attract users or increase the frequency or depthdegree of their engagement. A number of user-oriented instant communication products that achieved early popularity have since seen the size of their user base or level of user engagement decline, in some cases precipitously. There is no guarantee that we will not experience a similar erosion of our user base or user engagement level in the future. A number of factors could negatively affect user retention, growth and engagement, including if:

If we are unable to grow our user base or enhance user engagement, our platform will become less attractive to our users, customers and platform partners, which would have a material and adverse impact on our business and operating results.

We are in the early stages of monetization and cannot guarantee that the monetization strategies we have adopted will be successfully implemented or generate sustainable revenues and profit.

Our monetization model is new and evolving. We began to generate revenues in the second half of 2013 primarily through membership subscriptions, but we continue to explore and implement new monetization models. We currently generate revenues through membership subscriptions, mobile marketing services, mobile games, and other services, which accounted for approximately 66.5%43.6%, 25.1%29.0%, 23.2%, and 8.4%4.2%, respectively, of our net revenues in 2014. We generate membership subscription revenues from users who purchase membership packages for additional functionalities and privileges in our mobile application. For mobile games, we primarily cooperate with third-party game developers to provide their games on our platform and share revenues generated by in-game purchases of virtual items with such developers.2015. In February 2015, we launchedhave continued to strategize to increase monetization of our first proprietary game on our platform and started to generate revenues by in-game purchases of virtual items. Our other services include paid emoticons and mobile marketing services. For our mobile marketing services, we recently started to cooperate with 58.com and Alibaba to provide user traffic advertisement services to merchants on their online marketplaces through Momo’s interactive functions.platform. In January 2015, we launched gift mall services that allow users to send gifts to each other. In February 2015, we launched our first self-developed game on our platform and started to generate revenues by in-game purchases of virtual items. In the second quarter of 2015, we launched our in-feed marketing solutions powered by a proprietary self-serve advertising system, and started to offer brand-oriented display ads and action-driven ad products such as app downloads. In addition, in September 2015, we launched our live music and entertainment broadcasting service which adopts a virtual items-based revenue model. If our strategic initiatives do not enhance our ability to monetize our existing services or enable us to develop new approaches to monetization, we may not be able to maintain or increase our revenues and profits or recover any associated costs. Furthermore, as the online music and entertainment industry in China is relatively young, there are few proven methods of projecting user demand or available industry standards on which we can rely.

As we further expand, we will also seek to develop additional strategic partnerships with third parties, including e-commerce companies, online marketplaces and other content or service providers. There is no assurance that we will be able to develop, maintain or enhance beneficial strategic partnership at reasonable cost, or at all. In addition, we may in the future introduce new services to further diversify our revenue streams, including services with which we have little or no prior development or operating experience. If these new or enhanced services fail to engage users, customers or platform partners, we may fail to attract or retain users or to generate sufficient revenues to justify our investments, and our business and operating results may suffer as a result.

We have a limited operating history in a dynamic market, which makes it difficult to evaluate our future prospects.

The market for social networking platforms is relatively new, highly dynamic and may not develop as expected. Our users, customers and platform partners may not fully understand the value of our services, and potential new users, customers and platform partners may have difficulty distinguishing our services from those of our competitors. Convincing potential users, customers and platform partners of the value of our services is critical to the growth of our user base and the success of our business.

We launched our Momo mobile application in August 2011, and the relatively short operating history makes it difficult to assess our future prospects or forecast our future results. You should consider our business and prospects in light of the risks and challenges we encounter or may encounter in this developing and rapidly evolving market. These risks and challenges include our ability to, among other things:

If we fail to educate potential users, customers and platform partners about the value of our services, if the market for our platform does not develop as we expect or if we fail to address the needs of this dynamic market, our business will be harmed. Failure to adequately address these or other risks and challenges could harm our business and cause our operating results to suffer.

We have incurred significant net losses in the past and only recently began to achieve profitability, and we may not be able to achieve or subsequently maintain profitability.

Since our inception, weWe have incurred significant net losses.losses since our inception until 2015, in which we generated a net income of US$13.7 million. As of December 31, 2014,2015, we had an accumulated deficit of US$107.894.1 million. Our profitability may not sustain. We believe that our future revenue growth will depend on, among other factors, the popularity of social networking applications, as well as our ability to attract new users, increase user engagement, effectively design and implement monetization strategies, develop new services and compete effectively and successfully. In addition, our ability to achieve and sustain profitability is affected by various factors, many of which are beyond our control, such as the continuous development of social networking, mobile marketing services, mobile games, and mobile marketingonline music and entertainment services in China.

We may continue toagain incur losses in the near future due to our continued investments in technologies, research and development and our continued sales and marketing initiatives. Changes in the macroeconomic and regulatory environment or competitive dynamics and our inability to respond to these changes in a timely and effective manner may also impact our profitability. Accordingly, you should not rely on the revenues of any prior quarterly or annual period as an indication of our future performance.

We may not be able to successfully maintain and increase the number of our members or other paying users.

Revenues generated from membership subscription packages, mobile marketing services, mobile games, and other services including paid emoticons and live music and entertainment broadcasting service historically accounted for substantially all of our total revenues. Our future growth depends on our ability to convert our existing users into members and other paying users of our services and mobile games and retain our current members and paying users. Paying users include our members as well as users who make purchases ofpurchase emoticons and virtual gifts or purchase virtual items in mobile games and live music shows offered on our platform. However, we cannot assure you that we will be able to retain our members and other paying users or continue to convert existing or new users into members and other paying users, nor can we assure you that we will be able to successfully compete with current and new competitors on members and other paying users. We had 2.9 million members as of December 31, 2015, same as the number of members as of December 31, 2014. Our efforts to provide greater incentives for our users to subscribe for our membership status may not continue to succeed. Our members and other paying users may discontinue their subscriptions or other spending on our services because we no longer serve their needs, or simply because the interests and preferences of these users shift. If we cannot successfully maintain or increase the number of our members and other paying users, our business, results of operations and prospects will be adversely affected.

We generate an increasing portion of our revenues from mobile marketing services, and the loss of marketers, or reduction in spending by marketers, could seriously harm our business.

Revenues generated from our mobile marketing services have increased significantly from 0.4% and 4.4% of our net revenues in 2013 and 2014, respectively, to 29.0% of our net revenues in 2015. Since we began to offer mobile marketing services in the third quarter of 2013, we have diversified and expanded our mobile marketing service offerings to increasingly monetize our platform. Currently our mobile marketing services primarily comprise brand-oriented display ads and in-feed marketing solutions. As is common in the industry, our marketers do not have long-term advertising commitments with us. Many of our marketers spend only a relatively small portion of their overall advertising budget with us. In addition, marketers may view some of our products as experimental and unproven. Marketers may not continue to do business with us, or they may advertise with us based on terms unfavorable to us, if we do not deliver our marketing solutions in an effective manner, or if they do not believe that their investment in advertising with us will generate a competitive return relative to other alternatives. For example, failure to maintain or increase the quantity or quality of ads shown to users, or a decrease in user engagement may cause marketers to reduce or cease their spending on our mobile marketing services.

In addition, expenditures by marketers tend to be cyclical, reflecting overall economic conditions and budgeting and buying patterns. Adverse macroeconomic conditions can also have a material negative impact on the demand for advertising and cause our marketers to reduce the amounts they spend on advertising, which could adversely affect our revenues and business.

If we fail to launch new games or release upgrades to existing games that attract new players and retain existing players, our business and operating results will be materially and adversely affected.

We have relied on mobile games for a substantial portion of our revenues, and we expect mobile games to continue to be an important part of our revenues. Revenues generated from mobile games contributed 25.1% and 23.2% of our total revenues in 2014.2014 and 2015, respectively. Growing and retaining our user base and converting some of our users into paying users largely depend on our ability to continuously offer new games and game updates that anticipate and effectively respond to changing player interests and preferences. If we cannot maintain our existing partnership with third-party game developers, or source new popular games that retain existing players and attract new players by expanding our network of partnering game developers, our business, results of operations and prospects will be materially and adversely affected.

It is difficult to consistently anticipate player preferences or industry changes, particularly games in new genres. Neither can we assure you that the new games we offer will attract a large number of players and be commercially successful, nor can we guarantee that we will be able to meet our timetable for new game launches. A number of factors, including changing game player preferences and our relationship with existing and new third-party game developers, could affect the popularity of new games or delay the launch of new games on our platform. If the new games we introduce are not commercially successful, we may not be able to recover the expenses we incur in game development, which can be significant.

In addition, new games that we offer may attract game players away from existing games on our platform. If this occurs, it will decrease the player base of our existing games, which could result in decreased revenues from such existing games. Game players of our existing games may also spend less money to purchase virtual items in our new games than they would have spent if they had continued playing our existing games, which could materially and adversely affect our revenues.

We may not be able to grow our live music and entertainment broadcasting service and achieve the level of profitability that we currently anticipate.

In September 2015, we launched our live music and entertainment broadcasting service with a virtual items-based revenue model whereby users can enjoy live music shows and interact with the singers for free, and have the option of purchasing in-show virtual items. While we plan to continue to invest significantly in expanding our live music and entertainment broadcasting service, we may not be able to achieve the level of profitability based on the virtual items-based revenue model, as we have relatively little experience in operating such service in the online music and entertainment industry. In addition, popular singers may cease to use our service and we may be unable to attract new talent that can attract users or cause such users to increase the amount of time spent on our platform or the amount of money spent on in-show virtual items.

Under our current arrangements with certain popular singers, we share with them a portion of the revenues we derive from the sales of in-show virtual items in our live music and entertainment broadcasting service. In the future, the amount we pay to these singers may increase or we may fail to reach mutually acceptable terms with these singers, which may adversely affect our revenues or cause popular performers to leave our platform. In addition, if our users decide to use live music and entertainment broadcasting services provided by our competitors, we may not be able to expand the user base of our live music and entertainment broadcasting service and achieve or maintain the level of profitability as we currently anticipate.

Our business is dependent on the strength of our brand and market perception of our brand.

In China, we market our services under the brand “ ” or “Momo.” Our business and financial performance are highly dependent on the strength and the market perception of our brand and services. A well-recognized brand is critical to increasing our user base and, in turn, facilitating our efforts to monetize our services and enhancing our attractiveness to customers. From time to time, we conduct marketing activities across various media to enhance our brand and to guide public perception of our brand and services. In order to create and maintain brand awareness and brand loyalty, to influence public perception and to retain existing and attract new mobile users, customers and platform partners, we may need to substantially increase our marketing expenditures. We cannot assure you, however, that these activities will be successful or that we will be able to achieve the brand promotion effect we expect.

In addition, people may not understand the value of our platform, and there may be a misperception that Momo is used solely as a tool to randomly meet or date strangers. Convincing potential new users, customers and platform partners of the value of our services is critical to increasing the number of our users, customers and platform partners and to the success of our business.

Negative publicity may harm our brand and reputation and have a material adverse effect on our business and operating results.

Negative publicity involving us, our users, our management, our social networking platform or our business model may materially and adversely harm our brand and our business. We cannot assure you that we will be able to defuse negative publicity about us, our management and/or our services to the satisfaction of our investors, users, customers and platform partners. There has been negative publicity about our company and the misuse of our services, which has adversely affected our brand, public image and reputation. Such negative publicity, especially when it is directly addressed against us, may also require us to engage in defensive media campaigns. This may cause us to increase our marketing expenses and divert our management’s attention and may adversely impact our business and results of operations.

In November 2014, Mr. Yan Tang, our co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer, received a letter from a PRC law firm on behalf of Wangzhiyi Information Technology (Beijing) Co, Ltd., or Wangzhiyi, a PRC company affiliated with Netease, Inc., or Netease, where Mr. Tang was employed from December 2003 to September 2011. The letter claimed that because Mr. Tang established our consolidated affiliated entity Beijing Momo Technology Ltd., or Beijing Momo, in July 2011 and Beijing Momo launched our application in August 2011, all while Mr. Tang was still an employee of Wangzhiyi, that he breached the terms of his employment agreement with Wangzhiyi, and violated his covenants to not compete with and to devote himself to Wangzhiyi during the term of his employment. The letter requested that Mr. Tang apologize in writing to Wangzhiyi promptly and reserved Wangzhiyi’s right to pursue further action. Mr. Tang believes the claims lack merit and intends to defend himself against these claims vigorously.

On December 10, 2014, Netease posted a formal statement on its website alleging that Mr. Tang engaged in unethical conduct while employed withby Netease. The statement contained several allegations, including those made in the letter described in the preceding paragraph. We note that none of the allegations put forth in Netease’s statement are directed against our company, and the allegations essentially relate to several alleged incidents that occurred before Mr. Tang joined our company. Mr. Tang has informed us that he believes the allegations are malicious and intends to vigorously defend himself against them.

We cannot predict what future action Netease or Wangzhiyi might take with respect to their claims against Mr. Tang. Nor can we predict whether additional public statements will be issued by Netease or any other party containing new allegations against Mr. Tang, other management personnel or our company. In the event that Netease or Wangzhiyi were to pursue these claims by means of court proceedings, we cannot predict the length or outcome of any such proceedings. Any legal action, regardless of its merits, could be time consuming and could divert the attention of Mr. Tang away from our business. Should Netease or Wangzhiyi prevail in any future lawsuit against Mr. Tang, his reputation could be harmed and he may be ordered to pay damages and/or cease any actions deemed to be wrongful by the court. Moreover, although we were not named in the letter, we cannot be sure that Netease or Wangzhiyi will not initiate proceedings against us in the future. Any such proceedings may result in negative publicity for us and divert our management’s attention and could materially and adversely affect our reputation, business and results of operations.

Our brand image, business and operating results may be adversely impacted by userUser misconduct and misuse of our platform.platform may adversely impact our brand image, and we may be held liable for information or content displayed on, retrieved from or linked to our platform, which may materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.

Our platform allows mobile users to freely contact and communicate with people nearby.nearby, and our live music and entertainment services allow users to host and view live shows. Because we do not have full control over how and what users will use our platform to communicate, our platform may be misused by individuals or groups of individuals to engage in immoral, disrespectful, fraudulent or illegal activities. For example, on a daily basis we detect spam accounts through which illegal or inappropriate content is posted and illegal or fraudulent activities are conducted. Media reports and internet forums have covered some of these incidents, which has in some cases generated negative publicity about our brand and platform. We have implemented control procedures to detect and block illegal or inappropriate content and illegal or fraudulent activities conducted through the misuse of our platform, but such procedures may not prevent all such content from being posted or activities from being carried out. Moreover, as we have limited control over the real-time and offline behaviorbehaviors of our users, to the extent such behavior isbehaviors are associated with our platform, our ability to protect our brand image and reputation may be limited. Our business and the public perception of our brand may be materially and adversely affected by misuse of our platform.

In addition, if any of our users suffers or alleges to have suffered physical, financial or emotional harm following contact initiated on our platform, we may face civil lawsuits or other liabilities initiated by the affected user, or governmental or regulatory actions against us. In response to allegations of illegal or inappropriate activities conducted through our platform or any negative media coverage about us, PRC government authorities may intervene and hold us liable for non-compliance with PRC laws and regulations concerning the dissemination of information on the internet and subject us to administrative penalties or other sanctions, such as requiring us to restrict or discontinue some of the features and services provided on our mobile application. For example, in March 2015 we were recently fined by the PRC government authorities for certain videos and comics containing forbidden contents shared by users in certain groups. In April 2016, the Ministry of Culture of China investigated certain live broadcasts websites in China that are suspected of hosting videos or live shows containing violent or pornographic content. There can be no assurance that our live music and entertainment shows will not be subject to similar investigations or subsequent penalties if contents contained in such shows are deemed to be illegal or inappropriate under PRC laws and regulations. See “—Risks Related to Doing Business in China—If we fail to obtain and maintain the requisite licenses and approvals required under the complex regulatory environment applicable to our businesses in China, or if we are required to take compliance actions that are time-consuming or costly, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.” As a result, our business may suffer and our user base, revenues and profitability may be materially and adversely affected, and the price of our ADSs may decline.

The market in which we operate is fragmented and highly competitive. If we are unable to compete effectively for users or user engagement, our business and operating results may be materially and adversely affected.

As a social networking platform that also provides live music and entertainment broadcasting service, we are subject to intense competition from providers of similar services, as well as potential new types of online services. Our competitors may have substantially more cash, traffic, technical and other resources, as well as broader product or service offerings and can leverage their relationships based on other products or services to gain a larger share of marketing budgets. We may be unable to compete successfully against these competitors or new market entrants, which may adversely affect our business and financial performance.

We believe that our ability to compete effectively depends upon many factors both within and beyond our control, including:

If we fail to keep up with technological developments and evolving user expectations, we may fail to maintain or attract users, customers or platform partners, and our business and operating results may be materially and adversely affected.

We operate in a market characterized by rapidly changing technologies, evolving industry standards, new product and service announcements, new generations of product enhancements and changing user expectations. Accordingly, our performance and the ability to further monetize the services on our platform will depend on our ability to adapt to these rapidly changing technologies and industry standards, and our ability to continually innovate in response to both evolving demands of the marketplace and competitive services. There may be occasions when we may not be as responsive as our competitors in adapting our services to changing industry standards and the needs of our users. Historically, new features may be introduced by one player in the industry, and if they are perceived as attractive to users, they are often quickly copied and improved upon by others.

Introducing new technologies into our systems involves numerous technical challenges, substantial amounts of capital and personnel resources and often takes many months to complete. For example, the market for mobile devices in China is highly fragmented, and the lower resolution, functionality, operating system compatibility and memory currently associated with the kaleidoscopic models of mobile devices in the Chinese marketplace may make the use of our services through these devices more difficult and impair the user experience. We intend to continue to devote resources to the development of additional technologies and services. We may not be able to effectively integrate new technologies on a timely basis or at all, which may decrease user satisfaction with our services. Such technologies, even if integrated, may not function as expected or may be unable to attract and retain a substantial number of mobile device users to use our Momo mobile application. We also may not be able to protect such technology from being copied by our competitors. Our failure to keep pace with rapid technological changes may cause us to fail to retain or attract users or generate revenues, and could have a material and adverse effect on our business and operating results.

If we fail to effectively manage our growth and control our costs and expenses, our business and operating results could be harmed.

We have experienced rapid growth in our business and operations and expansion of our platform since our inception in 2011, which places significant demands on our management, operational and financial resources. However, given our limited operating history and the rapidly evolving market in which we compete, we may encounter difficulties as we establish and expand our operations, product development, sales and marketing, and general and administrative capabilities. We face significant competition for talented employees from other high-growth companies, which include both publicly traded and privately held companies, and we may not be able to hire new talents quickly enough to meet our needs and support our operations. If we fail to effectively manage our hiring needs and successfully integrate our new hires, our efficiency and ability to meet our forecasts and our employee morale, productivity and retention could suffer, and our business and operating results could be adversely affected.

We expect our costs and expenses to continue to increase in the future as we seek to broaden our user base and increase user engagement, and develop and implement new features and services that require more complexity. In addition, our cost and expenses, such as our research and development expenses, sales and marketing expenses and general and administrative expenses, have grown rapidly as we expanded our business. Historically, our costs have increased each year, and we expect to continue to incur increasing costs to support our anticipated future growth. We expect to continue to invest in our infrastructure in order to enable us to provide our services rapidly and reliably to users. Continued growth could also strain our ability to maintain reliable service levels for our users and customers, develop and improve our operational, financial, legal and management controls, and enhance our reporting systems and procedures. If we are unable to generate adequate revenues and to manage our expenses, we may continue toagain incur significant losses in the future and may not be able to achieve or subsequently maintain profitability. Our expenses may grow faster than our revenues, and our expenses may be greater than we anticipate. Managing our growth will require significant expenditures and the allocation of valuable management resources. If we fail to achieve the necessary level of efficiency in our organization as it grows,we grow, our business, operating results and financial condition could be harmed.

Privacy concerns relating to our services and the use of user information could negatively impact our user base or user engagement, or subject us to governmental regulation and other legal obligations, which could have a material and adverse effect on our business and operating results.

We collect user profile, user location and other personal data from our users in order to better understand our users and their needs and to support our social interest graph engine and our big data analytical capabilities for more targeted services such as interest- or location- basedlocation-based user groups and mobile marketing services. Concerns about the collection, use, disclosure or security of personal information or chat history or other privacy-related matters, even if unfounded, could damage our reputation, cause us to lose users, customers and platform partners and subject us to regulatory investigations, all of which may adversely affect our business. While we strive to comply with applicable data protection laws and regulations, as well as our privacy policies pursuant to our terms of use and other obligations we may have with respect to privacy and data protection, any failure or perceived failure to comply with these laws, regulations or policies may result, and in some cases have resulted, in inquiries and other proceedings or actions against us by government agencies or others, as well as negative publicity and damage to our reputation and brand, each of which could cause us to lose users, customers and platform partners and have an adverse effect on our business and operating results.

Any systems failure or compromise of our security that results in the unauthorized access to or release of the data or chat history of our users, customers or platform partners data or chat history could significantly limit the adoption of our services, as well as harm our reputation and brand. We expect to continue expending significant resources to protect against security breaches. The risk that these types of events could seriously harm our business is likely to increase as we expand the number of services we offer and increase the size of our user base.

Our practices may become inconsistent with new laws or regulations concerning data protection, or the interpretation and application of existing consumer and data protection laws or regulations, which is often uncertain and in flux. If so, in addition to the possibility of fines, this could result in an order requiring that we change our practices, which could have an adverse effect on our business and operating results. 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. See also “—Risks Related to Doing Businesses in China—Uncertainties in the interpretation and enforcement of PRC laws and regulations could limit the legal protections available to you and us.”

The continuing and collaborative efforts of our senior management and key employees are crucial to our success, and our business may be harmed if we were to lose their services.

We depend on the continued contributions of our senior management, especially the executive officers listed in “Item 6. Directors, Senior Management and Employees—A. Directors and Senior Management” section of this annual report, 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 materially harm our business. Competition for qualified talent in China is intense. Our future success is dependent on our ability to attract a significant number of qualified employees and retain existing key employees. If we are unable to do so, our business and growth may be materially and adversely affected and 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.

We may not be able to adequately protect our intellectual property, which could cause us to be less competitive and third-party infringements of our intellectual property rights may adversely affect our business.

We rely on a combination of patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret laws and restrictions on disclosure to protect our intellectual property rights. See also “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview.” Despite our efforts to protect our proprietary rights, third parties may attempt to copy or otherwise obtain and use our intellectual property or seek court declarations that they do not infringe upon our intellectual property rights. Monitoring unauthorized use of our intellectual property is difficult and costly, and we cannot be certain that the steps we have taken will prevent misappropriation of our intellectual property. From time to time, we may have to resort to litigation to enforce our intellectual property rights, which could result in substantial costs and diversion of our resources.

There have been instances where third parties have cloned and launched counterfeits of our Momo mobile application on app stores or internet forums. Some of these counterfeits, once installed inadvertently by mobile users, were reported to automatically download and install other applications to these users’ mobile phones, charging them various fees. These counterfeits may mislead mobile users and negatively affect their perception of our application. Moreover, we may have to expend resources in connection with any legal actions that we take to curb these counterfeiting activities in order to protect our intellectual property rights, user experience and brand perception.

We have been and may be subject to intellectual property infringement claims or other allegations by third parties for information or content displayed on, retrieved from or linked to our platform, or distributed to our users, which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and prospects.

We have been and may in the future be subject to intellectual property infringement claims or other allegations by third parties for services we provide or for information or content displayed on, retrieved from or linked to our platform, or distributed to our users, which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and prospects.

Companies in the internet, technology and media industries are frequently involved in litigation based on allegations of infringement of intellectual property rights, unfair competition, invasion of privacy, defamation and other violations of other parties’ rights. The validity, enforceability and scope of protection of intellectual property rights in internet-related industries, particularly in China, are uncertain and still evolving. We face, from time to time, and expect to face in the future, allegations that we have infringed the trademarks, copyrights, patents and other intellectual property rights of third parties, including our competitors, or allegations that we are involved in unfair trade practices. For example, on December 25, 2014,October 22, 2015, we were served a civil complaint by the Beijing Intellectual PropertyGuangzhou Tian He People’s Court in which the plaintiff claimed that our use of the Chinese characters “ ” in marketing our brandXiaoyao Xiyou, a game that we operated and currently operate, infringed upon its trademarkthe plaintiff’s copyright in works of literature and art of a game, constituting unfair competition. The plaintiff demanded that we cease using the Chinese charactersinfringement and pay for the plaintiff’s litigation-relatedcompensation and legal costs and compensation oftotaling approximately RMB11RMB10 million (US$1.81.5 million). After consulting with our PRC counsel, we believe that because the scope of business covered by the plaintiff’s trademark class is substantially different from the scope of our business, the likelihood of the plaintiff’s claim prevailing is remote.See “Item 8. Financial Information— A. Consolidated Statements and Other Financial Information—Legal Proceedings.” As we face increasing competition and as litigation becomes a more common method for resolving commercial disputes in China, we face a higher risk of being the subject of intellectual property infringement claims.

We allow users to upload text, graphics, audio, video and other content to our platform and download, share, link to and otherwise access games and other content on our platform. We have procedures designed to reduce the likelihood that content might be used without proper licenses or third-party consents. However, these procedures may not be effective in preventing the unauthorized posting of copyrighted content. Therefore, we may face liability for copyright or trademark infringement, defamation, unfair competition, libel, negligence, and other claims based on the nature and content of the materials that are delivered, shared or otherwise accessed through our platform.

Defending intellectual property litigation is costly and can impose a significant burden on our management and employees, and there can be no assurances that favorable final outcomes will be obtained in all cases. Such claims, even if they do not result in liability, may harm our reputation. Any resulting liability or expenses, or changes required to our platform to reduce the risk of future liability, may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and prospects.

User growth and engagement depend upon effective interoperation with mobile operating systems, networks, mobile devices and standards that we do not control.

We make our services available across a variety of mobile operating systems and devices. We are dependent on the interoperability of our services with popular mobile devices and mobile operating systems that we do not control, such as Android, iOS and Windows. Any changes in such mobile operating systems or devices that degrade the functionality of our services or give preferential treatment to competitive services could adversely affect usage of our services. Further, if the number of platforms for which we develop our services increases, which is typically seen in a dynamic and fragmented mobile services market such as China, it will result in an increase in our costs and expenses. In order to deliver high quality services, it is important that our services work well across a range of mobile operating systems, networks, mobile devices and standards that we do not control. We may not be successful in developing relationships with key participants in the mobile industry or in developing services that operate effectively with these operating systems, networks, devices and standards. In the event that it is difficult for our users to access and use our services, particularly on their mobile devices, our user growth and user engagement could be harmed, and our business and operating results could be adversely affected.

Our operations depend on the performance of the internet infrastructure and fixed telecommunications networks in China.

Almost all access to the internet in China is maintained through state-owned telecommunication operators under the administrative control and regulatory supervision of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, or the MIIT. Moreover, we primarily rely on a limited number of telecommunication service providers to provide us with data communications capacity through local telecommunications lines and internet data centers to host our servers. We have limited access to alternative networks or services in the event of disruptions, failures or other problems with China’s internet infrastructure or the fixed telecommunications networks provided by telecommunication service providers. Web traffic in China has experienced significant growth during the past few years. Effective bandwidth and server storage at internet data centers in large cities such as Beijing are scarce. With the expansion of our business, we may be required to upgrade our technology and infrastructure to keep up with the increasing traffic on our platform. We cannot assure you that the internet infrastructure and the fixed telecommunications networks in China will be able to support the demands associated with the continued growth in internet usage. If we cannot increase our capacity to deliver our online services, we may not be able to the increases in traffic we anticipate from our expanding user base, and the adoption of our services may be hindered, which could adversely impact our business and our ADS price.

In addition, we have no control over the costs of the services provided by telecommunication service providers. If the prices we pay for telecommunications and internet services rise significantly, our results of operations may be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, if internet access fees or other charges to internet users increase, some users may be prevented from accessing the mobile internet and thus cause the growth of mobile internet users to decelerate. Such deceleration may adversely affect our ability to continue to expand our user base.

Our business and operating results may be harmed by service disruptions, or by our failure to timely and effectively scale and adapt our existing technology and infrastructure.

People use our platform for real-time communication, socializing, entertainment and information. We have experienced, and may in the future experience, service disruptions, outages and other performance problems due to a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes, human or software errors, hardware failure, capacity constraints due to an overwhelming number of people accessing our mobile services simultaneously, computer viruses and denial of service, fraud and security attacks. Any disruption or failure in our infrastructure could hinder our ability to handle existing or increased traffic on our platform or cause us to lose content stored on our platform, which could significantly harm our business and our ability to retain existing users and attract new users.

As the number of our users increases and our users generate more content on our platform, we may be required to expand and adapt our technology and infrastructure to continue to reliably store and analyze this content. It may become increasingly difficult to maintain and improve the performance of our services, especially during peak usage times, as our services become more complex and our user traffic increases. If our users are unable to access Momo mobile application in a timely fashion, or at all, our user experience may be compromised and the users may seek other mobile social networking tools to meet their needs, and may not return to Momo or use Momo as often in the future, or at all. This would negatively impact our ability to attract users and maintain the level of user engagement.

Future strategic alliances or acquisitions may have a material and adverse effect on our business, reputation and results of operations.

We may in the future enter into strategic alliances with various third parties. Strategic alliances with third parties could subject us to a number of risks, including risks associated with sharing proprietary information, non-performance by the counterparty and an increase in expenses incurred in establishing new strategic alliances, any of which may materially and adversely affect our business. We may have little ability to control or monitor their actions and to the extent strategic third parties suffer negative publicity or harm to their reputation from events relating to their business, we may also suffer negative publicity or harm to our reputation by virtue of our association with such third parties.

In addition, we may acquire additional assets, technologies or businesses that are complementary to our existing business. Future acquisitions and the subsequent integration of new assets and businesses into our own would require significant attention from our management and could result in a diversion of resources from our existing business, which in turn could have an adverse effect on our business operations. Acquired assets or businesses may not generate the financial or operating results we expect. In addition, acquisitions could result in the use of substantial amounts of cash, potentially dilutive issuances of equity securities, the incurrence of debt, the incurrence of significant goodwill impairment charges, amortization expenses for other intangible assets and exposure to potential unknown liabilities of the acquired business. Moreover, the costs of identifying and consummating acquisitions may be significant. In addition to possible shareholders’ approval, we may also have to obtain approvals and licenses from the government authorities in the PRC for the acquisitions and comply with applicable PRC laws and regulations, which could result in increased costs and delays.

We rely on assumptions and estimates to calculate certain key operating metrics, and real or perceived inaccuracies in such metrics may harm our reputation and negatively affect our business.

The number of monthly active users of Momo is calculated using internal company data that has not been independently verified. While the number of monthly active users is based on what we believe to be reasonable calculations for the applicable periods of measurement, there are inherent challenges in measuring usage and user engagement across our large user base. We treat each account as a separate user for the purposes of calculating our monthly active users, because it may not always be possible to identify people that have set up more than one account. Accordingly, the calculations of our monthly active users may not accurately reflect the actual number of people using Momo.

Our measures of user growth and user engagement may differ from estimates published by third parties or from similarly titled metrics used by our competitors due to differences in methodology. If customers or platform partners do not perceive our user metrics to be accurate representations of our user base or user engagement, or if we discover material inaccuracies in our user metrics, our reputation may be harmed and customers and platform partners may be less willing to allocate their resources or spending to Momo, which could negatively affect our business and operating results.

We have granted, and expect to continue to grant, share options under our share incentive plans, which may result in increased share-based compensation expenses.

We have adopted three share incentive plans as of the date of this annual report for the purpose of granting share-based compensation awards to employees, directors and consultants to incentivize their performance and align their interests with ours. In November 2012, we adopted a share incentive plan, or the 2012 Plan, which was amended and restated in October 2013. In November 2014, we adopted the 2014 share incentive plan, or the 2014 Plan, pursuant to which a maximum aggregate of 14,031,194 Class A ordinary shares may be issued pursuant to all awards granted thereunder. Beginning in 2017, the number of shares reserved for future issuances under the 2014 Plan will be increased by a number equal to 1.5% of the total number of outstanding shares on the last day of the immediately preceding calendar year, or such lesser number of Class A ordinary shares as determined by our board of directors, on the first day of each calendar year during the term of the 2014 Plan. With the adoption of the 2014 Plan, we will no longer grant any incentive shares under the 2012 Plan. In addition, in January 2015, Momo Technology Overseas Holding Company Limited, or Momo BVI, our wholly owned BVI subsidiary, adopted a share incentive plan, or the BVI Plan. As of March 31, 2015,2016, options to purchase 30,787,026 Class A ordinary shares had been granted under the 2012 Plan, 30,684,52623,013,154 of which remained outstanding. We had grantedIn addition, as of March 31, 2016, options to purchase 10,417,782 Class A ordinary shares and 40,001 restricted share units had been granted under the 2014 Plan, of which 9,819,232 options remained outstanding and all restricted share units had vested. Options to purchase an aggregate of 9,600,000 shares of Momo BVI under the BVI Plan remained outstanding as of March 31, 2015.2016. See “Item 6. Directors, Senior Management and Employees—B. Compensation” for a detailed discussion. In October 2014, we granted to our employees options to purchase 2,963,500 ordinary shares with an exercise price of $0.0002 per share and a vesting period of four years. Given the proximity of the grant to our initial public offering, we used US$6.75, which is the initial public offering price per ordinary share, as the fair value per share underlying the options granted in October 2014. As a result, weWe expect to incur approximately US$20 million share-based compensation expenseexpenses of US$25.1 million, US$23.9 million and US$22.9 million in 2016, 2017, and after 2017, respectively, in connection with the October 2014 optioncurrently outstanding share-based awards, and we may grant over the four-year vesting period.additional share-based awards under our share incentive plans, which will further increase our share-based compensation expenses. We believe the granting of share optionsshare-based awards is of significant importance to our ability to attract and retain our employees, and we will continue to grant share optionsshare-based awards to employees 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.

If we fail to implement and maintain an effective system of internal controls, or fail to remediate the material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting that has been identified, we may be unable to accurately report our results of operations or prevent fraud or fail to meet our reporting obligations, and investor confidence and the market price of our ADSs may be materially and adversely affected.

PriorWe are subject to our initialreporting obligations under the U.S. securities laws. The Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, as required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, has adopted rules requiring public offering, we werecompanies to include a private company with limited accounting personnel and other resources with which to addressreport of management in its annual report that contains management’s assessment of the effectiveness of such company’s internal controls over financial reporting.

Our management has concluded that our internal controls and procedures. Our independentover financial reporting were effective as of December 31, 2015. We however were not subject to the requirement to provide an attestation report by our registered public accounting firm has not conducted an audit of our internal control over financial reporting. In preparing our consolidated financial statements as of and for the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2013 in connection with our initial public offering in December 2014, we and our independent registered public accounting firm identified two material weaknesses in ourregarding internal control over financial reporting as defined in the standards established by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board of the United States, or PCAOB, and other control deficiencies. The two material weaknesses identified related to lack of accounting personnel with appropriate knowledge of U.S. GAAP, and lack of a comprehensive accounting policies and procedures manual according to U.S. GAAP. In preparing our consolidated financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2014 included in this annual report, we identified certain additional control deficiencies.

Neither we nor our independent registered public accounting firm undertook a comprehensive assessment of our internal control for the purposes of identifying and reporting material weaknesses, significant deficiencies and control deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting. It is possible that, had we performed a formal assessment of our internal control over financial reporting or had our independent registered public accounting firm performed an audit of our internal control over financial reporting, additional material weaknesses or significant deficiencies may have been identified.

Following the identification of the material weaknesses and control deficiencies, we have taken and plan to continue to take remedial measures. For details of these remedies, see “Item 15. Controls and Procedures—Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting.” However, the implementation of these measures may not fully address the material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, and we cannot conclude that they have been fully remedied. As a public company in the United States, we are subject to Section 404 and the applicable rules and regulations thereunder. Section 404 requires that we include a report of management on 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, 2015. In addition, once we cease to bewere an “emerging growth company”company,” as such term is defined in the JOBS Act as of December 31, 2015.

Once we cease to be an “emerging growth company”, our independent registered public accounting firm must attest to and report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Our failureIf we fail to achieve and maintain effective internal controlcontrols over financial reporting in the future, our management and, if applicable, our independent registered public accounting firm, may not be able to conclude that we have effective internal controls over financial reporting at a reasonable assurance level. This could result in thea loss of investor confidence in the reliability of our financial statements,conditions which in turn could harm our business and negatively impact the markettrading price of our ADSs and result in lawsuits being filed against us by our shareholders or otherwise harm our reputation. Furthermore, we have incurred and anticipate that we will continue to incur considerable costs and use significant management time and other resources in an effort to comply with Section 404 and other requirements of the ADSs.Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

We have limited insurance coverage.

The insurance industry in China is still at an early stage of development and business and litigation insurance products offered in China are limited. Other than the directors and officers liability insurance, we do not maintain any third-party liability, property, business interruption or key-man life insurance. The costs of insuring for these risks and the difficulties associated with acquiring such insurance on commercially reasonable terms make it impractical for us to have such insurance. In addition, any insurance policies that we maintain may not adequately cover our actual loss and we may not be able to successfully claim our losses under the insurance policies at all or on a timely basis. Any business disruption, litigation or natural disaster may cause us to incur substantial costs and divert our resources.

We face risks related to health epidemics and natural disasters.

Our business could be adversely affected by the effects of epidemics. In recent years, there have been outbreaks of epidemics in China and globally. Our business operations could be disrupted if one of our employees is suspected of having H1N1 flu, avian flu or another epidemic, since it could require our employees to be quarantined and/or our offices to be disinfected. In addition, our results of operations could be adversely affected to the extent that the outbreak harms the Chinese economy in general and the mobile internet industry in particular.

We are also vulnerable to natural disasters and other calamities. Although we have servers that are hosted in an offsite location, our backup system does not capture data on a real-time basis and we may be unable to recover certain data in the event of a server failure. We cannot assure you that any backup systems will be adequate to protect us from the effects of fire, floods, typhoons, earthquakes, power loss, telecommunications failures, break-ins, war, riots, terrorist attacks or similar events. Any of the foregoing events may give rise to server interruptions, breakdowns, system failures, technology platform failures or internet failures, which could cause the loss or corruption of data or malfunctions of software or hardware as well as adversely affect our ability to provide services on our platform.

Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure

If the PRC government finds that the agreements that establish the structure for operating our businesses in China do not comply with PRC regulations on foreign investment in internet and other related businesses, or if these regulations or their interpretation change in the future, we could be subject to severe penalties or be forced to relinquish our interests in those operations.

Current PRC laws and regulations impose certain restrictions or prohibitions on foreign ownership of companies that engage in internet and other related businesses, including the provision of internet content and online game operations. Specifically, foreign ownership of an internet content provider may not exceed 50%. We are a company registered in the Cayman Islands and Beijing Momo Information Technology Ltd., or Beijing Momo IT, our wholly owned PRC subsidiary, is considered a foreign-invested enterprise. To comply with PRC laws and regulations, we conduct our business in China through Beijing Momo, Technology Ltd., or Beijing Momo, our consolidated affiliated entity, and its subsidiary,subsidiaries, based on a series of contractual arrangements by and among Beijing Momo IT, Beijing Momo and its shareholders. As a result of these contractual arrangements, we exert control over Beijing Momo and its subsidiarysubsidiaries and consolidate or combine their operating results in our financial statements under U.S. GAAP. Beijing Momo holdsand its subsidiaries hold the licenses, approvals and key assets that are essential for our business operations.

In the opinion of our PRC counsel, Han Kun Law Offices, the ownership structure of our PRC subsidiary and Beijing Momo, and the contractual arrangements among our PRC subsidiary, Beijing Momo and its shareholders are in compliance with existing PRC laws, rules and regulations. There are, however, substantial uncertainties regarding the interpretation and application of current or future PRC laws and regulations. Thus, we cannot assure you that the PRC government will not ultimately take a view contrary to the opinion of our PRC counsel. If we are found to be in violation of any PRC laws or regulations or if the contractual arrangements among Beijing Momo IT, Beijing Momo and its shareholders are determined asto be illegal or invalid by the PRC court, arbitral tribunal or regulatory authorities, the relevant governmental authorities would have broad discretion in dealing with such violation, including, without limitation:

The imposition of any of these penalties may result in a material and adverse effect on our ability to conduct our business. In addition, if the imposition of any of these penalties causes us to lose the rights to direct the activities of our consolidated affiliated entity and its subsidiaries or the right to receive their economic benefits, we would no longer be able to consolidate our consolidated affiliated entity and its subsidiaries. We do not believe that any penalties imposed or actions taken by the PRC government would result in the liquidation of the Company, Beijing Momo IT, or our consolidated affiliated entity and its subsidiaries.

We rely on contractual arrangements with Beijing Momo and its shareholders for our operations in China, which may not be as effective in providing operational control as direct ownership.

Due to the PRC restrictions or prohibitions on foreign ownership of internet and other related businesses in China, we operate our business in China through Beijing Momo and its subsidiary, our consolidated affiliated entity Beijing Momo and its subsidiaries, in which we have no ownership interest. We rely on a series of contractual arrangements with Beijing Momo and its shareholders, including the powers of attorney, to control and operate its business.

Our ability to control the consolidated affiliated entity and its subsidiaries depends on the powers of attorney, pursuant to which Beijing Momo IT can vote on all matters requiring shareholder approval in the Beijing Momo. We believe this power of attorney is legally enforceable but may not be as effective as direct equity ownership. These contractual arrangements are intended to provide us with effective control over Beijing Momo and its subsidiarysubsidiaries and allow us to obtain economic benefits from them. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—C. Organizational Structure—Contractual Arrangements with Beijing Momo” for more details about these contractual arrangements.

Although we have been advised by our PRC counsel, Han Kun Law Offices, that these contractual arrangements are valid, binding and enforceable under existing PRC laws and regulations, these contractual arrangements may not be as effective in providing control over Beijing Momo and its subsidiarysubsidiaries as direct ownership. If Beijing Momo or its shareholders fail to perform their respective obligations under the contractual arrangements, we may incur substantial costs and expend substantial resources to enforce our rights. All of these contractual arrangements are governed by and interpreted in accordance with PRC law, and disputes arising from these contractual arrangements will be resolved through arbitration in China. However, the legal system in China, particularly as it relates to arbitration proceedings, is not as developed as in other jurisdictions, such as the United States. See “—Risks Related to Doing Business in China—Uncertainties in the interpretation and enforcement of PRC laws and regulations could limit the legal protections available to you and us.” There are very few precedents and little official guidance as to how contractual arrangements in the context of a variable interest entity, or a consolidated affiliated entity, should be interpreted or enforced under PRC law. There remain significant uncertainties regarding the ultimate outcome of arbitration should legal action become necessary. These uncertainties could limit our ability to enforce these contractual arrangements. In addition, arbitration awards are final and can only be enforced in PRC courts through arbitration award recognition proceedings, which could cause additional expenses and delays. In the event we are unable to enforce these contractual arrangements or we experience significant delays or other obstacles in the process of enforcing these contractual arrangements, we may not be able to exert effective control over our affiliated entities and may lose control over the assets owned by Beijing Momo and its subsidiary.subsidiaries. As a result, we may be unable to consolidate Beijing Momo and its subsidiarysubsidiaries in our consolidated financial statements, our ability to conduct our business may be negatively affected, and our business operations could be severely disrupted, which could materially and adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

We may lose the ability to use and enjoy assets held by Beijing Momo and its subsidiarysubsidiaries that are important to the operation of our business if Beijing Momo or its subsidiarysubsidiaries declares bankruptcy or becomes subject to a dissolution or liquidation proceeding.

Beijing Momo and its subsidiary, Chengdu Momo, hold certain assets that are important to our business operations, including the value-added telecommunication service license concerning the internet information service, or the ICP license, and the internet culture operation license. Under our contractual arrangements, the shareholders of Beijing Momo may not voluntarily liquidate Beijing Momo or approve it to sell, transfer, mortgage or dispose of its assets or legal or beneficial interests exceeding certain threshold in the business in any manner without our prior consent. However, in the event that the shareholders breach this obligation and voluntarily liquidate Beijing Momo, or Beijing Momo declares bankruptcy, or all or part of its assets become subject to liens or rights of third-party creditors, we may be unable to continue some or all of our business operations, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Furthermore, if Beijing Momo or its subsidiary undergoes a voluntary or involuntary liquidation proceeding, its shareholders or unrelated third-party creditors may claim rights to some or all of its assets, thereby hindering our ability to operate our business, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Contractual arrangements we have entered into with Beijing Momo may be subject to scrutiny by the PRC tax authorities. A finding that we owe additional taxes could significantly reduce our consolidated net income and the value of your investment.

Pursuant to applicable PRC laws and regulations, arrangements and transactions among related parties may be subject to audit or challenge by the PRC tax authorities. We may be subject to adverse tax consequences if the PRC tax authorities determine that the contractual arrangements among our PRC subsidiary, Beijing Momo and its shareholders are not on an arm’s length basis and therefore constitute favorable transfer pricing. As a result, the PRC tax authorities could require that Beijing Momo adjust its taxable income upward for PRC tax purposes. Such an adjustment could adversely affect us by increasing Beijing Momo’s tax expenses without reducing the tax expenses of our PRC subsidiary, subjecting Beijing Momo to late payment fees and other penalties for under-payment of taxes, and resulting in our PRC subsidiary’s loss of its preferential tax treatment. Our consolidated results of operations may be adversely affected if Beijing Momo’s tax liabilities increase or if it is subject to late payment fees or other penalties.

If the chops of Beijing Momo IT, Beijing Momo and Beijing Momo’s subsidiary,subsidiaries, are not kept safely, are stolen or are used by unauthorized persons or for unauthorized purposes, the corporate governance of these entities could be severely and adversely compromised.

In China, a company chop or seal serves as the legal representation of the company towards third parties even when unaccompanied by a signature. Each legally registered company in China is required to maintain a company chop, which must be registered with the local Public Security Bureau. In addition to this mandatory company chop, companies may have several other chops which can be used for specific purposes. The chops of Beijing Momo IT, our PRC subsidiary, Beijing Momo and Beijing Momo’s subsidiarysubsidiaries are generally held securely by personnel designated or approved by us in accordance with our internal control procedures. To the extent those chops are not kept safe, are stolen or are used by unauthorized persons or for unauthorized purposes, the corporate governance of these entities could be severely and adversely compromised and those corporate entities may be bound to abide by the terms of any documents so chopped, even if they were chopped by an individual who lacked the requisite power and authority to do so.

The shareholders of Beijing Momo may have potential conflicts of interest with us, which may materially and adversely affect our business.

The shareholders of Beijing Momo, our consolidated affiliated entity, include Messrs. Yan Tang, Yong Li, Xiaoliang Lei and Zhiwei Li, who are also our shareholders, directors or officers. Conflicts of interest may arise between the roles of Messrs. Yan Tang, Yong Li, Xiaoliang Lei and Zhiwei Li as shareholders, directors or officers of our company and as shareholders of Beijing Momo. We rely on these individuals to abide by the laws of the Cayman Islands, which provide that directors and officers owe a fiduciary duty to our company to act in good faith and in the best interest of our company and not to use their positions for personal gain. The shareholders of Beijing Momo have executed powers of attorney to appoint Beijing Momo IT, our PRC subsidiary, or a person designated by Beijing Momo IT to vote on their behalf and exercise voting rights as shareholders of Beijing Momo. We cannot assure you that when conflicts arise, shareholders of Beijing Momo will act in the best interest of our company or that conflicts will be resolved in our favor. If we cannot resolve any conflicts of interest or disputes between us and these shareholders, we would have to rely on legal proceedings, which may be expensive, time-consuming and disruptive to our operations. There is also substantial uncertainty as to the outcome of any such legal proceedings.

We may rely on dividends paid by our PRC subsidiary to fund cash and financing requirements. Any limitation on the ability of our PRC subsidiary to pay dividends to us could have a material adverse effect on our ability to conduct our business and to pay dividends to holders of the ADSs and our ordinary shares.

We are a holding company, and we may rely on dividends to be paid by our PRC subsidiary for our cash and financing requirements, including the funds necessary to pay dividends and other cash distributions to the holders of the ADSs and our ordinary shares and service any debt we may incur. If our PRC subsidiary 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, a wholly foreign-owned enterprises in the PRC, such as Beijing Momo IT, may pay dividends only out of its accumulated 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 board of director of the wholly foreign-owned enterprise, it may allocate a portion of its after-tax profits based on PRC accounting standards to staff welfare and bonus funds. These reserve funds and staff welfare and bonus funds are not distributable as cash dividends. Any limitation on the ability of our wholly-owned PRC subsidiary to pay dividends or make other distributions to us could materially and adversely limit our ability to grow, make investments or acquisitions that could be beneficial to our business, pay dividends, or otherwise fund and conduct our business.

Substantial uncertainties exist with respect to the enactment timetable, interpretation and implementation of draft PRC Foreign Investment Law and how it may impact the viability of our current corporate structure, corporate governance and business operations.

The Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, or MOFCOM, published a discussion draft of the proposed Foreign Investment Law in January 2015 aiming to, upon its enactment, replace the trio of existing laws regulating foreign investment in China, namely,the Sino-foreign Equity Joint Venture Enterprise Law, the Sino-foreign Cooperative Joint Venture Enterprise Law and the Wholly Foreign-invested Enterprise Law,, together with their implementation rules and ancillary regulations. The draft Foreign Investment Law embodies an expected PRC regulatory trend to rationalize its foreign investment regulatory regime in line with prevailing international practice and the legislative efforts to unify the corporate legal requirements for both foreign and domestic investments. While the Ministry of Commerce solicited comments on this draft earlier this year, substantial uncertainties exist with respect to its enactment timetable, interpretation and implementation. The draft Foreign Investment Law, if enacted as proposed, may materially impact the viability of our current corporate structure, corporate governance and business operations in many aspects.

Among other things, the draft Foreign Investment Law expands the definition of foreign investment and introduces the principle of “actual control” in determining whether a company is considered a foreign-invested enterprise, or an FIE. The draft Foreign Investment Law specifically provides that entities established in China but “controlled” by foreign investors will be treated as FIEs, whereas an entity set up in a foreign jurisdiction would nonetheless be, upon market entry clearance by the MOFCOM, treated as a PRC domestic investor provided that the entity is “controlled” by PRC entities and/or citizens. In this connection, “control” is broadly defined in the draft law to cover the following summarized categories: (i) holding 50% of more of the voting rights of the subject entity; (ii) holding less than 50% of the voting rights of the subject entity but having the power to secure at least 50% of the seats on the board or other equivalent decision making bodies, or having the voting power to exert material influence on the board, the shareholders’ meeting or other equivalent decision making bodies; or (iii) having the power to exert decisive influence, via contractual or trust arrangements, over the subject entity’s operations, financial matters or other key aspects of business operations. Once an entity is determined to be an FIE, it will be subject to the foreign investment restrictions or prohibitions set forth in a “negative list,” to be separately issued by the State Council later, if the FIE is engaged in the industry listed in the negative list. Unless the underlying business of the FIE falls within the negative list, which calls for market entry clearance by the MOFCOM, prior approval from the government authorities as mandated by the existing foreign investment legal regime would no longer be required for establishment of the FIE.

The “variable interest entity” structure, or VIE structure, has been adopted by many PRC-based companies, including us, to obtain necessary licenses and permits in the industries that are currently subject to foreign investment restrictions in China. See “—If the PRC government finds that the agreements that establish the structure for operating our businesses in China do not comply with PRC regulations on foreign investment in internet and other related businesses, or if these regulations or their interpretation change in the future, we could be subject to severe penalties or be forced to relinquish our interests in those operations” and “Information on the Company—C. Organizational Structure—Contractual Arrangements with Beijing Momo.Momo.” Under the draft Foreign Investment Law, variable interest entities, or consolidated affiliated entities, that are controlled via contractual arrangement would also be deemed as FIEs, if they are ultimately “controlled” by foreign investors. Therefore, for any companies with a VIE structure in an industry category that is on the “negative list,” the VIE structure may be deemed legitimate only if the ultimate controlling person(s) is/are of PRC nationality (either PRC companies or PRC citizens). Conversely, if the actual controlling person(s) is/are of foreign nationalities, then the variable interest entities will be treated as FIEs and any operation in the industry category on the “negative list” without market entry clearance may be considered as illegal.

Through our dual-class share structure, our co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer, Mr. Yan Tang, a PRC citizen, possessed and controlled 77.7%77.2% of the voting power of our company as of March 31, 2015.2016. However, the draft Foreign Investment Law has not taken a position on what actions shall be taken with respect to the existing companies with a VIE structure, whether or not these companies are controlled by Chinese parties, although a few possible options were proposed at the comment solicitation stage. Moreover, it is uncertain whether the mobile internet industry, in which our variable interest entities operate, will be subject to the foreign investment restrictions or prohibitions set forth in the “negative list” to be issued. If the enacted version of the Foreign Investment Law and the final “negative list” mandate further actions, such as MOFCOM market entry clearance, to be completed by companies with existing VIE structure like us, we face uncertainties as to whether such clearance can be timely obtained, or at all.

Risks Related to Doing Business in China

Uncertainties in the interpretation and enforcement of PRC laws and regulations could limit the legal protections available to you and us.

The PRC legal system is based on written statutes and court decisions have limited precedential value. The PRC legal system evolves rapidly, and the interpretations of many laws, regulations and rules may contain inconsistencies and enforcement of these laws, regulations and rules involves uncertainties.

From time to time, we may have to resort to administrative and court proceedings to enforce our legal rights. However, since PRC judicial and administrative authorities have significant discretion in interpreting and implementing statutory and contractual terms, it may be more difficult to predict the outcome of a judicial or administrative proceeding than in more developed legal systems. Furthermore, the PRC legal system is based, in part, on government policies and internal rules, some of which are not published in a timely manner, or at all, but which may have retroactive effect. As a result, we may not always be aware of any potential violation of these policies and rules. 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.

Regulation and censorship of information disseminated over the mobile and internet in China may adversely affect our business and subject us to liability for content posted on our platform.

Internet companies in China are subject to a variety of existing and new rules, regulations, policies, and license and permit requirements. In connection with enforcing these rules, regulations, policies and requirements, relevant government authorities may suspend services by, or revoke licenses of, any internet or mobile content service provider that is deemed to provide illicit content online or on mobile devices, and such activities may be intensified in connection with any ongoing government campaigns to eliminate prohibited content online. For example, in April 2014, the Office of the Anti-Pornography and Illegal Publications Working Group, the State Internet Information Office, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Public Security jointly launched an “Anti-Pornography and Illegal Publications—Clean Up the Internet 2014” campaign. Based on publicly available information, the campaign aims to eliminate pornographic information and content in the internet information services industry by, among other things, holding liable individuals and corporate entities that facilitate the distribution of pornographic information and content. During the campaign, the Office of the Anti-Pornography and Illegal Publications Working Group sanctioned six companies, five of which are publicly traded, due to the presence of pornographic content on their respective websites or platforms. The sanctions included public criticisms, fines ranging from RMB50,000 (US$8,116) to RMB5.1 million (US$0.8 million), and the revocation of online publishing and online video licenses. Further, in the case of one privately held company alleged to have directly profited from distributing pornographic and pirated videos via its streaming video player, its chief executive officer was arrested and has been transferred to the prosecuting authorities for further action.

We endeavor to eliminate illicit content from our platform. We have made substantial investments in resources to monitor content that users post on our platform and the way in which our users engage with each other through our platform. Since our inception, we have terminated over 1236 million user accounts because we viewed content generated by those users to be indecent and in 20142015 we terminated approximately 13.6%20% of new user accounts in order to eliminate spam, fictitious accounts and indecent content from our platform. We use a variety of methods to ensure our platform remains a healthy and positive experience for our users, including a designated content management team, licensed third partythird-party software, our own data analytics software, and our user tiering system. Although we employ these methods to filter our users and content posted by our users, we cannot be sure that our internal content control efforts will be sufficient to remove all content that may be viewed as indecent or otherwise non-compliant with PRC law and regulations. Government standards and interpretations as to what constitutes illicit online content or behavior are subject to interpretation and may change. Although we have not received any government sanctions in connection with content posted on our platform, government standards and interpretations may change in a manner that could render our current monitoring efforts insufficient. The Chinese government has wide discretion in regulating online activities and, irrespective of our efforts to control the content on our platform, government campaigns and other actions to reduce illicit content and activities could subject us to negative press or regulatory challenges and sanctions, including fines, the suspension or revocation of our licenses to operate in China or a ban of our platform, including closure of one or more parts of or our entire business. Further, our senior management could be held criminally liable if we are deemed to be profiting from illicit content on our platform. Although our business and operations have not been materially adversely affected by government campaigns or any other regulatory actions in the past, we cannot assure you that our business and operations will be immune from government actions or sanctions in the future. If government actions or sanctions are brought against us, or if there are widespread rumors that government actions or sanctions have been brought against us, our reputation could be harmed, we may lose users, customers or platform partners, our revenues and results of operation may be materially and adversely affected and the price of our ADSs could be dramatically reduced.

Content posted or displayed on our social networking platform, including the live music and entertainment shows hosted by us or our users, may be found objectionable by PRC regulatory authorities and may subject us to penalties and other severe consequences.

The PRC government has adopted regulations governing internet and wireless access and the distribution of information over the internet and wireless telecommunication networks. Under these regulations, internet content providers and internet publishers are prohibited from posting or displaying over the internet or wireless networks content that, among other things, violates PRC laws and regulations, impairs the national dignity of China or the public interest, or is obscene, superstitious, fraudulent or defamatory. Furthermore, internet content providers are also prohibited from displaying content that may be deemed by relevant government authorities as “socially destabilizing” or leaking “state secrets” of the PRC. Failure to comply with these requirements may result in the revocation of licenses to provide internet content or other licenses, the closure of the concerned platforms and reputational harm. The operator may also be held liable for any censored information displayed on or linked to their platform. For a detailed discussion, see “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Regulation.”

Since our inception, weWe have designed and implemented procedures to monitor the content on our social networking platform, including the live music and entertainment shows hosted by us or our users, in order to comply with relevant laws and regulations. However, it may not be possible to determine in all cases the types of content that could result in our liability as a distributor of such content and, if any of the content posted or displayed on our social networking platform is deemed by the PRC government to violate any content restrictions, we would not be able to continue to display such content and could become subject to penalties, including confiscation of income, fines, suspension of business and revocation of required licenses, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may also be subject to potential liability for any unlawful actions by our users on our platform. It may be difficult to determine the type of content or actions that may result in liability to us and, if we are found to be liable, we may be prevented from operating our business in China. Moreover, the costs of compliance with these regulations may continue to increase as a result of more content being made available by an increasing number of users of our social networking platform, which may adversely affect our results of operations. Although we have adopted internal procedures to monitor content and to remove offending content once we become aware of any potential or alleged violation, we may not be able to identify all the content that may violate relevant laws and regulations or third-party intellectual property rights. Even if we manage to identify and remove offensive content, we may still be held liable.

If we fail to obtain and maintain the requisite licenses and approvals required under the complex regulatory environment applicable to our businesses in China, or if we are required to take compliance actions that are time-consuming or costly, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

The internet and mobile industries in China are highly regulated. Beijing Momo and its subsidiarysubsidiaries are required to obtain and maintain applicable licenses and approvals from different regulatory authorities in order to provide their current services. Under the current PRC regulatory scheme, a number of regulatory agencies, including but not limited to the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, or SARFT, the Ministry of Culture, or MOC, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, or MIIT, and the State Council Information Office, or SCIO, jointly regulate all major aspects of the internet industry, including the mobile internet and mobile games businesses. Operators must obtain various government approvals and licenses for relevant mobile business.

We have obtained the ICP licenses for provision of internet information services and internet culture operation licenses for operation of online games. These licenses are essential to the operation of our business and are generally subject to regular government review or renewal. However, we cannot assure you that we can successfully renew these licenses in a timely manner or that these licenses are sufficient to conduct all of our present or future business.

We are also required to obtain an internet publishing license from SARFT in order to publish online games through the mobile networks. As of the date of this annual report, we have yet to obtain an internet publishing license, and are in the process of preparing the application documents. Each mobile game is also required to be approved by SARFT prior to the commencement of its operations in China. As of the date of this annual report, we have obtained an approvalapprovals from the SARFT for one game,five games, and we are still in the process of applying with the SARFT for the approvals of the remaining games. In the event of any failure to meet the above-mentioned requirements, we may no longer be able to offer games on our platform, which would have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. All domestic online games must be filed with the MOC within 30 days after operation, and all imported online games must be approved by the MOC. As of March 31, 2015, three2016, 14 of the 2031 online games we offered had completed the filing with the MOC. If we fail to complete, obtain or maintain any of the required licenses or approvals or make the necessary filings, we may be subject to various penalties, such as confiscation of the net revenues that were generated through online games, the imposition of fines and the discontinuation or restriction of our operations of online games.

Considerable uncertainties exist regarding the interpretation and implementation of existing and future laws and regulations governing our business activities. Although we do not believe our video sharing function in the user groups requires an internet audio/video program transmission license because such function does not constitute an internet audio/video program service under the Internet Audio/Video Program Services Categories (Provisional), or the Provisional Categories, issued by SARFT, in March 2015, we were warned and penalized with a fine of RMB30,000 (US$4,800) by the Beijing Administrative Enforcement General Team on Culture Market for failing to obtain an internet audio/video program transmission license for certain video (containing forbidden contents) sharing activities conducted by our users in certain groups. In addition, certain users circulated comics containing forbidden contents in certain user groups, as a result of which we were penalized with a fine of RMB30,000 (US$4,800) in March 2015 by the Beijing Administrative Enforcement General Team on Culture Market for unauthorized operation of comic and animation products. Accordingly, we will apply for an internet audio/video program transmission license, and will applywe have received the approval to expand the scope of our internet culture operation license to cover the operation of comic and animation products. We cannot assure you that we will not be found in violation of any future laws and regulations or any of the laws and regulations currently in effect due to changes in the relevant authorities’ interpretation of these laws and regulations. If we fail to complete, obtain or maintain any of the required licenses or approvals or make the necessary filings, we may be subject to various penalties, such as confiscation of the net revenues that were generated through the unlicensed internet or mobile activities, the imposition of fines and the discontinuation or restriction of our operations. Any such penalties may disrupt our business operations and materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Adverse changes in economic and political policies of the PRC government could have a material and adverse effect on overall economic growth in China, which could materially and adversely affect our business.

Our revenues are substantially generated in China. Accordingly, our results of operations, financial condition and prospects are influenced by economic, political and legal developments in China. Economic reforms begun in the late 1970s have resulted in significant economic growth. However, any economic reform policies or measures in China may from time to time be modified or revised. 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. While the PRC economy has experienced significant growth in the past 30 years, growth has been uneven across different regions and between economic sectors. 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. Although the Chinese economy has grown significantly in the past decade, that growth may not continue, as evidenced by the slowing of the growth of the Chinese economy since 2012. Any adverse changes in economic conditions in China, in the policies of the Chinese government or in the laws and regulations in China could have a material adverse effect on the overall economic growth of China. Such developments could adversely affect our business and operating results, lead to reduction in demand for our services and adversely affect our competitive position.

Under the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law, we may be classified as a PRC “resident enterprise,” 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 PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law, or the EIT Law, which became effective on January 1, 2008, an enterprise established outside the PRC with “de facto management bodies” within the PRC is considered a “resident enterprise” for PRC enterprise income tax purposes and is generally subject to a uniform 25% enterprise income tax rate on its worldwide income. In 2009, the State Administration of Taxation, or the SAT, issued the Notice Regarding the Determination of Chinese-Controlled Overseas Incorporated Enterprises as PRC Tax Resident Enterprise on the Basis of De Facto Management Bodies, or SAT Circular 82, which provides certain specific criteria for determining whether the “de facto management body” of a PRC-controlled enterprise that is incorporated offshore is located in China. Further to SAT Circular 82, on July 27, 2011, the 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; the bulletin became effective on September 1, 2011. SAT Bulletin 45 clarified certain issues in the areas of resident status determination, post-determination administration and competent tax authorities’ procedures.

According to SAT Circular 82, an offshore incorporated enterprise controlled by a PRC enterprise or a PRC enterprise group will be considered as a PRC tax resident enterprise by virtue of having its “de facto management body” in China and will be subject to PRC enterprise income tax on its worldwide income only if all of the following conditions are met: (a) the senior management and core management departments in charge of its daily operations function have their presence mainly in the PRC; (b) its financial and human resources decisions are subject to determination or approval by persons or bodies in the PRC; (c) its major assets, accounting books, company seals, and minutes and files of its board and shareholders’ meetings are located or kept in the PRC; and (d) more than half of the enterprise’s directors or senior management with voting rights habitually reside in the PRC. SAT Bulletin 45 specifies that when provided with a copy of Chinese tax resident determination 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.among others, to the Chinese controlled offshore incorporated enterprise.

Although SAT Circular 82 and SAT Bulletin 45 only apply to offshore incorporated enterprises controlled by PRC enterprises or PRC enterprise groups and not those controlled by PRC individuals or foreigners, the determination criteria set forth therein may reflect the SAT’s general position on how the term “de facto management body” could be applied in determining the tax resident status of offshore enterprises, regardless of whether they are controlled by PRC enterprises, individuals or foreigners.

If the PRC tax authorities determine that we or any of our non-PRC subsidiaries is a PRC resident enterprise for PRC enterprise income tax purposes, then we or any such non-PRC subsidiary could be subject to PRC tax at a rate of 25% on its world-wide income, which could materially reduce our net income. In addition, we will also be subject to PRC enterprise income tax reporting obligations.

If the PRC tax authorities determine that our company is a PRC resident enterprise for PRC enterprise income tax purposes, gains realized on the sale or other disposition of ADSs or ordinary shares may be subject to PRC tax, at a rate of 10% in the case of non-PRC enterprises or 20% in the case of non-PRC individuals (in each case, subject to the provisions of any applicable tax treaty), if such gains are deemed to be from PRC sources. Any such tax may reduce the returns on your investment in the ADSs.

We face uncertainty with respect to indirect transfer of equity interests in PRC resident enterprises by their non-PRC holding companies.

We face uncertainties regarding the reporting on and consequences of previous private equity financing transactions involving the transfer and exchange of shares in our company by non-resident investors. According to the Notice on Strengthening Administration of Enterprise Income Tax for Share Transfers by Non-PRC Resident Enterprises issued by the PRC State Administration of Taxation on December 10, 2009, with retroactive effect from January 1, 2008, or SAT Circular 698, where a non-resident enterprise transfers the equity interests in a PRC resident enterprise indirectly through a disposition of equity interests in an overseas holding company (other than a purchase and sale of shares issued by a PRC resident enterprise in public securities market), or an Indirect Transfer, and such overseas holding company is located in a tax jurisdiction that: (a) has an effective tax rate less than 12.5% or (b) does not tax foreign income of its residents, the non-resident enterprise, as the seller, shall report such Indirect Transfer to the competent tax authority of the PRC resident enterprise within 30 days of execution of the equity transfer agreement for such Indirect Transfer. The PRC tax authority will examine the true nature of the Indirect Transfer, and if the tax authority considers that the foreign investor has adopted an abusive arrangement without reasonable commercial purposes and for the purpose of avoiding or reducing PRC tax, they will disregard the existence of the overseas holding company that is used for tax planning purposes and re-characterize the Indirect Transfer. As a result, gains derived from such Indirect Transfer may be subject to PRC withholding tax at the rate of up to 10%. SAT Circular 698 also points out that when a non-resident enterprise transfers its equity interests in a PRC resident enterprise to its related parties at a price lower than the fair market value, the competent tax authorities have the power to make a reasonable adjustment on the taxable income of the transaction.

On February 3, 2015, the SAT issued a Public Notice [2015] No. 7, or Public Notice 7, to supersede existing provisions in relation to the Indirect Transfer as set forth in Circular 698, while the other provisions of Circular 698 remain in force. Public Notice 7 introduces a new tax regime that is significantly different from that under Circular 698. Public Notice extends its tax jurisdiction to capture not only Indirect Transfer as set forth under Circular 698 but also transactions involving transfer of immovable property in China and assets held under the establishment and place in China of a foreign company through the offshore transfer of a foreign intermediate holding company. Public Notice 7 also addresses the transfer of the equity interest in a foreign intermediate holding company widely. In addition, Public Notice 7 provides clearer criteria than Circular 698 on how to assess reasonable commercial purposes and introduces safe harbour scenarios applicable to internal group restructurings. However, it also brings challenges to both the foreign transferor and transferee of the Indirect Transfer as they have to make self-assessment on whether the transaction should be subject to PRC tax and to file or withhold the PRC tax accordingly.

There are few guidances and practical experience as to the application of Circular 698 and Public Notice 7. Where non-resident investors were involved in our private equity financing, if such transactions were determined by the tax authorities to lack reasonable commercial purpose, we and our non-resident investors may become at risk of being taxed under Circular 698 and Public Notice 7 and may be required to expend valuable resources to comply with Circular 698 and Public Notice 7 or to establish that we should not be taxed under Circular 698 and Public Notice 7, which may have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations or the non-resident investors’ investments in us.

The PRC tax authorities have the discretion under SAT Circular 59, Circular 698 and Public Notice 7 to make adjustments to the taxable capital gains based on the difference between the fair value of the equity interests transferred and the cost of investment. We may pursue acquisitions in the future that may involve complex corporate structures. If we are considered a non-resident enterprise under the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law and if the PRC tax authorities make adjustments to the taxable income of the transactions under SAT Circular 59, Circular 698 and Public Notice 7, our income tax costs associated with such potential acquisitions will be increased, which may have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

China’s M&A Rules and certain other PRC regulations establish complex procedures for some acquisitions of Chinese companies by foreign investors, which could make it more difficult for us to pursue growth through acquisitions in China.

The Regulations on Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, or the M&A Rules, and other recently adopted regulations and rules concerning mergers and acquisitions established additional procedures and requirements that could make merger and acquisition activities by foreign investors more time consuming and complex. For example, the M&A Rules require that MOFCOM be notified in advance of any change-of-control transaction in which a foreign investor takes control of a PRC domestic enterprise, if (i) any important industry is concerned, (ii) such transaction involves factors that impact or may impact national economic security, or (iii) such transaction will lead to a change in control of a domestic enterprise which holds a famous trademark or PRC time-honored brand. Moreover, the Anti-Monopoly Law promulgated by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on August 30, 2007 and effective as of August 1, 2008 requires that transactions which are deemed concentrations and involve parties with specified turnover thresholds (i.e., during the previous fiscal year, (i) the total global turnover of all operators participating in the transaction exceeds RMB10 billion and at least two of these operators each had a turnover of more than RMB400 million within China, or (ii) the total turnover within China of all the operators participating in the concentration exceeded RMB2 billion, and at least two of these operators each had a turnover of more than RMB400 million within China) must be cleared by MOFCOM before they can be completed. In addition, on February 3, 2011, the General Office of the State Council promulgated a Notice on Establishing the Security Review System for Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, or the Circular 6, which officially established a security review system for mergers and acquisitions of domestic enterprises by foreign investors. Further, on August 25, 2011, MOFCOM promulgated the Regulations on Implementation of Security Review System for the Merger and Acquisition of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, or the MOFCOM Security Review Regulations, which became effective on September 1, 2011, to implement the Circular 6. Under Circular 6, a security review is required for mergers and acquisitions by foreign investors having “national defense and security” concerns and mergers and acquisitions by which foreign investors may acquire the “de facto control” of domestic enterprises with “national security” concerns. Under the MOFCOM Security Review Regulations, MOFCOM will focus on the substance and actual impact of the transaction when deciding whether a specific merger or acquisition is subject to security review. If MOFCOM decides that a specific merger or acquisition is subject to security review, it will submit it to the Inter-Ministerial Panel, an authority established under the Circular 6 led by the National Development and Reform Commission, or NDRC, and MOFCOM under the leadership of the State Council, to carry out security review. The regulations prohibit foreign investors from bypassing the security review by structuring transactions through trusts, indirect investments, leases, loans, control through contractual arrangements or offshore transactions. There is no explicit provision or official interpretation stating that the merging or acquisition of a company engaged in the mobile games business requires security review, and there is no requirement that acquisitions completed prior to the promulgation of the Security Review Circular are subject to MOFCOM review.

In the future, 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 MOFCOM 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, MOFCOM 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 the PRC, including those by way of entering into contractual control arrangements with target entities, may be closely scrutinized or prohibited.

PRC regulations relating to offshore investment activities by PRC residents may limit our PRC subsidiary’s ability to increase theirits registered capital or distribute profits to us or otherwise expose us to liability and penalties under PRC law.

The SAFE promulgated the Circular on Relevant Issues Relating to Domestic Resident’s Investment and Financing and Roundtrip Investment through Special Purpose Vehicles, or SAFE Circular 37, in July 2014 that requires PRC residents or entities to register with SAFE or its local branch in connection with their establishment or control of an offshore entity established for the purpose of overseas investment or financing. In addition, such PRC residents or entities must update their SAFE registrations when the offshore special purpose vehicle undergoes material events relating to any change of basic information (including change of such PRC citizens or residents, name and operation term), increases or decreases in investment amount, transfers or exchanges of shares, or mergers or divisions. SAFE Circular 37 is issued to replace the Notice on Relevant Issues Concerning Foreign Exchange Administration for PRC Residents Engaging in Financing and Roundtrip Investments via Overseas Special Purpose Vehicles, or SAFE Circular 75.

If our shareholders who are PRC residents or entities do not complete their registration with the local SAFE branches, our PRC subsidiary may be prohibited from distributing theirits profits and proceeds from any reduction in capital, share transfer or liquidation to us, and we may be restricted in our ability to contribute additional capital to our PRC subsidiary. Moreover, failure to comply with the SAFE registration described above could result in liability under PRC laws for evasion of applicable foreign exchange restrictions.

To our knowledge, Messrs. Yan Tang, Yong Li, Xiaoliang Lei and Zhiwei Li have completed SAFE registration in connection with our financings and share transfer.

However, we cannot compel all of our beneficial owners to comply with SAFE registration requirements. As a result, we cannot assure you that all of our shareholders or beneficial owners who are PRC residents or entities have complied with, and will in the future make or obtain any applicable registrations or approvals required by, SAFE regulations. Failure by such shareholders or beneficial owners to comply with SAFE regulations, or failure by us to amend the foreign exchange registrations of our PRC subsidiary, could subject us to fines or legal sanctions, restrict our overseas or cross-border investment activities, limit our subsidiaries’ ability to make distributions or pay dividends or affect our ownership structure, which could adversely affect our business and prospects.

Failure to comply with PRC regulations regarding the registration requirements for employee stock ownership plans or share option plans may subject the PRC plan participants or us to fines and other legal or administrative sanctions.

In February 2012, SAFE promulgated the Notices on Issues Concerning the Foreign Exchange Administration for Domestic Individuals Participating in Stock Incentive Plans of Overseas Publicly-Listed Companies, or Circular 7, which replaced the Application Procedures of Foreign Exchange Administration for Domestic Individuals Participating in Employee Stock Ownership Plans or Stock Option Plans of Overseas Publicly-Listed Companies issued by SAFE on March 28, 2007. Under the Circular 7 and other relevant rules and regulations, PRC residents who participate in stock incentive plan in an overseas publicly-listed company are required to register with SAFE or its local branches and complete certain other procedures. Participants of a stock incentive plan who are PRC residents must retain a qualified PRC agent, which could be a PRC subsidiary of such overseas publicly listed company or another qualified institution selected by such PRC subsidiary, to conduct the SAFE registration and other procedures with respect to the stock incentive plan on behalf of its participants. Such participants must also retain an overseas entrusted institution to handle matters in connection with their exercise of stock options, the purchase and sale of corresponding stocks or interests and fund transfers. In addition, the PRC agent is required to amend the SAFE registration with respect to the stock incentive plan if there is any material change to the stock incentive plan, the PRC agent or the overseas entrusted institution or other material changes. We and our PRC employees who have been granted stock options are subject to these regulations. We are in the process of filing registration with the local SAFE bureau for our employees who are PRC residents and have been granted shares or share options under our 2012 Plan and 2014 Plan and we will follow other procedures set forth in the Circular 7 and other applicable regulations. Failure of our PRC stock option holders to complete their SAFE registrations may subject these PRC residents to fines and legal sanctions and may also limit our ability to contribute additional capital into our PRC subsidiary, limit our PRC subsidiary’s ability to distribute dividends to us, or otherwise materially adversely affect our business.

PRC regulation of loans to, and direct investment in, PRC entities by offshore holding companies and governmental control of currency conversion may restrict or prevent us from using offshore funds to make loans to our PRC subsidiary and consolidated affiliated entity and its subsidiaries, or to make additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiary.

We are an offshore holding company conducting our operations in China through our PRC subsidiary and consolidated affiliated entity and its subsidiaries. We may make loans to our PRC subsidiary and consolidated affiliated entity and its subsidiaries, or we may make additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiary, or we may establish new PRC subsidiaries and make capital contributions to these new PRC subsidiaries, or we may acquire offshore entities with business operations in China in an offshore transaction.

Most of these ways are subject to PRC regulations and approvals. For example, loans by us to our wholly owned PRC subsidiary to finance their activities cannot exceed statutory limits and must be registered with the local counterpart of SAFE. If we decide to finance our wholly owned PRC subsidiaries by means of capital contributions, these capital contributions must be approved by the MOFCOM or its local counterpart. Due to the restrictions imposed on loans in foreign currencies extended to any PRC domestic companies, we are not likely to make such loans to Beijing Momo, which is PRC domestic company. Further, we are not likely to finance the activities of Beijing Momo by means of capital contributions due to regulatory restrictions relating to foreign investment in PRC domestic enterprises engaged in mobile internet services, online games and related businesses.

On August 29, 2008, SAFE promulgated the Circular on the Relevant Operating Issues Concerning the Improvement of the Administration of the Payment and Settlement of Foreign Currency Capital of Foreign-Invested Enterprises, or SAFE Circular 142, regulating the conversion by a foreign-invested enterprise of foreign currency registered capital into Renminbi by restricting how the converted Renminbi may be used. SAFE Circular 142 provides that Renminbi capital converted from foreign currency registered capital of a foreign-invested enterprise may only be used for purposes within the business scope approved by the applicable governmental authority and may not be used for equity investments within the PRC. In addition, SAFE strengthened its oversight of the flow and use of the Renminbi capital converted from the foreign currency registered capital of a foreign-invested company. The use of such Renminbi capital may not be altered without SAFE approval, and such Renminbi capital may not in any case be used to repay Renminbi loans if the proceeds of such loans have not been used. Violations of SAFE Circular 142 could result in severe monetary or other penalties. Furthermore, SAFE promulgated a circular on November 9, 2010, known as Circular 59, which tightens the examination of the authenticity of settlement of net proceeds from overseas offerings. SAFE further promulgated the Circular on Further Clarification and Regulation of the Issues Concerning the Administration of Certain Capital Account Foreign Exchange Businesses, or Circular 45, on November 9, 2011, which expressly prohibits foreign-invested enterprises from using registered capital settled in Renminbi converted from foreign currencies to grant loans through entrustment arrangements with a bank, repay inter-company loans or repay bank loans that have been transferred to a third party. Circular 142, Circular 59 and Circular 45 may significantly limit our ability to transfer the net proceeds from our overseas offerings, including our initial public offering consummated in December 2014, to our PRC subsidiary and to convert such proceeds into Renminbi, which may adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business in the PRC.

On April 8, 2015, SAFE promulgated the Circular on Reforming the Management Approach Regarding the Foreign Exchange Capital Settlement of Foreign-invested Enterprises, or SAFE Circular 19, which will, upon its effective date as of June 1, 2015, supersedes the SAFE Circular 142. Circular 19 provides that, among other things, the foreign-invested company may convert the foreign currency in its capital account into RMB on a “at will” basis and the RMB funds so converted can be used for equity investments. However, the RMB funds so converted shall not be used for the purposes of, whether directly or indirectly, (i) paying expenditures out of the ordinary course of business; (ii) investing in securities; (iii) extending entrusted loans or paying off loans extended or assumed by other companies; (iv) purchasing real estate properties not for self-use except when the foreign invested company is a company approved to engaging in real estate development business.

Fluctuation in the value of the RMB may have a material adverse effect on the value of your investment.

The value of the RMB against the U.S. dollar and other currencies is affected by changes in China’s political and economic conditions and China’s foreign exchange policies, among other things. In July 2005, the PRC government changed its decades-old policy of pegging the value of the RMB to the U.S. dollar, and the RMB 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 the RMB and the U.S. dollar remained within a narrow band. AfterSince June 2010, the RMB began to appreciatehas fluctuated against the U.S. dollar, again, although there have been some periods when it has lost value against the U.S. dollar, as it did for example during 2014.at times significantly and unpredictably. It is difficult to predict how market forces or PRC or U.S. government policy may impact the exchange rate between the RMB and the U.S. dollar in the future.

Our revenues and costs are mostly denominated in RMB, whereas our reporting currency is the U.S. dollar. Any significant depreciation of the RMB may materially and adversely affect our revenues, earnings and financial position as reported in U.S. dollars. To the extent that we need to convert U.S. dollars we received from our initial public offering into RMB for our operations, appreciation of the RMB against the U.S. dollar would have an adverse effect on the RMB amount we would receive from the conversion. Conversely, if we decide to convert our RMB into U.S. dollars for the purpose of making payments for dividends on our ordinary shares or ADSs or for other business purposes, appreciation of the U.S. dollar against the RMB would have a negative effect on the U.S. dollar amount available to us.

Our leased property interests may be defective and our right to lease the properties affected by such defects may be challenged, which could cause significant disruption to our business.

Under PRC laws, all lease agreements are required to be registered with the local housing authorities. We presently lease five premises in China, and the landlords of these premises have not completed the registration of their ownership rights or the registration of our leases with the relevant authorities. Failure to complete these required registrations may expose our landlords, lessors and us to potential monetary fines. If these registrations are not obtained in a timely manner or at all, we may be subject to monetary fines or may have to relocate our offices and incur the associated losses.

The audit report included in this annual report is prepared by an auditor who is not inspected by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and, as such, you are deprived of the benefits of such inspection.

Our independent registered public accounting firm that issues the audit reports included in this annual report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, as auditors of companies that are traded publicly in the United States and a firm registered with the US Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), or the PCAOB, is required by the laws of the United States to undergo regular inspections by the PCAOB to assess its compliance with the laws of the United States and professional standards. Because our auditors are located in the Peoples’ Republic of China, a jurisdiction where the PCAOB is currently unable to conduct inspections without the approval of the Chinese authorities, our auditors are not currently inspected by the PCAOB.

Inspections of other firms that the PCAOB has conducted outside China have identified deficiencies in those firms’ audit procedures and quality control procedures, which may be addressed as part of the inspection process to improve future audit quality. This lack of PCAOB inspections in China prevents the PCAOB from regularly evaluating our auditor’s audits and its quality control procedures. As a result, investors may be deprived of the benefits of PCAOB inspections.

The inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections of auditors in China makes it more difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of our auditor’s audit procedures or quality control procedures as compared to auditors outside of China that are subject to PCAOB inspections. Investors may lose confidence in our reported financial information and procedures and the quality of our financial statements.

If additional remedial measures are imposed on the Big Four PRC-based 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 Securities Exchange Act of 1934.Act.

Starting in 2011, the Chinese affiliates of the “big four” accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm, were affected by a conflict between US and Chinese law. Specifically, for certain U.S. listed companies operating and audited in mainland 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 China law they could not respond directly to the US regulators on those requests, and that requests by foreign regulators for access to such papers in China had to be channeled through the China Securities Regulatory Commission, or 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 noncompliance 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.

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 the PRC, which could result in financial statements being determined to not be in compliance with the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or 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, United States-listed companies and the market price of our ADSs may be adversely affected.

If our independent registered public accounting firm were 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 not to be in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.Act. Such a determination could ultimately lead to the delisting of our ADSs from the NASDAQ Global Select Market or deregistration from the SEC, or both, which would substantially reduce or effectively terminate the trading of our ADSs in the United States.

Risks Related to Our ADSs

There can be no assurance that the proposed going private transaction will continue to be pursued, approved by our shareholders or successfully consummated. Potential uncertainty involving the proposed going private transaction may adversely affect our business and the market price of our ADSs.

Our board of directors received a preliminary non-binding proposal letter dated June 23, 2015 from Yan Tang, our chairman and chief executive officer, Matrix Partners China II Hong Kong Limited, Sequoia Capital China Investment Management L.P. and Huatai Ruilian Fund Management Co., Ltd., or collectively the Buyer Group, to acquire all of our outstanding Class A ordinary shares not already owned by the Buyer Group in a going private transaction for US$18.90 per ADS, or US$9.45 per Class A ordinary share, in cash. Our board of directors formed a special committee consisting of two of our independent directors, namely, Dr. Dave Daqing Qi and Mr. Benson Bing Chung Tam, on June 23, 2015 to consider and evaluate the proposal and any other alternative proposals or other strategic alternatives that may be available to our company, and to negotiate the terms of any potential definitive agreement. On April 5, 2016, Alibaba Investment Limited and Rich Moon Limited joined the Buyer Group for the proposed going private transaction. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—A. History and Development of the Company.” As of April 6, 2016, the Buyer Group and their affiliates beneficially owned an aggregate of approximately 72.6% of all of our company’s issued and outstanding shares, which represented approximately 91.6% of the aggregate voting power of our company. There can be no assurance that the going private transaction will continue to be pursued, approved by sufficient affirmative vote or consummated.

The going private transaction, whether or not pursued or consummated, presents a risk of diverting management focus, employee attention and resources from other strategic opportunities and from operational matters. In addition, if we sign any definitive agreement with the Buyer Group, we may be subject to various restrictions under those agreements on the conduct of our business prior to the completion of the transaction, which may delay or prevent us from undertaking business opportunities that may arise pending completion of the transaction. Also, any development of the transaction, such as entering into or termination of any definitive agreement, may increase volatility of the trading price of our ADSs.

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

As of February 28, 2015, the tradingThe price of our ADSs had fluctuated between US$9.7has been and US$17.5 since our ADSs became publicly listed on December 11, 2014. The price of our ADSs is likely to continue to be volatile and could fluctuate widely due to factors beyond our control. This may happen because of broad market and industry factors, like 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. A number of Chinese companies have listed or are in the process of listing their securities on U.S. stock markets. The securities of some of these companies have experienced significant volatility, including price declines in connection with their initial public offerings. The trading performances of these Chinese companies’ securities after their offerings may affect the attitudes of investors toward Chinese companies listed in the United States in general and consequently may impact the trading performance of our ADSs, regardless of our actual operating performance.

In addition to market and industry factors, the price and trading volume for our 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 our ADSs will trade.

In the past, shareholders of public companies have often brought securities class action suits against those 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.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about our business, or if they adversely change their recommendations regarding our ADSs, the market price for our ADSs and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our 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 our ADSs, the market price for our 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 our ADSs to decline.

We currently do not expect to pay dividends in the foreseeable future, and 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 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.dividends subject to our memorandum and articles of association and certain restrictions under 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. 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, among other things, our future results of operations and cash flow, our capital requirements and surplus, the amount of distributions, if any, received by us from our subsidiary, 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 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.

Substantial future sales or the expectation of substantial 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, or the perception that these sales could occur, could cause the market price of our ADSs to decline. AsSuch sales also might make it more difficult for us to sell equity or equity-related securities in the future at a time and price that we deem appropriate. If any existing shareholder or shareholders sell a substantial amount of March 31, 2015,ADSs, the prevailing market price for our ADSs could be adversely affected. In addition, if we had 377,756,110pay for our future acquisitions in whole or in part with additionally issued ordinary shares, outstanding, including 36,800,000 Class A ordinary shares represented by ADSsyour ownership interests in our company would be diluted and 96,886,370 Class B ordinary shares. Allthis, in turn, could have a material and adverse effect on the outstanding ADSs are freely transferable without restriction or additional registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act. The remaining Class A ordinary shares and all the Class B ordinary shares outstanding are available for sale in the form of ADSs upon the expiration of the 180-day lock-up period beginning from the date of the prospectus of our initial public offering, subject to volume and other restrictions as applicable under Rule 144 and Rule 701 under the Securities Act. Any or all of these shares may be released prior to expiration of the lock-up period at the discretion of the underwriters. To the extent shares are released before the expiration of the lock-up period and these shares are sold into the market, the market price of our ADSs could decline.ADSs.

Mr. Yan Tang, our co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer, has considerable influence over important corporate matters. Our dual-class voting structure 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.

Mr. Yan Tang, our co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer, has considerable influence over important corporate matters. We have adopted a dual-class voting structure in which our ordinary shares consists of Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares. Holders of Class A ordinary shares are entitled to one vote per share in respect of matters requiring the votes of shareholders, while holders of Class B ordinary shares are entitled to ten votes per share. 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. Due to the disparate voting powers associated with our two classes of ordinary shares, Mr. Tang beneficially owned a total of 77.7%77.2% of the aggregate voting power of our company as of March 31, 2015,2016, including 77.5%77.1% that was owned through Gallant Future Holdings Limited, a company 100% beneficially owned by Mr. Tang through a family trust. As of March 31, 2015,2016, Gallant Future Holdings Limited held 96,886,370 Class B ordinary shares, which constitutes all of our outstanding Class B ordinary shares.

As a result of his majority voting power, Mr. Tang has considerable influence over matters such as electing directors and approving material mergers, acquisitions or other business combination transactions. This concentrated control will limit your ability to influence corporate matters and could also discourage others from pursuing any potential merger, takeover or other change of control transactions, which could have the effect of depriving the holders of our Class A ordinary shares and our ADSs of the opportunity to sell their shares at a premium over the prevailing market price.

We may be classified as a passive foreign investment company under U.S. tax law, which could result in adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences to U.S. holders of our ADSs or ordinary shares.

Under United States federal income tax law, we will be classified as a PFIC for any taxable year if either (i) 75% or more of our gross income for the taxable year is passive income or (ii) 50% or more of the value of our assets (determined on the basis of a quarterly average) is attributable to assets that produce or are held for the production of passive income (the “asset test”). Although the law in this regard is unclear, we treat Beijing Momo as being owned by us for U.S. federal income tax purposes, not only because we exercise effective control over the operation of this entity but also because we are entitled to substantially all of its economic benefits, and, as a result, we consolidate its results of operations in our consolidated U.S. GAAP financial statements. If it were determined, however, that we are not the owner of Beijing Momo for U.S. federal income tax purposes, we would likely be treated as a PFIC for our currentthe taxable year ended December 31, 2015 and any subsequentwould anticipate being a PFIC for future taxable year.years. Assuming that we are the owner of Beijing Momo for United States federal income tax purposes and based upon our current income and assets and projections as to the value of our ADSs, we do not presently expect to be classified asbelieve that we were a PFIC for the current taxable year orended December 31, 2015 and do not anticipate becoming a PFIC in the foreseeable future.

However, because PFIC status is a factual determination made annually after the close of each taxable year on the basis of the composition of our income and assets, there can be no assurance that we will not be a PFIC for current the taxable year or any future taxable year. Fluctuations in the market price of our ADSs may cause us to become a PFIC for the current or subsequent taxable years because the value of our assets for purposes of the asset test, including the value of our goodwill and unbooked intangibles, may be determined by reference to the market price of our ADSs from time to time (which may be volatile). In estimating the value of our goodwill and other unbooked intangibles, we have taken into account our current market capitalization. If our market capitalization subsequently declines, we may be or become classified as a PFIC for the current taxable year or future taxable years. In addition, the overall level of our passive assets will be affected by how, and how quickly, we spend our liquid assets. Under circumstances where our revenue from activities that produce passive income significantly increase relative to our revenue from activities that produce non-passive income, or where we determine not to deploy significant amounts of cash for active purposes, our risk of becoming classified as a PFIC may substantially increase. Furthermore, because there are uncertainties in the application of the relevant rules, it is possible that the IRS may challenge our classification of certain income or assets as non-passive, or our valuation of our goodwill and other unbooked intangibles, each of which may result in our company becoming classified as a PFIC for the current or subsequent taxable years.

If we were to be or become classified as a PFIC, a U.S. Holder (as defined in “Item 10. Additional Information—E. Taxation—United States Federal Income Tax”Tax Considerations”) will generally be subject to reporting requirements and may incur significantly increased U.S. federal income tax on gain recognized on the sale or other disposition of the ADSs or ordinary shares and on the receipt of distributions on the ADSs or ordinary shares to the extent such gain or distribution is treated as an “excess distribution” under the U.S. federal income tax rules. Further, if we were a PFIC for any year during which a U.S. Holder held our ADSs or ordinary shares, we generally would continue to be treated as a PFIC for all succeeding years during which such U.S. Holder held our ADSs or ordinary shares. You are urged to consult your tax advisor concerning the U.S. federal income tax consequences of holding and disposing of ADSs or ordinary shares if we are or become classified as a PFIC. For more information see “Item 10. Additional Information—E. Taxation—United States Federal Income Tax Considerations—Passive Foreign Investment Company Rules.”

The approval of the China Securities Regulatory Commission may be required in connection with our initial public offering under PRC law.

The M&A Rules, which were adopted in 2006 by six PRC regulatory agencies, including the CSRC, purport to require offshore special purpose vehicles that are controlled by PRC companies or individuals and that have been formed for the purpose of seeking a public listing on an overseas stock exchange through acquisitions of PRC domestic companies or assets to obtain CSRC approval prior to publicly listing their securities on an overseas stock exchange. The interpretation and application of the regulations remain unclear, and our initial public offering consummated in December 2014 may ultimately require approval from the CSRC. If CSRC approval is required, it is uncertain how long it will take us to obtain the approval and any failure to obtain or delay in obtaining CSRC approval for our initial public offering would subject us to sanctions imposed by the CSRC and other PRC regulatory agencies, which could include fines and penalties on our operations in China, restrictions or limitations on our ability to pay dividends outside of China, and other forms of sanctions that may materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our PRC counsel, Han Kun Law Offices, has advised us that, based on its understanding of the current PRC laws and regulations, we are not required to submit an application to the CSRC for the approval of the listing and trading of our ADSs on the NASDAQ Global Select Market because (i) the CSRC currently has not issued any definitive rule or interpretation concerning whether offerings like our initial public offering are subject to this regulation, and (ii) our wholly owned PRC subsidiary was established by foreign direct investment, rather than through a merger or acquisition of a domestic company as defined under the M&A Rules. However, we cannot assure you that relevant PRC government agencies, including the CSRC, would reach the same conclusion as our PRC counsel, and hence we may face regulatory actions or other sanctions from the CSRC or other PRC regulatory agencies. These regulatory agencies may impose fines and penalties on our operations in China, limit our operating privileges in China, delay or restrict the repatriation of the proceeds from our initial public offering into China or take other actions that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects, as well as the trading price of the ADSs. In addition, if the CSRC or other regulatory agencies later promulgate new rules or explanations requiring that we obtain their approvals for our initial public offering, we may be unable to obtain a waiver of such approval requirements, if and when procedures are established to obtain such a waiver. Any uncertainties and/or negative publicity regarding such approval requirement could have a material adverse effect on the trading price of the ADSs.

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

Our currently effective second amended and restated 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 dual-class voting structure gives disproportionate voting power to the Class B ordinary shares held by Gallant Future Holdings Limited, a company 100% beneficially owned by Yan Tang, our co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer. Mr. Tang beneficially owned 77.7%77.2% of the aggregate voting power of our company as of March 31, 2015,2016, including 77.5%77.1% of the aggregate voting power owned through Gallant Future Holdings Limited. In addition, 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 Class A ordinary shares, in the form of ADS or otherwise. 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 our ADSs may fall and the voting and other rights of the holders of our Class A ordinary shares and ADSs may be materially and adversely affected.

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 incorporatedregistered by way of continuation under Cayman Islands law.

We are an exempted company limited by shares registered under the laws of the Cayman Islands. Our corporate affairs are governed by our memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Law (2013 Revision) of the Cayman Islands and the common law of the Cayman Islands. The rights of shareholders to take action against the directors, actions by minority shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities 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 responsibilities of our directors under Cayman Islands law are not as clearly established as they would be under statutes or judicial precedent 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 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 or to obtain copies of lists of shareholders of these companies. Our directors have discretion under our articles of association 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.

Certain corporate governance practices in the Cayman Islands, which is our home country, differ significantly from requirements for companies incorporated in other jurisdictions such as the U.S. Currently, we do not plan to rely on home country practice with respect to any corporate governance matter. However, if we choose to follow home country practice in the future, our shareholders may be afforded less protection than they otherwise would under rules and regulations applicable to U.S. domestic issuers.

As a result of all of the above, public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions taken by management, members of the board of directors or controlling shareholders than they would as public shareholders of a company incorporated in the United States.

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

We are a Cayman Islands company and all of our assets are located outside of the United States. Substantially all of our current operations are conducted in China. In addition, a majority of our current directors and officers are nationals and residents of countries other than the United States. Substantially all of the assets of these persons are located outside the United States. As a result, it may be difficult or impossible for you to effect service of process within the United States upon us or these persons or 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. There is no statutory enforcement in the Cayman Islands of judgments obtained in the federal or state courts of the United States (and the Cayman Islands are not a party to any treaties for the reciprocal enforcement or recognition of such judgments), a judgment obtained in such jurisdiction will be recognized and enforced in the courts of the Cayman Islands at common law, without any re-examination of the merits of the underlying dispute, by an action commenced on the foreign judgment debt in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, provided such judgment (a) is given by a foreign court of competent jurisdiction, (b) imposes on the judgment debtor a liability to pay a liquidated sum for which the judgment has been given, (c) is final, (d) is not in respect of taxes, a fine or a penalty, and (e) was not obtained in a manner and is not of a kind the enforcement of which is contrary to natural justice or the public policy of the Cayman Islands. However, the Cayman Islands courts are unlikely to enforce a judgment obtained from the U.S. courts under civil liability provisions of the U.S. federal securities law if such judgment is determined by the courts of the Cayman Islands to give rise to obligations to make payments that are penal or punitive in nature. Because such a determination has not yet been made by a court of the Cayman Islands, it is uncertain whether such civil liability judgments from U.S. courts would be enforceable in the Cayman Islands.

We are an emerging growth company within the meaning of the Securities Act and may take advantage of certain reduced reporting requirements.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from requirements applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, most significantly, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 for so long as we are an emerging growth company until the fifth anniversary from the date of our initial listing.

The JOBS Act also provides that an emerging growth company does not need to comply with any new or revised financial accounting standards until such date that a private company is otherwise required to comply with such new or revised accounting standards. However, we had elected to “opt out” of this provision and, as a result, we will comply with new or revised accounting standards as required when they are adopted for public companies. This decision to opt out of the extended transition period under the JOBS Act was irrevocable.

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 United States domestic public companies.

Because we are 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 are 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 through press releases, distributed pursuant to the rules and regulations of the NASDAQ Global Select Market. 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, which would be made available to you, were you investing in a U.S. domestic issuer. As a Cayman Islands company listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, we are subject to the NASDAQ Global Select Market corporate governance listing standards. However, NASDAQ Global Select Market rules permit a foreign private issuer like us to 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 NASDAQ Global Select Market corporate governance listing standards. AlthoughTo the extent that we do not currently planchoose to utilize the home country exemption for corporate governance matters, to the extent that we choose to do so in the future, our shareholders may be afforded less protection than they otherwise would under the NASDAQ Global Select Market corporate governance listing standards applicable to U.S. domestic issuers. We follow home country practice with respect to annual shareholders meetings and did not hold an annual meeting of shareholders in 2015. As a result, you may not be afforded the same protections or information, which would be made available to you, were you investing in a United StatesU.S. domestic issuer.

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 vote your Class A ordinary shares.

As a holder of our ADSs, you will only be able to exercise the voting rights with respect to the underlying Class A ordinary shares in accordance with the provisions of the deposit agreement. Under the deposit agreement, you must vote by giving voting instructions to the depositary. Upon receipt of your voting instructions, the depositary will vote the underlying Class A ordinary shares in accordance with these instructions. You will not be able to directly exercise your right to vote with respect to the underlying shares unless you withdraw the shares. Under our currently effective second amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, the minimum notice period required for convening a general meeting is 14 days. When a general meeting is convened, you may not receive sufficient advance notice to withdraw the shares underlying your ADSs to allow you to vote with respect to any specific matter. If we ask for your instructions, 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 your shares. 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 vote and you may have no legal remedy if the shares underlying your ADSs are not voted as you requested.

The depositary for our ADSs will give us a discretionary proxy to vote our Class A ordinary shares underlying your ADSs if you do not vote at shareholders’ meetings, except in limited circumstances, which could adversely affect your interests.

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

The effect of this discretionary proxy is that if you do not vote at shareholders’ meetings, you cannot prevent our Class A ordinary shares underlying your ADSs from being voted, except under the circumstances described above. This may 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 dividends or other distributions on our Class A ordinary shares and you may not receive any value for them, if it is illegal or impractical to make them available to you.

The depositary of our ADSs has agreed to pay to you the cash dividends or other distributions it or the custodian receives on Class A ordinary shares or other deposited securities underlying our ADSs, after deducting its fees and expenses. You will receive these distributions in proportion to the number of Class A ordinary shares your ADSs represent. However, the depositary is not responsible if it decides that it is unlawful or impractical to make a distribution available to any holders of ADSs. For example, it would be unlawful to make a distribution to a holder of ADSs if it consists of securities that require registration under the Securities Act but that are not properly registered or distributed under an applicable exemption from registration. The depositary may also determine that it is not feasible to distribute certain property through the mail. Additionally, the value of certain distributions may be less than the cost of mailing them. In these cases, the depositary may determine not to distribute such property. We have no obligation to register under U.S. securities laws any ADSs, ordinary shares, rights or other securities received through such distributions. We also have no obligation to take any other action to permit the distribution of ADSs, ordinary shares, rights or anything else to holders of ADSs. This means that you may not receive distributions we make on our Class A ordinary shares or any value for them if it is illegal or impractical for us to make them available to you. These restrictions may cause a material decline in the value of our ADSs.

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 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 our 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.

We started our operations in July 2011 when our founders established our consolidated affiliated entity Beijing Momo in China. In order to facilitate foreign investment in our company, we incorporated our holding company under the name of Momo Technology Company Limited in the British Virgin Islands in November 2011. In July 2014, Momo Technology Company Limited was redomiciled in the Cayman Islands as an exempted company registered under the laws of the Cayman Islands, and was renamed Momo Inc. In December 2011, we established Momo HK, a wholly owned subsidiary, in Hong Kong. Subsequently, Momo HK established a wholly-owned PRC subsidiary, Beijing Momo IT in March 2012. In May 2013, we established Chengdu Momo as a wholly owned subsidiary of Beijing Momo. In March 2014, we formed aour Delaware subsidiary, Momo Information Technologies Corp., which is currently conductingconducts market research and new product development. In January 2015, we established Shanghai Momo Technology Company Limited,Co., Ltd., or Shanghai Momo, as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Beijing Momo. In October 2015, we established Chengdu Biyou Technology Co., Ltd., or Chengdu Biyou, as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chengdu Momo.

In December 2014, we completed our initial public offering and listed our ADSs on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “MOMO.”

Our principal executive offices are located at 20th Floor, Block B, Tower 2, Wangjing SOHO, No.1No. 1 Futongdong Street, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100102, People’s Republic of China. Our telephone number at this address is +86-10-5731-0567. Our registered office in the Cayman Islands is located at P.O. Box 309, Ugland House, Grand Cayman KY1-1104, Cayman Islands. Our agent for service of process in the United States is Law Debenture Corporate Services Inc., of 4th Floor, 400 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10017.

Proposed Going Private Transaction

Our board of directors received a preliminary non-binding proposal letter dated June 23, 2015 from Yan Tang, our chairman and chief executive officer, Matrix Partners China II Hong Kong Limited, Sequoia Capital China Investment Management L.P. and Huatai Ruilian Fund Management Co., Ltd., or collectively the Buyer Group, to acquire all of our outstanding Class A ordinary shares not already owned by the Buyer Group in a going private transaction for US$18.90 per ADS, or US$9.45 per Class A ordinary share, in cash. Our board of directors formed a special committee consisting of two of our independent directors, namely, Dr. Dave Daqing Qi and Mr. Benson Bing Chung Tam, on June 23, 2015 to consider and evaluate the proposal and any other alternative proposals or other strategic alternatives that may be available to our company, and to negotiate the terms of any potential definitive agreement. On April 5, 2016, Alibaba Investment Limited and Rich Moon Limited joined the Buyer Group for the proposed going private transaction.

On April 5, 2016, the Buyer Group (including Alibaba Investment Limited and Rich Moon Limited) executed an amendment to the consortium agreement dated July 6, 2015 among themselves to extend the exclusivity period, pursuant to which the Buyer Group agreed that during the period beginning on July 6, 2015 and ending on the earlier of (i) April 5, 2017 and (ii) the termination of the consortium agreement by mutual written agreement of the members of the Buyer Group, members of the Buyer Group will work exclusively with each other with respect to the going private transaction.

There can be no assurance that the going private transaction will continue to be pursued, approved by sufficient affirmative vote or consummated. See “Item 3. Key Information on the Company—Risks Related to Our ADSs—There can be no assurance that the proposed going private transaction will continue to be pursued, approved by our shareholders or successfully consummated. Potential uncertainty involving the proposed going private transaction may adversely affect our business and the market price of our ADSs.”

We operate Momo, one of China’s leading mobile-based social networking platforms. We enable users to establish and expand social relationships based on location and interests. Our platform includes our Momo mobile application and a variety of related features, functionalities, tools and services that we provide to users, customers and platform partners.

We aim to offer our users an authentic social experience by encouraging them to provide detailed personal information on Momo. Leveraging our social interest graph engine and our analysis of user behavior data, we are able to provide users a customized experience based on their social preferences and needs. Momo users can maintain and strengthen their relationships through our private and group communication tools, content creation and sharing functions, as well as the offline social activities promoted on our platform. In order to enhance user engagement, we also started to offer live music and entertainment broadcasts on our Momo platform in September 2015.

Our

We have built a large user base has grown rapidlyon Momo since we launched Momo in Augustits launch 2011. Our MAUs reachedwere 69.8 million and 69.3 million in December 2015 and December 2014, representing an increase of 105.6% from December 2013.respectively. We had 2.9 million members as of December 31, 2014, representing an increase2015, same as the number of 383.3% frommembers as of December 31, 2013.2014. The growth rate of our MAUs and number of members has slowed down in 2015 primarily due to the reduced growth of number of smartphone users in China, and upgrades to our platform that take time for users to adapt to.

Amid the fast evolving mobile internet market in China, we have focused on building and growing our user base and improving user experience. Our Momo mobile application is free of charge. We began to generate revenues in July 2013 from our membership subscription package, which provides members with additional functions and privileges. We generated 66.5% and 43.6% of our net revenues from membership subscription fees in 2014.2014 and 2015, respectively. We also began to generate revenues from mobile games, paid emoticons and mobile marketing services and paid emoticons in the second half of 2013. We generated 25.1% and 8.4% of our net revenues fromMobile games, mobile gamesmarketing services and other services contributed 25.1%, 4.4% and 4.0%, respectively, of our revenues in 2014, respectively.and 23.2%, 29.0% and 4.2%, respectively, of our revenues in 2015. Our revenues increased significantly from US$3.1 million in 2013 to US$44.8 million in 2014.2014 and further to US$134.0 million in 2015. We had net losses of US$3.8 million, US$9.3 million and US$25.4 million in 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively.respectively, and net income of US$13.7 million in 2015.

The Momo Platform

Our Momo platform includes our Momo mobile application and a variety of related features, functionalities, tools and services that we provide to users, customers and platform partners. The Momo mobile application, which is available on Android, iOS and Windows platforms, enables users to establish and expand their social relationships based on locations and interests. Momo offers a personal and lively way for users to discover people nearby, and we facilitatefacilitates the connecting, communicating, interacting, and content sharing with others. Momo features various location and interest-based features, such asincluding Nearby People,Groups,Message Board,Topicsfunctions andNearby Events, other functions. Communications within our platform are supported by multi-media instant messaging tools, as well as popular mobile games. Our various functions are connected with each other. For example,tools.

Key features and functionalities offered by our platform include the following:

Nearby People“Nearby” Functions function features links to nearbyGroups andNearby Events.

Nearby People. This function allows users to find out thetheir approximate distance from each other in real time and is the primary tool through which users can establish and expand their social relationships.

OnceNearby People is organized under our Momo mobile application is launched on a smartphone, the default pagetab and presents a curated list of nearby users with their profile pictures, precise distance from the nearby usersrelative distances and the time they last checked-in on Momo prominently displayed.Momo. The list of nearby people is by default ordered by proximity to the application users. All users can customize the list by viewing nearby people by gender and a specific period of time within which the nearby people last checked in. Users can initiate contact with nearby users by sending greeting messages and selecting to follow their accounts in order to receive notifications on their status updates. A user who receives a greeting message may then reply and choose to become a Momo friend of the initiator by also following such user. Users can adjust their privacy settings to avoid being seen by strangers or to appear invisible. Our application also allows users to block other users and report inappropriate behaviors. Our members may further filter the list of nearby users by age group, occupation, horoscope and whether the nearby person has linked his or her Momo account with other popular social network applications.

We enhance user stickiness by providing a comprehensive suite of push notifications, which include status updates, greetings from nearby users, chat messages and location of Momo friends. Our application will also notify users when their Momo friends come within close proximity. We also keep users up-to-date on the latest postings in their groups, as well as groups that their Momo friends have joined.

User Profile. This function allows users to share basic personal information and interests and encourage interactions. To begin the Momo experience, after downloading and installing the application, each user is asked to fill out a profile featuring pictures and detailed personal information, such as name, age, horoscope, occupation, employer, school, relationship status, date of registration with Momo, groups and topics joined, interests, accounts at other social network applications, frequent places of appearance and a personal note. Members can also post a voice recording as part of their profile. The profile page also contains a link to a chronologically arranged display of status updates, blogs and pictures posted by the user, allowing the user to share his or her experience and interest.

To further improve user experience, we have developed a tiering system whereby each user is assigned one of six scores based primarily on his or her behavioral patterns, profile credibility, degree of engagement, and quality of interactions with other users.etc. Each user can monitor the score on his or her profile page. A user can generally improve his or her tiering score by demonstrating a pattern of wholesome social behavioral, a credible social profile and active engagementengagement.

Message Board. An important entry point for users to interact with and high quality interactionslearn about all other users nearby is ourMessage Board function. OurMessage Board contains a stream of feeds, including status updates, micro-blogs, photos, videos, music and commentaries posted by nearby users, facilitating connections between people in the same neighborhoods. The order of feeds is defined by our algorithm, which is based on both physical proximity and compatibility of user profiles. For each feed they create, users can control whether the feed may be viewed by all Momo users, only their friends or only themselves. Users can comment on or “like” the postings made by others, which are arranged by proximity.Message Board can also be linked to users’ WeChat, Weibo and QQ accounts, such that users can simultaneously share theirMessage Board updates with their friends on those accounts. OurMessage Board function has proven to be an effective means of stimulating interaction and creating social relationships among our users. As one of the most frequently visited functions by users, theMessage Board is currently grouped under our Nearby default tab together with our two other users.popular functionsNearby People andGroups.

Groups. Our application allows users to create and participate in location-based groups across points of interest, (residentialincluding residential complexes, educational institutions and commercial buildings).buildings. Location-based groups are generally established around a certain topic of interest. Each group is given a shared Momo discussion page on which group members can discuss their common interests, post their photos and exchange messages. As of December 31, 2014,2015, our users had created 5.16.1 million groups.

Our users can create groups by first selecting a specific location around which the group is centered, which must be associated with a specific residential complex, educational institution or commercial building, and second, selecting a topic of interest for the group. We limit the size of each group to 100 users in order to foster a closer, more engaged and interactive community. The maximum size of a particular group is determined by whether the group’s creator is a member and the activity level of the group, such as the frequency of messaging among users. Our application displays nearby groups created by users as ranked by proximity. A user must apply to join a nearby group, and membership admission is determined by the creator and managers of the group. In addition to our default distance-based listing of nearby groups, users are also able to search for groups using keywords. To further enhance interaction, we also display who among the people that a user has followed are members of a particular group.

Users can propose and organize offline events for the location-based groups. A separate page will be created for an event containing information about the activity such as type, venue and time, based on which group members can decide whether to join the event and confirm attendance. A list of confirmed attendees will be shown on the activity page as well.

To enhance the synergies between our social functions and mobile games offered on our platform, we have established groups for our mobile games players calledPlayer Unions. OurPlayer Unions provide users with increased opportunities to interact and foster closer social relationships.

Other Functions

Friends’ Message BoardBoard.. An important entry point for usersThis function operates in a way similar to interact with all other users nearby is ourMessage Board function. OurMessage Boardand contains status updates, micro-blogs and photos posted by nearby users,feeds from users’ friends on their contact lists, aimed at facilitating connections between people in the same neighborhoods and among Momo friends. Users can comment on the postings made by others, which are arranged by proximity. OurMessage Board function has proven to be an effective means of stimulating interaction and creating socialstrengthening relationships among our users.between users and their friends.

Topics. OurTopics is another feature aimed at enabling users to discover other users with common interests. OurTopics present popular themes of interest to all users. Users who have joined a certainTopic, such asFitnessasFitness orPets,, can post threads and interact with other users by replying to the threads. Users can view other users who have joined the sameTopic, in the order of proximity. We also recommend popularTopics and threads to users based on their profiles. Users can also search forTopics that most interest them.

Topics are created by us based on user feedback. Daily management of aTopic is delegated to theTopics host, who is responsible for selecting priority postings, and monitoring posted content for inappropriate, off-topic or unlawful materials.

Nearby Events. To facilitate offline interaction between our users and to promote our brand, we publicize events taking place in various Chinese cities close to our users, such as concerts, seminars, sport events, plays and exhibitions.

We cooperate with leading event promoters and ticketing platforms in China to upload information about popular events onto Momo. Moreover, event hosts can open a Momo account and promote their events on our platform by submitting a description of the event to us. Once we approve an event submission, it will appear on ourNearby Events page. For highly popular events, our sales team will actively seek to partner with the hosts in order to promote our brand and potentially explore monetization opportunities.

Our users can search and filter events by date, type, distance, popularity and number of attendees. Our users can sign up for the events and view other people who have expressed interest in attending, to whom they may send invitations to attend the event together. After a user has signed up for an event, it is added to his/her Momo event calendar in our application.

Location RoamingChat Rooms. Chat Rooms allow users to create, organize and participate in group chats based on location and common interest. Compared toGroups,Chat Rooms are open forums where users can easily participate in conversations without pre-approval from creators of relevant chat rooms.

Gift Mall. To enrich our service features and make our platform more fun forOur gift mall showcases gifts that our users we introducedmay purchase and send to each other. Gifts in our gift mall currently primarily include flowers, electronic products, food, cosmetics, household fittings and accessories. The gift mall is accessible via users’ personal page, and contains a library of information that facilitates customized gift purchase, including gift recommendation, birthday reminders, gift catalogue with list prices, and friends’ favorites. Users may also send customized message along with a gift. Gifts may only be sent between friends on Momo, and gift recipients may accept or reject the location roaming function, through which users can view other Momo users in a randomly selected city around the world. For our members, our roaming function further allows them to actively select any location around the world and view a curated list of Momo users according to selected criteria. This function also allows travelers to get to know friends in a particular destination in advance.gifts.

Instant Messaging.

Our application also providesis supported by instant messaging function, with which users can send text, emoticons, voice recordings, pictures and video messages to other users. Many of our fun and trendy emoticons are inspired by characters in popular culture. One of the key features of our instant messaging function is that the dialogue window presents the distance between the two parties in real time. Senders can see whether their messages have been delivered to or read by the recipient. Our instant messaging feature also allows users to turn voice messages into text, share their location information and engage in multi-person group chats. Users can sync their chat histories with multiple devices. We have also embedded third-party applications such as WeChat and Alipay red envelopes in order to facilitate morestimulate interaction between our users.

Live Music and Entertainment Broadcasts

Gift Mall. Our gift mall showcases gifts thatIn order to enhance user engagement, we started to offer live music and entertainment broadcasting service in September 2015, creating a brand new way for our users may purchaseto socialize and sendhave fun on our platform.

Through an entry point in the Momo platform, users are able to each other. Giftsenjoy live music and entertainment broadcasts by performers on our platform. Our live music and entertainment broadcasting service currently comprise three major components,Momo Live,PC-based live broadcast andmobile live broadcast, through which users gather and enjoy live music and entertainment shows while interacting with the performers and other users through instant messaging.Momo Live features professionally produced shows broadcasted from a studio room for a limited number of sessions per day. By contrast,PC-based live broadcastand mobile live broadcast, which are broadcasted through simple PC-based video devices and mobile phones, are hosted by performers that we recruit from the public through a selective application process, and are much more flexible in terms of time and venue for the broadcasts. We aim to provide an open platform for ordinary people to show their talents. Users accessing our gift mall currently primarily include flowers, electronic products, food, cosmetics, household fittingslive music and accessories. The gift mall is accessible via users’ personal page,entertainment shows interact with the performers by sending online messages, which are free of charge, as well as on-screen messages and contains a library of information that facilitates customized gift purchase, including gift recommendation, birthday reminders, gift catalogue with list prices, and friends’ favorites. Users may also send customized message along with a gift. Gifts may only be sent between friends on Momo, and gift recipients may accept or reject the gifts. We currently cooperate with merchants on Alibaba’s marketplaces to deliver physical gift merchandises.virtual gifts, which are purchased using virtual currency.

Mobile Games

Our application offers games primarily developed by third-party developers, some of which are customized for our platform and user profile. In February 2015, we launched our first proprietaryself-developed game on our platform and started to generate revenues by in-game purchases of virtual items. Games on our platform are designed with a variety of themes, cultural characteristics and features to appeal to different segments of the game player community. The games on our platform have rich social features and are developed to be enjoyed, shared and played among Momo friends. Our users log into and play our games with their Momo accounts. Such social features contribute to the high player stickiness of mobile games offered on our platform. As of December 31, 2014, games on our platform had been activated a total of 27.4 million times, with a total number of 19.2 million players.

Monetization Opportunities

We started monetization in July 2013. We currently generate revenues primarily from membership subscription fees, mobile marketing services, mobile games, and other services. Because we started to monetize from the third quarter of 2013 only, we cannot confirm or otherwise describe the seasonality of our business as a result of this very short history of monetization.

Membership Subscription

We provide enhanced membership privileges to users who subscribe to our membership package by paying membership fees. Our memberships are currently divided into two tiers, basic and premium. Enhanced privileges for all members include VIP logos, advanced search options, discounts in our emoticon store, higher limits on the maximum number of users group and the number of users that the member can follow, the ability to add a 60 second voice recording to the profile page, to search for Momo users anywhere in the world using our location roaming services, to see a list of recent visitors to their profile page and to appear invisible to specific users. Additional privileges for our premium members include the abilities to check out visitors to their message boards and to remove advertisements from their feeds. We offer four basic membership subscription packages, to our users, priced at RMB12 (US$2) per month, RMB30 (US$5) per three months, RMB60 (US$10)9) per six months and RMB108 (US$18)17) per year, respectively, and four premium membership subscription packages, priced at RMB30 (US$5) per month, RMB88 (US$14) per three months, RMB168 (US$26) per six months and RMB298 (US$46) per year, respectively. We offer diverse payment options for users to pay membership subscription fees, including third-party online channels, such asApple AppStore andAlipay, as well as through mobile operators, including prepaid cell-phone recharge cards. We had 2.9 million members as of December 31, 2014.2015. We intend to continue exploring different ways to expand our members-only offerings so as to better serve our members and attract a larger membership base.

Mobile Marketing Services

We seek to provide advertising and marketing solutions to enable our customers to promote their brands and conduct effective marketing activities. We provide our customers with analytical tools to enable them to track and improve the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns on our platform. Our advertising and marketing customers include brand marketers, local merchants, application developers and other small and medium-sized businesses. Our mobile marketing services currently include the following:

Brand-oriented display ads.We provide brand marketers with various ad formats for them to drive brand awareness through our platform. The forms of advertisements we offer to brand marketers currently include full screen banner ads that appear before the application is loaded, top banners onMessage Board, and banners on frequently visited pages on our platform. As the features and functionalities of our platform continue to evolve, we may offer other packages of marketing solutions that integrate multiple ad units such as banners, video ads and sponsorships.

In-feed marketing solutions.We offer advertising units that appear as feeds onMessage Board andNearby People. Powered by a proprietary self-serve advertising system with a real-time bidding mechanism, our in-feed marketing solutions are performance-based, and serve a wide range of marketers including application developers, local businesses, brand owners, as well as other small and medium-sized businesses.

Third-party partnerships. In December 2014, we started to cooperate with 58.com to provide Momo users with easy access to 58.com’s online marketplaces through an entry point on our platform. In January 2015, we started to cooperate with Alibaba Group Holding Limited and its affiliates, or Alibaba, to place advertisements of the merchants on Alibaba’s marketplaces on ourNearby People function.

Mobile Games

As a social networking platform, we intend to offer games that have strong features which we believe will not only increase the interactions between users and communication within groups, but also broaden our revenue sources. Such games may be developed by third parties, where we share revenues generated by in-game purchases of virtual items with such developers, or developed in-house.

Other Services

Our other services include paid emoticons, gift mall sales and mobile marketing services. Our virtual store currently features freegifts sales through our live music and paid stylish and trendy emoticons designed in-house and by third-parties, many of which are inspired by characters in popular culture. We also design customized emoticons for nearby activities that are being promoted on our platform, for our mobile marketing service customers, as well as emoticons for users living in specific geographical areas.

We seek to provide mobile marketing solutions to enable our customers and platform partners to promote their brands and conduct effective marketing activities on our platform. Our mobile marketing services currently include banner ads placement for brands and the following:

Dao Dian Tong for local merchants. In August 2014, we launchedDao Dian Tong, our marketing solution for local merchants. ThroughDao Dian Tong, we allow local merchants to set up business profile pages, including business descriptions and illustrative pictures, on our mobile application. Our dedicated staff verify the authenticity of each local merchant, and certify to our users that each business profile page is genuine. Our users are able to communicate with local merchants using our instant messaging function and archive local businesses that they like. We charge local merchants for ourDao Dian Tong marketing solution based on the number of users that can access their business profile pages.

User traffic advertisement services. In December 2014, we started to cooperate with 58.com to provide Momo users with easy access to 58.com’s online marketplaces through theDiscover function on our platform. In January 2015, we started to cooperate with Alibaba to place targeted advertisements of the merchants on Alibaba’s marketplaces on ourNearby People function. We expect to generate marketing revenues from the advertisement services.

We plan to further monetize our user traffic through referring traffic from our platform to e-commerce companies, online marketplaces and other content or service providers. Leveraging our rich user data, our services allow customers to market precisely to their targeted audience. Customers have the ability to improve the relevance of their marketing based on users’ social interest graphs, a collection of data that we create for each user that draws upon a variety of factors, including demographics, social relationships and interests.entertainment broadcasts.

Technology

Our proprietary networking protocols ensure fast, reliable and stable mobile communications under different network environments in China. Our architecture focus on providing consistent user experience across different mobile devices, operating systems and network environments, which is particularly necessary in China given the wide variety of choices of mobile devices, operating systems and mobile networks.

Social Interest Graph Recommendation Engine

We have developed a comprehensive database of user social interests from the activities on our platform. We create a social interest profile for each user account based on user actions, such as group and topics memberships, social relationships, as well as demographic data such as age, gender and location. Based on these social interest profiles, our recommendation engine allows us to push content to Momo users who are more likely to find such content interesting and relevant. We believe that social context can improve the relevance of advertisements and make them a more integral part of the user experience, rather than an interruption of it. Therefore, we are continually refining our recommendation engine to improve the relevance of information we push to users.

Leveraging on our social interest graph recommendation engine and our analysis of user behavior data, we have developed a tiering system whereby each user is assigned one of six scores based on his or her behavioral patterns. Each user can monitor his or her tiering system score on our application. Using such a tiering system, we aim to enable users to connect with each other and maintain relationships based on their mutual social preferences and needs, thereby increasing the likelihood of establishing a new relationship and strengthening existing relationships. We use our tiering system to foster a healthy ecosystem and to deter harassment and other undesirable behaviors on our platform.

Scalable Distributed Storage

Our proprietary model optimizes and facilitates cost-effective data storage by building memory on solid state drives. This distributed storage model allows us to efficiently and securely manage a large amount of data while storing data on servers that are easily scalable.

Service Oriented Architecture

Our platform adopts service-oriented architecture that allows efficient software development and frequent upgrading of our services. Our platform is built on technologies that can facilitate cost-effective learning and joint research and development across different coding languages.

Precision in Locating Users

Location is a key attribute of our social networking platform. Our rich experience in location-based technology has allowed us to develop technology capable of precisely locating static or mobile users within units of five meters horizontally. We believe our ability to locate users with this precision is unique in our industry.

Content Management and Monitoring

As of the date of this annual report, we have a dedicated team of over 100150 personnel reviewing and handling content on our mobile platform for compliance with applicable laws and regulations. They are aided by both proprietary and third-party software and technologies to sweep our platform and the data being transmitted on a real-time basis around-the-clock. We monitor and screen user information and user generated content against a spam list, which is a list of content and behaviors that we have determined are likely to be indicative of inappropriate or illegal content or illegal activities. Additionally, Momo users can also easily report fraud if they come across suspicious content, and each user complaint is processed by our content management and monitoring system.

Our corporate policy requires a user to accept our terms of use during the registration process before becoming a Momo user. In the user agreement, the user makes certain acknowledgments and covenants, including, among others, (i) the user is solely responsible for the authenticity, legality, harmlessness and relevancy of all information submitted for registration purpose or delivered to other users, (ii) the user is not impersonating other people or spreading information in the name of others, (iii) the user alone is responsible for any losses or injuries arising from or caused by the content on our platform and (iv) the user agrees to indemnify us for our losses or injuries arising from or caused by the activities of or content generated by the user.

Branding and Marketing

SinceWe primarily attract our inception, our user base has grown primarily byusers through word-of-mouth which has enabled us to build ourand other free channels. Our brand with relatively low marketing costs. We historically have focused our branding and marketing efforts onbuilding activities generally comprise purchasing online promotions via popular search engines and third-party application stores.

We recently diversified our marketing efforts by sponsoring offline events that are popular among the young generation, such as theStrawberry Music Festival in China, placing outdoor ads in subways, bus stops and taxis in various major Chinese cities, as well as placing television advertisements. We also launched a series of brand promotional videos titled “I Am One of Momo”advertising in the form of tastefully cinematographed micro-films starring trendy Momotext, banner and video, placing TV commercials, and public relations efforts. We also acquire users in a variety of modern professions.directly through online and offline marketing channels such as search engines, application stores and pre-installations.

Customer Service

As of the date of this annual report, we have a dedicated team of over 6080 customer service personnel in our customer service center in Chengdu, China, who support our members and mobile game players. Our dedicated customer service team is well-trained on our membership services and mobile games functionalities. For our users who subscribed to our membership services, our customer service personnel provide around-the-clock support through a members-only toll-free phone number and other online communication channels. Our customer service team helps our members with issues they encounter on our mobile platform, gathers feedback on how to improve our services and receives member complaints and suggestions. Our customer service team also addresses issues that our mobile game players encounter and gathers player feedback on the functionality and popularity of the mobile games we offer.

Intellectual Property

We rely on a combination of patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret laws and restrictions on disclosure to protect our intellectual property rights. As of December 31, 2014,2015, we had four pending patent applications filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of the PRC. We had registered 1213 trademarks and had applied for 47293 trademarks with the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry & Commerce of the PRC. We havehad registered 1833 software copyrights and 3254 copyrights with the PRC National Copyright Administration, and appliedhad two pending applications for registration of four software copyrights and two copyrightsfiled with the PRC National Copyright Administration. We havehad also registered four44 domain names, includingimmomo.com,wemomo.com,immomogame.com, andmomocdn.com.

Competition

As a mobile social networking platform that also provides live music and entertainment broadcasting service, we are subject to intense competition from providers of similar services, as well as potential new types of online services.

Our competitors may have substantially more cash, traffic, technical and other resources, as well as broader product or service offerings and can leverage their relationships based on other products or services to gain a larger share of marketing budgets from customers. We believe that our ability to compete effectively depends upon many factors, including the size, composition and engagement of our user base, our ad targeting capabilities, market acceptance of our mobile marketing services and online entertainment services, our marketing and selling efforts, and the strength and reputation of our brand. See “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business and Industry—The market in which we operate is fragmented and highly competitive. If we are unable to compete effectively for users or user engagement, our business and operating results may be materially and adversely affected.” We also experience significant competition for highly skilled personnel, including management, engineers, designers and product managers. Our growth strategy depends in part on our ability to retain our existing personnel and add additional highly skilled employees. See “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business and Industry—The continuing and collaborative efforts of our senior management and key employees are crucial to our success, and our business may be harmed if we were to lose their services.”

Insurance

We do not maintain property insurance, business interruption insurance or general third-party liability insurance, nor do we maintain key-man life insurance.

Regulation

This section sets forth a summary of the most significant rules and regulations that affect our business activities in China or our shareholders’ rights to receive dividends and other distributions from us.

Corporate Laws and Industry Catalog Relating to Foreign Investment

The establishment, operation and management of corporate entities in China are governed by the Company Law of the PRC, or the Company Law, effective in 1994, as amended in 1999, 2004, 2005 and 2013, respectively. The Company Law is applicable to our PRC subsidiary and consolidated affiliated entity and its subsidiaries unless the PRC laws on foreign investment have stipulated otherwise.

The establishment, approval, registered capital requirement and day-to-day operational matters of wholly foreign-owned enterprises, such as our PRC subsidiary, are regulated by the Wholly Foreign-owned Enterprise Law of the PRC effective in 1986, as amended in 2000, and the Implementation Rules of the Wholly Foreign-owned Enterprise Law of the PRC effective in 1990, as amended in 2001 and 2014.

Investment activities in the PRC by foreign investors are principally governed by the Guidance Catalog of Industries for Foreign Investment, or the Catalog, which was promulgated and is amended from time to time by the Ministry of Commerce and the National Development and Reform Commission. The latest version of the Catalogue went effective on April 10, 2015. The Catalog divides industries into three categories: encouraged, restricted and prohibited. Industries not listed in the Catalog are generally open to foreign investment unless specifically restricted by other PRC regulations.

Establishment of wholly foreign-owned enterprises is generally permitted in encouraged industries. Some restricted industries are limited to equity or contractual joint ventures, while in some cases Chinese partners are required to hold the majority interests in such joint ventures. In addition, restricted category projects are subject to higher level government approvals. Foreign investors are not allowed to invest in industries in the prohibited category. For example, pursuant to the latest Catalog amended in 2011, the provision of value-added telecommunications services falls in the restricted category and the percentage of foreign ownership cannot exceed 50%.

To comply with such foreign ownership restrictions, we operate our businesses in China through Beijing Momo, which is owned by PRC citizens. Beijing Momo is controlled by Beijing Momo IT through a series of contractual arrangements. Beijing Momo holds an internet content provider, or ICP, license to provide value-added telecommunication services, which is an industry in which foreign investment is “restricted” under the currently effective Catalog.

Beijing Momo IT is currently engaged in the business of software development, which is an industry in which foreign investment is “encouraged” under the currently effective Catalog.

Regulations Relating to Telecommunications Services

In September 2000, the State Council issued the Regulations on Telecommunications of China, or the Telecommunications Regulations, to regulate telecommunication activities in China. The telecommunications industry in China is governed by a licensing system based on the classifications of the telecommunications services set forth under the Telecommunications Regulations.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, together with the provincial-level communications administrative bureaus, supervises and regulates the telecommunications industry in China. The Telecommunications Regulations divide the telecommunications services into two categories: infrastructure telecommunications services and value-added telecommunications services. The operation of value-added telecommunications services is subject to the examination, approval and licenses granted by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology or its provincial-level communications administrative bureaus. According to the Catalog of Classification of Telecommunications Businesses effective in April 2003, provision of information services through the internet, such as the operation of our immomo.com.com website, is classified as value-added telecommunications services.

Regulations Relating to Foreign Investment in Value-Added Telecommunications Industry

According to the Administrative Rules for Foreign Investment in Telecommunications Enterprises issued by the State Council effective in January 2002, as amended in September 2008, a foreign investor may hold no more than a 50% equity interest in a value-added telecommunications services provider in China and such foreign investor must have experience in providing value-added telecommunications services overseas and maintain a good track record. Due to these regulations, we operate our website through Beijing Momo and its subsidiary.subsidiaries. The most updated version of Guiding Catalog for Foreign Investment Industries, which was promulgated by the MOFCOM and the National Development and Reform Commission and became effective from January 30, 2012, or the Guiding Catalog, imposes the 50% restrictions on foreign ownership in value-added telecommunications business as well.

The Circular on Strengthening the Administration of Foreign Investment in and Operation of Value-added Telecommunications Business, or the Circular, issued by the former Ministry of Information Industry in July 2006, reiterated the regulations on foreign investment in telecommunications businesses, which require foreign investors to set up foreign-invested enterprises and obtain an internet content provider, or ICP, license to conduct any value-added telecommunications business in China. Under the Circular, a domestic company that holds an ICP license is prohibited from leasing, transferring or selling the license to foreign investors in any form, and from providing any assistance, including providing resources, sites or facilities, to foreign investors that conduct value-added telecommunications business illegally in China. Furthermore, certain relevant assets, such as the relevant trademarks and domain names that are used in the value-added telecommunications business must be owned by the local ICP license holder or its shareholders. The Circular further requires each ICP license holder to have the necessary facilities for its approved business operations and to maintain such facilities in the regions covered by its license. In addition, all value-added telecommunications service providers are required to maintain network and information security in accordance with the standards set forth under the relevant PRC regulations. If an ICP license holder fails to comply with the requirements in the Circular and also fails to remedy such non-compliance within a specified period of time, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology or its local counterparts have the discretion to take administrative measures against such license holder, including revoking its ICP license. Beijing Momo, the operator of our website, owns the relevant domain names and registered trademarks and has the necessary personnel to operate the website.

Regulations on Broadcasting Audio/Video Programs through the Internet

On July 6, 2004, the SARFT promulgated the Rules for the Administration of Broadcasting of Audio/Video Programs through the Internet and Other Information Networks, or the Audio/Video Broadcasting Rules. The Audio/Video Broadcasting Rules apply to the launch, broadcasting, aggregation, transmission or download of audio/video programs via the Internet and other information networks. Anyone who wishes to engage in Internet broadcasting activities must first obtain an audio/video program transmission license, with a term of two years, issued by the SARFT and operate internet broadcasting activities pursuant to the scope as provided in such license. Foreign invested enterprises are not allowed to engage in the above referenced business.

On April 13, 2005, the State Council announced Several Decisions on Investment by Non-state-owned Companies in Culture-related Business in China. These decisions encourage and support non-state-owned companies to enter certain culture-related business in China, subject to restrictions and prohibitions for investment in audio/video broadcasting, website news and certain other businesses by non-state-owned companies. These decisions authorize the SARFT and the Ministry of Culture to adopt detailed implementing rules according to these decisions.

On December 20, 2007, the SARFT and the MIIT jointly issued the Rules for the Administration of Internet Audio and Video Program Services, commonly known as Circular 56, which came into effect as of January 31, 2008. Circular 56 reiterates the requirement set forth in the Audio/Video Broadcasting Rules that online audio/video service providers must obtain a license from the SARFT. Furthermore, Circular 56 requires all online audio/video service providers to be either wholly state-owned or state-controlled. According to relevant official answers to press questions published on the SARFT’s website dated February 3, 2008, officials from the SARFT and the MIIT clarified that online audio/video service providers that already had been operating lawfully prior to the issuance of Circular 56 may re-register and continue to operate without becoming state-owned or controlled, provided that such providers have not engaged in any unlawful activities. This exemption will not be granted to online audio/video service providers established after Circular 56 was issued. Such policies have been reflected in the Application Procedure for Audio/Video Program Transmission License.

On April 1, 2010, the SARFT issued the Internet Audio/Video Program Services Categories (Provisional), or the Provisional Categories, which classified internet audio/video programs into four categories.

In 2009, the SARFT released a Notice on Strengthening the Administration of Online Audio/Video Content. This notice reiterated, among other things, that all movies and television shows released or published online must comply with relevant regulations on the administration of radio, film and television. In other words, these movies and television shows, whether produced in the PRC or overseas, must be pre-approved by SARFT, and the distributors of these movies and television shows must obtain an applicable permit before releasing any such movie or television show. In 2012, the SARFT and the State Internet Information Office of the PRC issued a Notice on Improving the Administration of Online Audio/Video Content Including Internet Drama and Micro Films. In 2013, SARFT released a Supplemental Notice on Improving the Administration of Online Audio/Video Content Including Internet Drama and Micro Films. This notice stresses that entities producing online audio/video content, such as internet dramas and micro films, must obtain a permit for radio and television program production and operation, and that online audio/video content service providers should not release any internet dramas or micro films that were produced by any entity lacking such permit. For internet dramas or micro films produced and uploaded by individual users, the online audio/video service providers transmitting such content will be deemed responsible as a producer. Further, under this notice, online audio/video service providers can only transmit content uploaded by individuals whose identity has been verified and such content shall comply with the relevant content management rules. This notice also requires that online audio/video content, including internet drama and micro films, be filed with the relevant authorities before release. As of the date of this annual report, we have not obtained an audio/video program transmission license, and we willplan to apply to obtainfor the license.

Regulations on Online Comics and Internet Cultural Products

The Interim Administrative Provisions on Internet Culture was promulgated by MOC on February 17, 2011 and became effective on April 1, 2011. Pursuant to the Interim Administrative Provisions on Internet Culture, online comics are deemed to be online culture products, and any entity engaged in producing, transmitting and distributing online culture products shall apply for an internet culture operation license that includes the business scope of actual online activities. As of the date of this annual report, we have obtained an internet culture operation license and will applyreceived the approval to expand the scope of the license to cover the operation of comic and animation products.

Regulations on Internet Publication and Cultural Products

The TentativeAdministrative Measures for Internet Publication Administration,Service, or Internet Publication Measures, were jointly promulgated by the General Administration of Press and PublicationSARFT and the Ministry of Industry and Information TechnologyMIIT on June 27, 2002February 6, 2016 and became effective on August 1,March 10, 2016. The Internet Publication Measures superseded the Tentative Measures for Internet Publication Administration, which were jointly promulgated by the SARFT and the MIIT in 2002. The Internet Publication Measures define internet publication service and internet publication item, and publication of internet publication item via the internet requires an internet publishing license. Pursuant to the Internet Publication Measures, any act by an internet information service provider to select, edit and process content or programs and to make such content or programs available on the internet for the public to read, use and download shall constitute an internet publication. The provision of online games is deemedgame constitutes an internet publication activityitem and therefore, an online game operator shall obtain an internet publishing license so that it can directly offer its online games to the public in the PRC. As of the date of this annual report, we have not yet obtained an internet publishing license, and are in the process of preparing the application documents.

Regulations on Online Games and Foreign Ownership Restrictions

Pursuant to the Guidance Catalog, the internet culture business (other than online music business) falls within the category of industries prohibiting foreign investment. On February 17, 2011, the Ministry of Culture issued the revised Interim Provisions on the Administration of Internet Culture, or the Internet Culture Interim Provisions, effective as of April 1, 2011. According to the Internet Culture Interim Provisions, “internet cultural products” are defined as including the online games specially produced for Internet and games reproduced or provided through Internet. Provision of operating Internet cultural products and related services is subject to the approval of the Ministry of Culture or its provincial counterpart.

On June 3, 2010, the Ministry of Culture promulgated the Provisional Administration Measures of Online Games, or the Online Game Measures, which came into effect on August 1, 2010. The Online Game Measures governs the research, development and operation of online games and the issuance and trading services of virtual currency. Under the Online Game Measures, all operators of online games, issuers of virtual currencies and providers of virtual currency trading services, or Online Game Business Operators, are required to obtain internet culture operation licenses. An internet culture operation license is valid for three years and in case of renewal, the renewal application should be submitted 30 days prior to the expiry date of such license.

In addition, Online Game Business Operators should request the valid identity certificate of game users for registration, and notify the public 60 days ahead of the termination of any online game operations or the transfer of online game operational rights. Online game business operators are also prohibited from (i) setting compulsory matters in the online games without game users’ consent; (ii) advertising or promoting the online games that contain prohibited content, such as anything that compromise state security or divulges state secrets; and (iii) inducing game users to input legal currencies or virtual currencies to gain online game products or services, by way of random draw or other incidental means. The Online Game Measures also states that the state cultural administration authorities will formulate the compulsory clauses of a standard online game service agreement, which have been promulgated on July 29, 2010 and are required to be incorporated into the service agreement entered into between online game business operators and game users, with no conflicts with the rest of clauses in such service agreements.

On July 11, 2008, the General Office of the State Council promulgated the Regulation on Main Functions, Internal Organization and Staffing of the General Administration of Press and Publication, or the Regulation on Three Provisions. On September 14, 2009, the Central Organization Establishment Commission issued the corresponding interpretations, or the Interpretations on Three Provisions. The Regulation on Three Provisions and the Interpretation on Three Provisions granted the Ministry of Culture overall jurisdiction to regulate the online game industry, and granted the General Administration of Press and Publication the authority to issue approvals for the internet publication of online games. Specifically, (i) the Ministry of Culture is empowered to administrate online games (other than the pre-examination and approval before internet publication of online games); (ii) subject to the Ministry of Culture’s overall administration, General Administration of Press and Publication is responsible for the pre-examination and approval of the internet publication of online games; and (iii) once an online game is launched, the online game will be only administrated and regulated by the Ministry of Culture. As of March 31, 2015, three2016, 14 of the 2031 online games we offered had completed the filing with the Ministry of Culture. If we fail to complete, obtain or maintain any of the required licenses or approvals or make the necessary filings, we may be subject to various penalties, such as confiscation of the net revenues that were generated through online games, the imposition of fines and the discontinuation or restriction of our operations of online games.

On September 28, 2009, the General Administration of Press and Publication, the National Copyright Administration and the National Working Group to Eliminate Pornography and Illegal Publications jointly issued the Circular on Consistent Implementation of the Stipulation on the Three Provisions of the State Council and the Relevant Interpretations of the State Commission for Public Sector Reform and the Further Strengthening of the Pre-examination and approval of Online Games and the Approval and Examination of Imported Online Games, or the GAPP Notice. The GAPP Notice explicitly prohibits foreign investors from directly or indirectly engaging in online game business in China, including through consolidated affiliated entities. Foreign investors are not allowed to indirectly control or participate in PRC operating companies’ online game operations, whether (i) by establishing other joint ventures, entering into contractual arrangements or providing technical support for such operating companies; or (ii) in a disguised form such as by incorporating or directing user registration, user account management or game card consumption into online game platforms that are ultimately controlled or owned by foreign companies. The GAPP Notice reiterates that the General Administration of Press and Publication is responsible for the examination and approval of the import and publication of online games and states that downloading from the internet is considered a publication activity, which is subject to approval from the General Administration of Press and Publication. Violations of the GAPP Notice will result in severe penalties. For detailed analysis, see “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure—If the PRC government finds that the agreements that establish the structure for operating our businesses in China do not comply with PRC regulations on foreign investment in internet and other related businesses, or if these regulations or their interpretation change in the future, we could be subject to severe penalties or be forced to relinquish our interests in those operations.”

Regulations Relating to Internet Content and Information Security

The Administrative Measures on Internet Information Services specify that internet information services regarding news, publications, education, medical and health care, pharmacy and medical appliances, among other things, are to be examined, approved and regulated by the relevant authorities. Internet information providers are prohibited from providing services beyond those included in the scope of their ICP licenses or filings. Furthermore, these measures clearly specify a list of prohibited content. Internet information providers are prohibited from producing, copying, publishing or distributing information that is humiliating or defamatory to others or that infringes the lawful rights and interests of others. Internet information providers that violate the prohibition may face criminal charges or administrative sanctions by the PRC authorities. Internet information providers must monitor and control the information posted on their websites. If any prohibited content is found, they must remove the offensive content immediately, keep a record of it and report it to the relevant authorities. Beijing Momo, as an ICP license holder, is subject to these measures.

Internet information in China is also regulated and restricted from a national security standpoint. The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress has enacted the Decisions on Maintaining Internet Security, which may subject violators to criminal punishment in China for any effort to: (i) gain improper entry into a computer or system of strategic importance; (ii) disseminate politically disruptive information; (iii) leak state secrets; (iv) spread false commercial information; or (v) infringe intellectual property rights. The Ministry of Public Security has promulgated measures that prohibit use of the internet in ways which, among other things, result in a leakage of state secrets or a spread of socially destabilizing content. As an ICP license holder, Beijing Momo is subject to the laws and regulations relating to information security.

In August 2013, the MOC issued the Administration Measures on Content Review by Internet Culture Operating Entities, or the Content Review Measures, which became effective on December 1, 2013. According to the Content Review Measures, an internet culture operating entity shall censor and review its products and services to be provided to the public to ensure that such products and services do not contain any content prohibited by law, and the censor record shall be kept for at least two years. Internet culture operating entities shall adopt technical measures to conduct real-time censor over the products and services, set up internal content control department and establish content control policies. If the internet culture operating entity identifies any illegal content, it shall immediately suspend the products or services containing such content and preserve relevant record, and, in the event that such illegal content might lead to material issues, report to provincial branch of MOC.

Regulations on Anti-fatigue Compliance System and Real-name Registration System

On April 15, 2007, eight PRC government authorities, including the General Administration of Press and Publication, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, jointly issued the Notice on Protecting Minors Mental and Physical Health and Implementation of Online Game Anti-fatigue System, which requires the implementation of an anti-fatigue compliance system and a real-name registration system by all PRC online game operators. Under the anti-fatigue compliance system, three hours or less of continuous playing by minors, defined as game players under 18 years of age, is considered to be “healthy”, three to five hours is deemed “fatiguing”, and five hours or more is deemed “unhealthy.” Game operators are required to reduce the value of in-game benefits to a game player by half if it discovers that the amount of a time a game player spends online has reached the “fatiguing” level, and to zero in the case of the “unhealthy” level.

To identify whether a game player is a minor and thus subject to the anti-fatigue compliance system, a real-name registration system should be adopted to require online game players to register their real identity information before playing online games. Pursuant to a notice issued by the relevant eight government authorities on August 3, 2011, online game operators must submit the identity information of game players to the National Citizen Identity Information Center, a subordinate public institution of the Ministry of Public Security, for verification as of October 1, 2011.

Regulations Relating to Internet Information Services and Content of Internet Information

In September 2000, the State Council issued the Administrative Measures on Internet Information Services, or the Internet Measures, to regulate the provision of information services to online users through the internet. According to the Internet Measures, internet information services are divided into two categories: services of an operative nature and services of a non-operative nature. Our business conducted through our immomo.com website involves operating internet information services, which requires us to obtain an ICP license. If an internet information service provider fails to obtain an ICP license, the relevant local branch of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology may levy fines, confiscate its income or even block its website. When the ICP service involves areas of news, publication, education, medical treatment, health, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, and if required by law or relevant regulations, specific approval from the respective regulatory authorities must be obtained prior to applying for the ICP license from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology or its provincial level counterpart. Our affiliated PRC entity, Beijing Momo, currently holds an ICP license issued by Beijing Communications Administration, a local branch of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Our ICP license will expire in February 2017 and we willplan to renew such license prior to its expiration date.

Regulations Relating to Privacy Protection

As an internet content provider, we are subject to regulations relating to protection of privacy. In recent years, PRC government authorities have enacted laws and regulations on internet use to protect personal information from any unauthorized disclosure. The Administrative Measures on Internet Information Services prohibit ICP service operators from insulting or slandering a third party or infringing upon the lawful rights and interests of a third party. Under the Several Provisions on Regulating the Market Order of Internet Information Services, issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in 2011, an ICP service operator may not collect any user personal information or provide such information to third parties without the consent of a user. An ICP service operator must expressly inform the users of the method, content and purpose for the collection and processing of such user personal information and may only collect such information necessary for the provision of its services. An ICP service operator is also required to properly keep the user personal information, and in case of any leak or likely leak of the user personal information, the ICP service operator must take immediate remedial measures and, in severe circumstances, to make an immediate report to the telecommunications regulatory authority. In addition, pursuant to the Decision on Strengthening the Protection of Online Information issued by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress in December 2012 and the Order for the Protection of Telecommunication and Internet User Personal Information issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in July 2013, any collection and use of user personal information must be subject to the consent of the user, abide by the principles of legality, rationality and necessity and be within the specified purposes, methods and scopes. An ICP service operator must also keep such information strictly confidential, and is further prohibited from divulging, tampering or destroying of any such information, or selling or providing such information to other parties. Any violation of the above decision or order may subject the ICP service operator to warnings, fines, confiscation of illegal gains, revocation of licenses, cancellation of filings, closedown of websites or even criminal liabilities. We are subject to these regulations as an online business operator.

Regulations Relating to Taxation

Up until December 31, 2007, our PRC subsidiary and consolidated affiliated entity and its subsidiaries were subject to PRC enterprise income tax at the statutory rate of 33% on their PRC taxable income.

In January 2008, the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law took effect. The PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law applies a uniform 25% enterprise income tax rate to both foreign-invested enterprises and domestic enterprises, except where tax incentives are granted to special industries and projects. Under the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law and its implementation regulations, dividends generated from the business of a PRC subsidiary after January 1, 2008 and payable to its foreign investor may be subject to a withholding tax rate of 10% if the PRC tax authorities determine that the foreign investor is a non-resident enterprise, unless there is a tax treaty with China that provides for a preferential withholding tax rate. Distributions of earnings generated before January 1, 2008 are exempt from PRC withholding tax.

Under the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law, an enterprise established outside China with “de facto management bodies” within China is considered a “resident enterprise” for PRC enterprise income tax purposes and is generally subject to a uniform 25% enterprise income tax rate on its worldwide income. A circular issued by the State Administration of Taxation in April 2009 regarding the standards used to classify certain Chinese-invested enterprises controlled by Chinese enterprises or Chinese enterprise groups and established outside of China as “resident enterprises” clarified that dividends and other income paid by such PRC “resident enterprises” will be considered PRC-source income and subject to PRC withholding tax, currently at a rate of 10%, when paid to non-PRC enterprise shareholders. This circular also subjects such PRC “resident enterprises” to various reporting requirements with the PRC tax authorities. Under the implementation regulations to the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law, a “de facto management body” is defined as a body that has material and overall management and control over the manufacturing and business operations, personnel and human resources, finances and properties of an enterprise. In addition, the tax circular mentioned above specifies that certain PRC-invested overseas enterprises controlled by a Chinese enterprise or a Chinese enterprise group in the PRC will be classified as PRC resident enterprises if the following are located or resided in the PRC: senior management personnel and departments that are responsible for daily production, operation and management; financial and personnel decision making bodies; key properties, accounting books, the company seal, and minutes of board meetings and shareholders’ meetings; and half or more of the senior management or directors who have the voting rights.

Pursuant to the Arrangement between Mainland China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and Tax Evasion on Income, the withholding tax rate in respect to the payment of dividends by a PRC enterprise to a Hong Kong enterprise is reduced to 5% from a standard rate of 10% if the Hong Kong enterprise directly holds at least 25% of the PRC enterprise. Pursuant to the Notice of the State Administration of Taxation on the Issues concerning the Application of the Dividend Clauses of Tax Agreements, or Circular 81, a Hong Kong resident enterprise must meet the following conditions, among others, in order to enjoy the reduced withholding tax: (i) it must be a company; (ii) it must directly own the required percentage of equity interests and voting rights in the PRC resident enterprise; and (iii) it must have directly owned such required percentage in the PRC resident enterprise throughout the 12 months prior to receiving the dividends. Furthermore, the Administrative Measures for Non-Resident Enterprises to Enjoy Treatments under Tax Treaties (For Trial Implementation), which became effective in October 2009, require that non-resident enterprises must obtain approval from the relevant tax authority in order to enjoy the reduced withholding tax rate. There are also other conditions for enjoying the reduced withholding tax rate according to other relevant tax rules and regulations. Accordingly, Momo Technology HK Company Limited may be able to benefit from the 5% withholding tax rate for the dividends it receives from Beijing Momo, if it satisfies the conditions prescribed under Circular 81 and other relevant tax rules and regulations, and obtain the approvals as required. However, according to Circular 81, if the relevant tax authorities consider the transactions or arrangements we have are for the primary purpose of enjoying a favorable tax treatment, the relevant tax authorities may adjust the favorable withholding tax in the future.

In January 2009, the SAT promulgated the Provisional Measures for the Administration of Withholding of Enterprise Income Tax for Non-resident Enterprises, or the Non-resident Enterprises Measures, pursuant to which entities that have direct obligation to make certain payments to a non-resident enterprise shall be the relevant tax withholders for such non-resident enterprise. Further, the Non-resident Enterprises Measures provides that, in case of an equity transfer between two non-resident enterprises which occurs outside China, the non-resident enterprise which receives the equity transfer payment shall, by itself or engage an agent to, file tax declaration with the PRC tax authority located at place of the PRC company whose equity has been transferred, and the PRC company whose equity has been transferred shall assist the tax authorities to collect taxes from the relevant non-resident enterprise. On April 30, 2009, the MOF and the SAT jointly issued the Notice on Issues Concerning Process of Enterprise Income Tax in Enterprise Restructuring Business, or Circular 59. On December 10, 2009, the SAT issued the Notice on Strengthening the Administration of the Enterprise Income Tax concerning Proceeds from Equity Transfers by Non-resident Enterprises, or Circular 698. Both Circular 59 and Circular 698 became effective retroactively as of January 1, 2008. By promulgating and implementing these two circulars, the PRC tax authorities have enhanced their scrutiny over the direct or indirect transfer of equity interests in a PRC resident enterprise by a non-resident enterprise.

On February 3, 2015, the SAT issued a Public Notice [2015] No. 7, or Public Notice 7, to supersede existing provisions in relation to the Indirect Transfer as set forth in Circular 698, while the other provisions of Circular 698 remain in force. Public Notice 7 introduces a new tax regime that is significantly different from that under Circular 698. Public Notice extends its tax jurisdiction to to capture not only Indirect Transfer as set forth under Circular 698 but also transactions involving transfer of immovable property in China and assets held under the establishment and place, in China of a foreign company through the offshore transfer of a foreign intermediate holding company. Public Notice 7 also addresses transfer of the equity interest in a foreign intermediate holding company widely. In addition, Public Notice 7 provides clearer criteria than Circular 698 on how to assess reasonable commercial purposes and introduces safe harbor scenarios applicable to internal group restructurings. However, it also brings challenges to both the foreign transferor and transferee of the Indirect Transfer as they have to make self-assessment on whether the transaction should be subject to PRC tax and to file or withhold the PRC tax accordingly.

There are few guidances and practical experience as to the application of Circular 698 and Public Notice 7. Where non-resident investors were involved in our private equity financing, if such transactions were determined by the tax authorities to lack reasonable commercial purpose, we and our non-resident investors may become at risk of being taxed under Circular 698 and Public Notice 7 and may be required to expend valuable resources to comply with Circular 698 and Public Notice 7 or to establish that we should not be taxed under Circular 698 and Public Notice 7.

The PRC tax authorities have the discretion under SAT Circular 59, Circular 698 and Public Notice 7 to make adjustments to the taxable capital gains based on the difference between the fair value of the equity interests transferred and the cost of investment.

PRC Business Tax

Pursuant to applicable PRC tax regulations, any entity or individual conducting business in the service industry is generally required to pay a business tax at the rate of 5% on the revenues generated from providing such services. However, if the services provided are related to technology development and transfer, such business tax may be exempted subject to the approval of relevant tax authorities.

Value Added Tax

On January 1, 2012, the Chinese State Council officially launched a pilot value-added tax (“VAT”) reform program, or Pilot Program, applicable to businesses in selected industries. Businesses in the Pilot Program would pay VAT instead of business tax. The Pilot Industries in Shanghai included industries involving the leasing of tangible movable property, transportation services, research and development and technical services, information technology services, cultural and creative services, logistics and ancillary services, certification and consulting services. Revenues generated by advertising services, a type of “cultural and creative services,” are subject to the VAT tax rate of 6%. According to official announcements made by competent authorities in Beijing and Guangdong province, Beijing launched the same Pilot Program on September 1, 2012, and Guangdong province launched it on November 1, 2012. On May 24, 2013, the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation issued the Circular on Tax Policies in the Nationwide Pilot Collection of Value Added Tax in Lieu of Business Tax in the Transportation Industry and Certain Modern Services Industries, or the Pilot Collection Circular. The scope of certain modern services industries under the Pilot Collection Circular extends to the inclusion of radio and television services. On August 1, 2013, the Pilot Program was implemented throughout China. We currently pay the pilot VAT instead of business taxes for our advertising activities, and for any other parts of our business that are deemed by the local tax authorities to belong to the applicable industries.

Regulations Relating to Copyright and Trademark Protection

China has adopted legislation governing intellectual property rights, including copyrights and trademarks. China is a signatory to major international conventions on intellectual property rights and is subject to the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights as a result of its accession to the World Trade Organization in December 2001.

Copyright. The National People’s Congress amended the Copyright Law in 2001 and 2010 to widen the scope of works and rights that are eligible for copyright protection. The amended Copyright Law extends copyright protection to Internet activities, products disseminated over the Internet and software products. In addition, there is a voluntary registration system administered by the China Copyright Protection Center. To address copyright infringement related to content posted or transmitted over the internet, the National Copyright Administration and former Ministry of Information Industry jointly promulgated the Administrative Measures for Copyright Protection Related to the Internet in April 2005. These measures became effective in May 2005. To comply with these laws and regulations, we have implemented internal procedures to monitor and review the content we have been licensed from content providers before they are released on our website and remove any infringing content promptly after we receive notice of infringement from the legitimate rights holder.

On December 20, 2001, the State Council promulgated the new Regulations on Computer Software Protection, effective from January 1, 2002, which are intended to protect the rights and interests of the computer software copyright holders and encourage the development of software industry and information economy. In the PRC, software developed by PRC citizens, legal persons or other organizations is automatically protected immediately after its development, without an application or approval. Software copyright may be registered with the designated agency and if registered, the certificate of registration issued by the software registration agency will be the primary evidence of the ownership of the copyright and other registered matters. On February 20, 2002, the National Copyright Administration of the PRC introduced the Measures on Computer Software Copyright Registration, which outline the operational procedures for registration of software copyright, as well as registration of software copyright license and transfer contracts. The Copyright Protection Center of China is mandated as the software registration agency under the regulations.

The State Council and the National Copyright Administration have promulgated various rules and regulations and rules relating to protection of software in China, including the Regulations on Protection of Computer Software promulgated by State Council on January 30, 2013 and effective since March 1, 2013, and the Measures for Registration of Copyright of Computer Software promulgated by SARFT on February 20, 2002 and effective since the same date. According to these rules and regulations, software owners, licensees and transferees may register their rights in software with the National Copyright Administration or its local branches and obtain software copyright registration certificates. Although such registration is not mandatory under PRC law, software owners, licensees and transferees are encouraged to go through the registration process and registered software rights may be entitled to better protections. As of December 31, 2014,2015, we had registered 18 software copyrights and applied for four33 software copyrights in China.

Trademark. The PRC Trademark Law, adopted in 1982 and revised in 1993, 2001 and 2013 respectively, protects the proprietary rights to registered trademarks. The Trademark Office under the State Administration for Industry and Commerce handles trademark registrations and may grant a term of ten years for registered trademarks, which may be extended for another ten years upon request. Trademark license agreements shall be filed with the Trademark Office for record. In addition, if a registered trademark is recognized as a well-known trademark, the protection of the proprietary right of the trademark holder may reach beyond the specific class of the relevant products or services. As of December 31, 2014,2015, we had 1213 registered trademarks and had 47293 trademark applications in China.

Regulations Relating to Foreign Exchange

Pursuant to the Regulations on the Administration of Foreign Exchange issued by the State Council and effective in 1996, as amended in January 1997 and August 2008, respectively, current account transactions, such as the sale or purchase of goods, are not subject to PRC governmental approvals. Certain organizations in the PRC, including foreign-invested enterprises, may purchase, sell and/or remit foreign currencies at certain banks authorized to conduct foreign exchange business upon providing valid commercial documents. However, approval of the PRC State Administration of Foreign Exchange, or SAFE, is required for capital account transactions.

In August 2008, SAFE issued a circular on the conversion of foreign currency into Renminbi by a foreign-invested company that regulates how the converted Renminbi may be used, or the SAFE Circular 142. The circular requires that the registered capital of a foreign-invested enterprise converted into Renminbi from foreign currencies may only be utilized for purposes within its business scope. For example, such converted amounts may not be used for investments in or acquisitions of other companies, which can inhibit the ability of companies to consummate such transactions. In addition, SAFE strengthened its oversight of the flow and use of the Renminbi registered capital of foreign-invested enterprises converted from foreign currencies. The use of such Renminbi capital may not be changed without SAFE’s approval, and may not in any case be used to repay Renminbi loans if the proceeds of such loans have not been utilized. Furthermore, SAFE promulgated a circular in November 2010, which, among other things, requires the authenticity of settlement of net proceeds from offshore offerings to be closely examined and the net proceeds to be settled in the manner described in the offering documents. Violations may result in severe penalties, such as heavy fines.

In November 2012, SAFE promulgated the Circular of Further Improving and Adjusting Foreign Exchange Administration Policies on Foreign Direct Investment which substantially amends and simplifies the current foreign exchange procedure. Pursuant to this circular, the opening of various special purpose foreign exchange accounts (e.g. pre-establishment expenses account, foreign exchange capital account, guarantee account), the reinvestment of RMB proceeds by foreign investors in the PRC, and remittance of foreign exchange profits and dividends by a foreign-invested enterprise to its foreign shareholders no longer require the approval or verification of SAFE, and multiple capital accounts for the same entity may be opened in different provinces, which was not possible before. In addition, SAFE promulgated the Circular on Printing and Distributing the Provisions on Foreign Exchange Administration over Domestic Direct Investment by Foreign Investors and the Supporting Documents in May 2013, which specifies that the administration by SAFE or its local branches over direct investment by foreign investors in the PRC shall be conducted by way of registration and banks shall process foreign exchange business relating to the direct investment in the PRC based on the registration information provided by SAFE and its branches.

In April 8, 2015, SAFE promulgated the Circular on Reforming the Management Approach Regarding the Foreign Exchange Capital Settlement of Foreign-invested Enterprises, which will, upon its effective date as of June 1, 2015, supersedes the SAFE Circular 142. This circular provides that, among other things, the foreign-invested company may convert the foreign currency in its capital account into RMB on a “at will” basis and the RMB funds so converted can be used for equity investments. However, the RMB funds so converted shall not be used for the purposes of, whether directly or indirectly, (i) paying expenditures out of the ordinary course of business; (ii) investing in securities; (iii) extending entrusted loans or paying off loans extended or assumed by other companies; or (iv) purchasing real estate properties not for self-use except when the foreign invested company is a company approved to engaging in real estate development business.

Regulations Relating to Labor

Pursuant to the PRC Labor Law effective in 1995 and the PRC Labor Contract Law effective in 2008, a written labor contract is required when an employment relationship is established between an employer and an employee. Other labor-related regulations and rules of the PRC stipulate the maximum number of working hours per day and per week as well as the minimum wages. An employer is required to set up occupational safety and sanitation systems, implement the national occupational safety and sanitation rules and standards, educate employees on occupational safety and sanitation, prevent accidents at work and reduce occupational hazards.

In the PRC, workers dispatched by an employment agency are normally engaged in temporary, auxiliary or substitute work. Pursuant to the PRC Labor Contract Law, an employment agency is the employer for workers dispatched by it and shall perform an employer’s obligations toward them. The employment contract between the employment agency and the dispatched workers, and the placement agreement between the employment agency and the company that receives the dispatched workers shall be in writing. Furthermore, the company that accepts the dispatched workers shall be jointly and severally liable for any damage caused to the dispatched workers due to violation of the Labor Contract Law by the employment agencies arising from their contracts with dispatched workers. An employer is obligated to sign an indefinite term labor contract with an employee if the employer continues to employ the employee after two consecutive fixed-term labor contracts. The employer also has to pay compensation to the employee if the employer terminates an indefinite term labor contract. Except where the employer proposes to renew a labor contract by maintaining or raising the conditions of the labor contract and the employee is not agreeable to the renewal, an employer is required to compensate the employee when a definite term labor contract expires. Furthermore, under the Regulations on Paid Annual Leave for Employees issued by the State Council in December 2007 and effective as of January 2008, an employee who has served an employer for more than one year and less than ten years is entitled to a 5-dayfive-day paid vacation, those whose service period ranges from 10 to 20 years is entitled to a 10-day paid vacation, and those who has served for more than 20 years is entitled to a 15-day paid vacation. An employee who does not use such vacation time at the request of the employer shall be compensated at three times their normal salaries for each waived vacation day.

Pursuant to the Regulations on Occupational Injury Insurance effective in 2004, as amended in 2010, and the Interim Measures concerning the Maternity Insurance for Enterprise Employees effective in 1995, PRC companies must pay occupational injury insurance premiums and maternity insurance premiums for their employees. Pursuant to the Interim Regulations on the Collection and Payment of Social Insurance Premiums effective in 1999 and the Interim Measures concerning the Administration of the Registration of Social Insurance effective in 1999, basic pension insurance, medical insurance and unemployment insurance are collectively referred to as social insurance. Both PRC companies and their employees are required to contribute to the social insurance plans. Pursuant to the Regulations on the Administration of Housing Fund effective in 1999, as amended in 2002, PRC companies must register with applicable housing fund management centers and establish a special housing fund account in an entrusted bank. Both PRC companies and their employees are required to contribute to the housing funds.

According to the Social Insurance Law, an employer that fails to make social insurance contributions may be ordered to pay the required contributions within a stipulated deadline and be subject to a late fee. If the employer still fails to rectify the failure to make social insurance contributions within the stipulated deadline, it may be subject to a fine ranging from one to three times the amount overdue. According to the Regulations on Administration of Housing Fund, an enterprise that fails to make housing fund contributions may be ordered to rectify the noncompliance and pay the required contributions within a stipulated deadline; otherwise, an application may be made to a local court for compulsory enforcement.

Regulations Relating to Dividend Distribution

Wholly foreign-owned companies in the PRC may pay dividends only out of their accumulated profits after tax as determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards. Remittance of dividends by a wholly foreign-owned enterprise out of China is subject to examination by the banks designated by SAFE. Wholly foreign-owned companies may not pay dividends unless they set aside at least 10% of their respective accumulated profits after tax each year, if any, to fund certain reserve funds, until such time as the accumulative amount of such fund reaches 50% of the wholly foreign-owned company’s registered capital. These reserve funds are not distributable as cash dividends.

SAFE Regulations on Offshore Special Purpose Companies Held by PRC Residents or Citizens

SAFE Circular on Relevant Issues Relating to Domestic Resident’s Investment and Financing and Roundtrip Investment through Special Purpose Vehicles, or Circular 37, issued by SAFE and effective in July 2014, regulates foreign exchange matters in relation to the use of special purpose vehicles, or SPVs, by PRC residents or entities to seek offshore investment and financing and conduct round trip investment in China. Under Circular 37, a SPV refers to an offshore entity established or controlled, directly or indirectly, by PRC residents or entities for the purpose of seeking offshore financing or making offshore investment, using legitimate domestic or offshore assets or interests, while “round trip investment” refers to the direct investment in China by PRC residents or entities through SPVs, namely, establishing foreign-invested enterprises to obtain the ownership, control rights and management rights. Circular 37 requires that, before making contribution into an SPV, PRC residents or entities are required to complete foreign exchange registration with the SAFE or its local branch. SAFE Circular 37 further provides that option or share-based incentive tool holders of a non-listed SPV can exercise the options or share incentive tools to become a shareholder of such non-listed SPV, subject to registration with SAFE or its local branch.

PRC residents or entities who have contributed legitimate domestic or offshore interests or assets to SPVs but have yet to obtain SAFE registration before the implementation of the Circular 37 shall register their ownership interests or control in such SPVs with SAFE or its local branch. An amendment to the registration is required if there is a material change in the SPV registered, such as any change of basic information (including change of such PRC residents, name and operation term), increases or decreases in investment amount, transfers or exchanges of shares, or mergers or divisions. Failure to comply with the registration procedures set forth in Circular 37, or making misrepresentation on or failure to disclose controllers of foreign-invested enterprise that is established through round-trip investment, may result in restrictions on the foreign exchange activities of the relevant foreign-invested enterprises, including payment of dividends and other distributions, such as proceeds from any reduction in capital, share transfer or liquidation, to its offshore parent or affiliate, and the capital inflow from the offshore parent, and may also subject relevant PRC residents or entities to penalties under PRC foreign exchange administration regulations.

We have completed the foreign exchange registration of PRC resident shareholders of Mr. Yan Tang, Mr. Yong Li, Mr. Xiaoliang Lei and Mr. Zhiwei Li for our financings and share transfer.

M&A Rule and Overseas Listing

In August 2006, six PRC regulatory agencies, including China Securities Regulatory Commission, or CSRC, jointly adopted the Provisions Regarding Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, or the M&A Rule, which became effective in September 2006. This M&A Rule purports to require, among other things, offshore SPVs, formed for listing purposes through acquisition of PRC domestic companies and controlled by PRC companies or individuals, to obtain the approval of the CSRC prior to publicly listing their securities on an overseas stock exchange. We believe that CSRC approval is not required in the context of our initial public offering as we are not a special purpose vehicle formed for listing purpose through acquisition of domestic companies that are controlled by our PRC individual shareholders, as we acquired contractual control rather than equity interests in our domestic affiliated entities.

However, we cannot assure you that the relevant PRC government agency, including the CSRC, would reach the same conclusion as we do. If the CSRC or other PRC regulatory agency subsequently determines that we need to obtain the CSRC’s approval for our initial public offering or if CSRC or any other PRC government authorities will promulgate any interpretation or implementing rules before our listing that would require CSRC or other governmental approvals for our initial public offering, we may face sanctions by the CSRC or other PRC regulatory agencies. In such event, these regulatory agencies may impose fines and penalties on our operations in the PRC, limit our operating privileges in the PRC, delay or restrict the repatriation of the proceeds from our initial public offering into the PRC, or take other actions that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects, as well as the trading price of our ADSs.

SAFE Regulations on Employee Share Options

Pursuant to the Notice on Issues Concerning the Foreign Exchange Administration for Domestic Individuals Participating in Stock Incentive Plan of Overseas Publicly Listed Company, or Circular 7, issued by SAFE in February 2012, employees, directors, supervisors and other senior management participating in any stock incentive plan of an overseas publicly listed company who are PRC citizens or who are non-PRC citizens residing in China for a continuous period of not less than one year, subject to a few exceptions, are required to register with SAFE through a domestic qualified agent, which could be a PRC subsidiary of such overseas listed company, and complete certain other procedures. Failure to complete the SAFE registrations may subject them to fines and legal sanctions and may also limit our ability to contribute additional capital into our wholly foreign-owned subsidiaries in China and limit these subsidiaries’ ability to distribute dividends to us.

In addition, the State Administration for Taxation has issued certain circulars concerning employee share options or restricted shares. Under these circulars, the employees working in the PRC who exercise share options or are granted restricted shares will be subject to PRC individual income tax. The PRC subsidiaries of such overseas listed company 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 the employees fail to pay or the PRC subsidiaries fail to withhold their income taxes according to relevant laws and regulations, the PRC subsidiaries may face sanctions imposed by the tax authorities or other PRC government authorities. We are in the process of filing registration with the local SAFE bureau for our employees who are PRC residents and have been granted shares or share options under our 2012 Plan and 2014 Plan and we will follow other procedures set forth in Circular 7 and other applicable regulations. These registrations and filings are a matter of foreign exchange control and tax procedure and the grant of share incentive awards to employees is not subject to the government’s discretionary approval. Compliance with PRC regulations on employee incentive plans has not had, and we believe will not in the future have, any material adverse effect on the implementation of our 2012 Plan and 2014 Plan.

The following diagram illustrates our corporate structure, including our principal subsidiaries, consolidated affiliated entity and its subsidiaries as of the date of this annual report on Form 20-F.

Note:

Contractual Arrangements with Beijing Momo

PRC laws and regulations place certain restrictions on foreign investment in and ownership of internet-based businesses. Accordingly, we conduct our operations in China principally through Beijing Momo and its subsidiary, Chengdu Momo,subsidiaries, over which we exercise effective control through contractual arrangements among Beijing Momo IT, Beijing Momo and its shareholders.

The contractual arrangements allow us to:

As a result of these contractual arrangements, we are the primary beneficiary of Beijing Momo and its subsidiary,subsidiaries, and, therefore, have consolidated the financial results of Beijing Momo and its subsidiarysubsidiaries in our consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

The following is a summary of the currently effective contractual arrangements by and among our wholly-owned subsidiary, Beijing Momo IT, Beijing Momo, and the shareholders of Beijing Momo.

Business operation agreement. Under the business operation agreement entered into among Beijing Momo IT, Beijing Momo and the shareholders of Beijing Momo on April 18, 2012, as supplemented on June 9, 2014, the shareholders of Beijing Momo agreed that Beijing Momo would not enter into any transaction that could materially or adversely affect its assets, business, interests or operations without prior written consent from Beijing Momo IT, including conducting business beyond the usual and normal scope, entering into any loan or other debtor-creditor relationship with third party, selling or disposing of assets or rights, including intellectual property rights, and creating guarantees or any other security on any of its assets or intellectual property rights in favor of a third party. In addition, the shareholders of Beijing Momo agreed to vote for or appoint nominees designated by Beijing Momo IT to serve as Beijing Momo’s directors, chairman, general managers, financial controllers and other senior managers. Furthermore, Beijing Momo’s shareholders agreed to accept and implement proposals set forth by Beijing Momo IT regarding employment, day-to-day business operations and financial management. Beijing Momo IT is entitled to any dividends or other interests declared by Beijing Momo and the shareholders of Beijing Momo have agreed to promptly transfer such dividends or other interests to Beijing Momo IT. These agreements have an initial term of ten years from the date of execution, and may be extended at the discretion of Beijing Momo IT. Beijing Momo IT may terminate this agreement at any time by giving a prior written notice to Beijing Momo and its shareholders. Neither Beijing Momo nor its shareholders may terminate this agreement.

Exclusive call option agreements. Under the exclusive call option agreements between Beijing Momo IT, Beijing Momo and each of the shareholders of Beijing Momo entered into on April 18, 2012, and amended and restated on April 18, 2014, each of the shareholders of Beijing Momo irrevocably granted Beijing Momo IT an exclusive option to purchase, to the extent permitted under PRC law, all or part of their equity interests in Beijing Momo for a nominal price of RMB10 or the lowest price permitted under PRC law. In addition, Beijing Momo irrevocably granted Beijing Momo IT an exclusive and irrevocable option to purchase any or all of the assets owned by Beijing Momo at the lowest price permitted under PRC law. Without Beijing Momo IT’s prior written consent, Beijing Momo and its shareholders will not sell, transfer, mortgage or otherwise dispose of Beijing Momo’s material assets, legal or beneficial interests or revenues of more than RMB500,000, or allow an encumbrance on any interest in Beijing Momo. These agreements will remain effective until all equity interests held in Beijing Momo by its shareholders are transferred or assigned to Beijing Momo IT.

Equity interest pledge agreements. Under the equity interest pledge agreements between Beijing Momo IT, Beijing Momo and the shareholders of Beijing Momo entered into on April 18, 2012, and amended and restated on April 18, 2014, the shareholders of Beijing Momo pledged all of their equity interests in Beijing Momo (including any equity interest subsequently acquired) to Beijing Momo IT to guarantee the performance by Beijing Momo and its shareholders of their respective obligations under the contractual arrangements, including the payments due to Beijing Momo IT for services provided. If Beijing Momo or any of its shareholders breach their obligations under these contractual arrangements, Beijing Momo IT, as the pledgee, will be entitled to certain rights and remedies, including priority in receiving the proceeds from the auction or disposal of the pledged equity interests in Beijing Momo. Beijing Momo IT has the right to receive dividends generated by the pledged equity interests during the term of the pledge. The pledge becomes effective on the date when the pledge of equity interests contemplated under the agreement is registered with the relevant local administration for industry and commerce and will remain binding until Beijing Momo and its shareholders discharge all their obligations under the contractual arrangements. We have registered the equity interest pledge agreements with Chaoyang Branch of Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce in Beijing.

Powers of attorney. Pursuant to the powers of attorney entered into on April 18, 2012 and amended and restated on April 18, 2014, each shareholder of Beijing Momo irrevocably appointed Beijing Momo IT as their attorney-in-fact to act for all matters pertaining to Beijing Momo and to exercise all of their rights as shareholders of Beijing Momo, including attending shareholders’ meetings and designating and appointing legal representatives, directors and senior management members of Beijing Momo. Beijing Momo IT may authorize or assign its rights under this appointment to any other person or entity at its sole discretion without prior notice to or prior consent from the shareholders of Beijing Momo. Each power of attorney remains in force until the shareholder ceases to hold any equity interest in Beijing Momo.

Spousal consent letters. Under the spousal consent letters, each spouse of the married shareholders of Beijing Momo unconditionally and irrevocably agreed that the equity interest in Beijing Momo held by and registered in the name of their spouse will be disposed of pursuant to the equity interest pledge agreement, the exclusive call option agreement, and the power of attorney. Each spouse agreed not to assert any rights over the equity interest in Beijing Momo held by their spouse. In addition, in the event that the spouses obtain any equity interest in Beijing Momo held by their spouse for any reason, they agreed to be bound by the contractual arrangements.

Exclusive cooperation agreements.agreements. Beijing Momo IT entered into an exclusive cooperation agreement and a supplemental agreement with Beijing Momo on August 31, 2014 to supersede the exclusive technology consulting and management services agreement signed in April 2012 between Beijing Momo IT and Beijing Momo. Under the agreement, Beijing Momo IT has the exclusive right to provide, among other things, licenses, copyrights, technical and non-technical services to Beijing Momo and receive license fees and service fees as consideration. Without Beijing Momo IT’s prior written consent, Beijing Momo may not engage any third party to provide the same or similar licenses and services provided by Beijing Momo IT under the agreement. Beijing Momo IT also solely and exclusively owns any intellectual property rights arising from the performance of the agreement. Beijing Momo IT agrees to charge the licensing and service fees only if the operating profit rate, as such term is defined in the agreement, of Beijing Momo exceeds a specified threshold, which is initially set at 3.5% and will be adjusted from time to time. Any amount over the operating profit rate will be paid to Beijing Momo IT in the form of licensing and service fees. A breakdown of licensing and service fees will be exchanged between the parties each month and paid within 60 days from the end of such month. The licensing fee for the mobile social networking software owned by Beijing Momo IT will be 12.5% of Beijing Momo’s revenues generated from its principal business, while the licensing fee for the emoticons owned by Beijing Momo IT and licensed to Beijing Momo will be 12.5% of Beijing Momo’s revenues from emoticon sales, both to be adjusted from time to time. The agreement has retrospective effect starting from January 1, 2014 with respect to the licensing and service fees. The agreement has an initial term of ten years from the date of execution, and may be extended at the sole discretion of Beijing Momo IT. Beijing Momo IT may terminate the agreement at any time with a 30-day notice to Beijing Momo, but Beijing Momo may not terminate the agreement.

In the opinion of Han Kun Law Offices, our PRC counsel:

However, there are substantial uncertainties regarding the interpretation and application of current and future PRC laws, regulations and rules. Accordingly, the PRC regulatory authorities may in the future take a view that is contrary to the above opinion of our PRC counsel. If the PRC government finds that the agreements that establish the structure for operating our business do not comply with PRC government restrictions on foreign investment in our businesses, we could be subject to severe penalties, including being prohibited from continuing operations. See “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure—If the PRC government finds that the agreements that establish the structure for operating our businesses in China do not comply with PRC regulations on foreign investment in internet and other related businesses, or if these regulations or their interpretation change in the future, we could be subject to severe penalties or be forced to relinquish our interests in those operations,” and “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Doing Business in China—Uncertainties in the interpretation and enforcement of PRC laws and regulations could limit the legal protections available to you and us.”

Beijing Momo IT also entered into an exclusive cooperation agreement and a supplemental agreement with Chengdu Momo on August 31, 2014, which agreements are substantially similar to the ones entered into between Beijing Momo IT and Beijing Momo described above.

Our headquarters and our principal service development facilities are located in Beijing. We have leased an aggregate of approximately 9,841 square meters of office space in Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai and San Francisco as of March 31, 2015.2016. These leases vary in duration from two to three years.

The servers that we use to provide our services are primarily maintained at various third-party internet data centers in Beijing and Tianjin.Beijing.

None.

The following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations is based upon, and should be read in conjunction with, our audited consolidated financial statements and the related notes included in this annual report on Form 20-F. This report contains forward-looking statements. See “Forward-Looking Information.” In evaluating our business, you should carefully consider the information provided under the caption “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors” in this annual report on Form 20-F. We caution you that our businesses and financial performance are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties.

A.	Operating Results

Major Factors Affecting Our Results of Operations

User Growth. Our revenues are driven by the number of our paying users, which include our members as well as users who make purchases ofpurchase emoticons, virtual gifts or purchase virtual items in mobile games and live music and entertainment shows offered on our platform, whichplatform. The number of our paying users is in turn are affected by the growth in our active user base, and strategies we pursue to achieve active user growth that may affect our costs and expenses and results of operations. We have experienced rapid user growth since our inception.inception, although such rate of growth slowed significantly in 2015. Currently, membership subscription fees are the largest component of our revenues. The growth of our member base is driven primarily by the growth of the number of active users and our ability to convert a greater portion of our users into members.

User Engagement. Changes in user engagement could affect our revenues and financial results. Active user engagement powered by diverse functionalities and rich content enables us to secure an abundant supply of user profiles and behavioral data, which is essential for our mobile marketing services and our ability to improve our service features, including our user tiering system.

Monetization. We started monetization in the third quarter of 2013, and we are continuing to refine the ways to monetize our service offerings without adversely affecting user experience. We planIn 2015, we started to increase the revenues generated through our membership subscription fees by offering moreoffer premium services to our members.premium members, which contributed to our revenue growth. We plan to continue to partner with third-party game developers and to develop games in-house to offer more games tailored to our platform and our users. We will continue to buildTo further monetize our mobile marketing business, including the development of more innovative native advertisinglarge user base, in 2015 we have launched our live music and comprehensive mobileentertainment broadcasting services and our in-feed marketing solutions. Our future revenue growth will be affected by our ability to effectively execute our monetization strategies.

Investment in Technology Infrastructure and Talent. Our technology infrastructure is critical for us to retain and attract users, customers and platform partners. We must continue to upgrade and expand our technology infrastructure to keep pace with the growth of our business, to further enhance our big data analytical capabilities, and to develop new features and services for our platform.

Our employee headcount has increased significantly as our business has grown and we expect this trend to continue for the foreseeable future. The number of our employees increased from 76 as of December 31, 2012 to 209 as of December 31, 2013 and further to 456 as of December 31, 2014.2014 and further to 779 as of December 31, 2015. There is strong demand in China’s internet industry for talented and experienced personnel from fast-growing and large-scale social networking platforms. We must recruit, retain and motivate talented employees while controlling our personnel-related expenses, including share-based compensation expenses.

Taxation

Cayman Islands

We are incorporated inregistered by way of continuation into the Cayman Islands. Under the current law of the Cayman Islands, we are not subject to income or capital gains tax in the Cayman Islands. In addition, our payment of dividends to our shareholders, if any, is not subject to withholding tax in the Cayman Islands.

British Virgin Islands

Our subsidiary incorporated in the British Virgin Islands is a tax-exempted company.

USUnited States

Our subsidiary incorporated in the United States is subject to state income tax and federal income tax at different tax rates, depending on taxable income levels. As our US subsidiary did not have any taxable income, no income tax expense was provided for in the year ended December 31, 2014.2015.

Hong Kong

Our subsidiary incorporated in Hong Kong is subject to the uniform tax rate of 16.5%. Under the Hong Kong tax laws, it is exempted from the Hong Kong income tax on its foreign-derived income and there are no withholding taxes in Hong Kong on the remittance of dividends. No provision for Hong Kong tax has been made in our consolidated financial statements, as our Hong Kong subsidiary had not generated any assessable income in 2012, 2013, 2014 or 2014.2015.

PRCPeople’s Republic of China

Pursuant to the EIT Law, which became effective on January 1, 2008, foreign-invested enterprises and domestic companies are subject to enterprise income tax at a uniform rate of 25%. In August 2014, Beijing Momo IT was qualified as a software enterprise. As such, Beijing Momo IT will be exempt from income taxes for two years beginning in its first profitable year followed by a tax rate of 12.5% for the succeeding three years. However,For the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2014, as Beijing Momo IT was still in accumulated loss position, the applicable tax rate was 25%. Beijing Momo IT was eligible for income tax exemptions for 2015 and 2016, followed by a reduced income tax rate of 12.5% for each of 2017, 2018 and 2019. Chengdu Momo qualified as a western China development enterprise and the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013income tax rate was 15% in 2014. Chengdu Momo applied the same income tax rate in 2015 and 2014 remainedwe are in the process of renewing Chengdu Momo’s qualification as 25%.a western China development enterprise. The other entities incorporated in the PRC arewere subject to an enterprise income tax at a rate of 25%.

As we had net operating losses

We have recognized income tax expense of nil, nil and $92 for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2014, we have not incurred any PRC income taxes for those periods.2015, respectively.

Effective January 1, 2012, the PRC Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation launched a Business Tax to Value-Added Tax Transformation Pilot Program, or the VAT Pilot Program, which imposes VAT in lieu of business tax for certain “modern service industries” in certain regions and eventually expands to nation-wide in 2013. According to the implementation circulars released by the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation on the VAT Pilot Program, the “modern service industries” include research, development and technology services, information technology services, cultural innovation services, logistics support, lease of corporeal properties, attestation and consulting services. All of our entities were subject to the VAT Pilot Program as of December 2014,31, 2015, or specifically, VAT at rate of 6% in lieu of business tax. With the adoption of the VAT Pilot Program, our revenues are subject to VAT payable on goods sold or taxable services provided by a general VAT taxpayer for a taxable period, which is the net balance of the output VAT for the period after crediting the input VAT for the period. Hence, the amount of VAT payable does not result directly from output VAT generated from goods sold or taxable services provided. Therefore, we have adopted the net presentation of VAT.

Pursuant to applicable PRC laws and regulations, arrangements and transactions among related parties may be subject to audit or challenge by the PRC tax authorities. We may be subject to adverse tax consequences and our consolidated results of operations may be adversely affected if the PRC tax authorities determine that the contractual arrangements among our PRC subsidiary, Beijing Momo and its shareholders are not on an arm’s length basis and therefore constitute favorable transfer pricing. See “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure—Contractual arrangements we have entered into with Beijing Momo may be subject to scrutiny by the PRC tax authorities. A finding that we owe additional taxes could significantly reduce our consolidated net income and the value of your investment.”

Results of Operations

The following table sets forth a summary of our consolidated results of operations for the periods indicated, both in absolute amounts and as percentages of our total net revenues. This information should be read together with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this annual report. The results of operations in any period are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for any future period.

Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 20142015

Net revenues

We started to generate revenues in the second half of 2013. We currently generate revenues primarily from membership subscription, mobile marketing services, mobile games, and other services. Membership subscription and other service revenues are presented net of surcharges and taxes. Mobile marketing services are presented net of agency rebates, surcharges and taxes. Mobile games revenues include revenues generated from mobile games developed by third-party game developers and from self-developed mobile game. Mobile games revenues generated by third-party game developers are presented net of revenue sharing with game developers, commission fees made to third-party application stores and other payment channels, surcharges and taxes. We startedMobile games revenues derived from self-developed game are recorded on a gross basis. Net revenues increased significantly from US$44.8 million in 2014 to generateUS$134.0 million in 2015, primarily due to a significant increase in net revenues in the second half of 2013.from membership subscription, mobile marketing services and mobile games. Net revenues increased significantly from US$3.1 million in 2013 to US$44.8 million in 2014, primarily due to a significant increase in net revenues from membership subscription and mobile games.

Membership subscription.

Momo users can become members by paying monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual membership fees. Momo members are entitled to additional functionalities and privileges on our mobile application.

2015 compared to 2014. Our membership subscription revenues increased to US$58.5 million in 2015 from US$29.8 million in 2014, primarily driven by the increase in the number of our members and the increase in average revenue per paying user, due to the premium membership introduced in June 2015.

2014 compared to 2013.Our membership subscription revenues were US$29.8 million in 2014, compared to US$2.8 million in 2013, all of which were generated in the second half of 2013. The growth in membership subscription fees revenues was primarily driven by the significant increase in the number of our members since we started monetization. Our members increased from 0.6 million as of December 31, 2013 to 2.9 million as of December 31, 2014. The increase in the number of our members was in turn driven by the growth in our active user base and increased user engagement. Our MAUs increased from 33.7 million in December 2013 to 69.3 million in December 2014.

Mobile gamesmarketing services

We began to offer mobile marketing services in the third quarter of 2013. As of December 31, 2015, our mobile marketing services included brand-oriented display ads, in-feed marketing solutions powered by a proprietary self-serve advertising system, and advertising services provided through third-party partnerships.

2015 compared to 2014. Mobile marketing services revenues increased to US$38.9 million in 2015 from US$2.0 million in 2014, primarily due to improving efficiency of our proprietary in-feed marketing system launched in the second quarter of 2015, stronger demand for display banners from brand marketers and, to a lesser extent, increase in mobile marketing revenues from third-party strategic partnerships with Alibaba and 58.com.

2014 compared to 2013.Mobile marketing services revenues were US$2.0 million in 2014, compared to approximately US$12,000 in 2013. The growth in mobile marketing services revenues from 2013 to 2014 was primarily due to increased placement of display banners in our mobile application and the launch of ourDao Dian Tong service in the third quarter of 2014.

Mobile games

We began to generate mobile games revenues in the fourth quarter of 2013, when we introduced two games on our platform. Our mobile games revenues were US$11.2 million in 2014, compared to US$92,000 in 2013. The growth in mobile games revenues was primarily due to the launch of 11 new games in 2014 resulting in more paying users. As of December 31, 2014,2015, we had twothree types of mobile game services, namely, non-exclusive licensed mobile game services, exclusive licensed mobile game services and exclusiveself-developed mobile game services. For non-exclusive licensed mobile game services, we offer our mobile game platform for mobile games developed by third-party game developers, and we share user payments with such game developers. Game developers may offer their games on other platforms in addition to ours. For exclusive licensed mobile game services, we offer our mobile game platform for mobile games developed by third-party game developers, and our platform is the only one through which players can access such games. In addition to licensed mobile games, we also operate self-developed mobile games on our mobile game platform. As of December 31, 2014,2015, we operated nine22 non-exclusive licensed games, on our platform under non-exclusive mobile game servicesseven exclusive licensed games and three game under exclusive mobile game services.one self-developed game. We expect the number of games operated under exclusive mobile game serviceson our platform to increase in the future. Our revenues from mobile games depend on the number of paying users, which ultimately is determined by our ability to select and offer engaging games tailored to our platform and our user profiles.

2015 compared to 2014. Our mobile games revenues increased to US$31.1 million in 2015 from US$11.2 million in 2014, primarily due to the launch of 22 new games in 2015 resulting in more paying users.

2014 compared to 2013.Our mobile games revenues were US$11.2 million in 2014, compared to US$92,000 in 2013. The growth in mobile games revenues was primarily due to the launch of 11 new games in 2014 resulting in more paying users.

Other services.

Our other services include paid emoticons and mobile marketing services.our live music and entertainment broadcasting service.

2015 compared to 2014. Other services revenues were US$5.6 million in 2015, compared to US$1.8 million in 2014. The growth in other services revenues from 2014 to 2015 was primarily due to revenues from our live music and entertainment broadcasting services launched in the third quarter of 2015 and increase in revenues from the sale of paid emoticons.

2014 compared to 2013.Other services revenues, which comprised revenues from sales of paid emoticons, were US$1.8 million in 2014, compared to US$0.2 million in 2013. Our virtual store began to generate revenues from stylish and trendy emoticons for sale in the third quarter of 2013. The growth of our paid emoticon revenues was primarily attributable to the increase in our paying users, which iswas in turn driven by the size of our active user base. We also generated revenues from our mobile marketing services, which as of December 31, 2014 included the setting up of business profile pages by local merchants through ourDao Dian Tong service, the placement of banner displays in our mobile application, and providing user traffic advertisement services to merchants of 58.com’s online marketplace. We began to offer mobile marketing services in the third quarter of 2013. Other services revenues were US$3.8 million in 2014, compared to US$0.2 million in 2013. The growth in other services revenues from 2013 to 2014 was primarily due to increased placement of banner advertisement displays in our mobile application and the launch of ourDao Dian Tong service in the third quarter of 2014.

Cost and expenses

Cost of revenues

Cost of revenues consists primarily of costs associated with the operation and maintenance of our platform, including bandwidth costs, commission fees, depreciation, SMS costs, labor costs and labor costs.professional fees. Bandwidth costs, including internet data center and content delivery network fees, consist of fees that we pay to telecommunication carriers and other service providers for telecommunication services, hosting our servers at their internet data centers, and providing content and application delivery services. Commission fees are payments made to third-party application stores and other payment channels for distributing our mobile application and membership subscription services, self-developed mobile games, paid emotions and our mobile marketing services. Users and customers can make payments for such services through third-party online and mobile phone payment channels. These third-party payment channels typically charge a handling fee for their services. Depreciation mainly consists of depreciation cost on our servers, computers and other equipment. SMS costs consist of fees that we pay to telecommunication carriers for text message services provided to our users for verification purpose. Labor costs consist of salaries and benefits, including share-based compensation expenses, for our employees involved in the operation of our platform.

The following table sets forth the components Service fees mainly consist of our cost of revenues by amounts and percentages of our total cost of revenues for the periods presented:

Our cost of revenues was US$2.9 million in 2013 and US$15.8 million in 2014. The significant increase in cost of revenues was primarily dueservice costs related to our rapid business expansion. Prior to generating revenues in the third quarter of 2013, we recorded US$0.6 millionlive music and US$0.8 million of bandwidth costs and SMS costs in general and administrative expenses in 2012 and the first half of 2013, respectively.entertainment broadcasting services. We expect our cost of revenues to increase in the future as we continue to enhance the capability and reliability of our infrastructure to support user growth and increased activity on our platform.

The following table sets forth the components of our cost of revenues by amounts and percentages of our total cost of revenues for the periods presented:

2015 compared to 2014. Our cost of revenues increased 92.3% from US$15.8 million in 2014 to US$30.3 million in 2015, primarily due to a US$3.5 million increase in labor costs resulting from an increase in the number of employees involved in the operation of our platform, a US$3.1 million increase in commission fees, which was driven by the growth of our revenues, a US$2.9 million increase in depreciation costs and a US$2.2 million in bandwidth costs and SMS costs, which were driven by strong traffic growth, and a US$1.4 million increase in the service costs related to our newly launched live music and entertainment broadcasting service.

2014 compared to 2013.Our cost of revenues was US$2.9 million and US$15.8 million in 2013 and 2014, respectively. The significant increase in cost of revenues was primarily due to our rapid business expansion. Prior to generating revenues in the third quarter of 2013, we recorded US$0.8 million of bandwidth costs and SMS costs in general and administrative expenses in the first half of 2013.

Research and development expenses

Research and development expenses consist primarily of salaries and benefits, including share-based compensation expenses, for research and development personnel and rental expenses associated with research and development activities. Expenditures incurred during the research phase are expensed as incurred. We expect our research and development expenses to increase as we expand our research and development team to further enhance our big data analytical capabilities and to develop new features and services for our platform.

2015 compared to 2014. Our research and development expenses increased by 151.1% from US$9.3 million in 2014 to US$23.3 million in 2015. This increase was primarily due to a US$13.2 million increase in salaries and benefits for research and development personnel. Our research and development headcount increased from 213 as of December 31, 2014 to 319 as of December 31, 2015.

2014 compared to 2013. Our research and development expenses increased by 162.3% from US$3.5 million in 2013 to US$9.3 million in 2014. This increase was primarily due to a US$4.6 million increase in salaries and benefits for research and development personnel and a US$0.6 million increase in rental expenses associated with research and development activities as a result of our moving into a new headquarters office in May 2014. Our research and development headcount increased from 101 as of December 31, 2013 to 213 as of December 31, 2014.

2013 compared to 2012. Our research and development expenses increased by 142.9% from US$1.5 million in 2012 to US$3.5 million in 2013. This increase was primarily due to a US$1.7 million increase in salaries and benefits for research and development personnel. Our research and development headcount increased from 43 as of December 31, 2012 to 101 as of December 31, 2013.

Sales and marketing expenses

Sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of general marketing and promotional expenses, as well as salaries and benefits, including share-based compensation expenses, for our sales and marketing personnel. We expect our sales and marketing expenses to increase as we plan to enhance our brand awareness, and attract new users.users and promote our new services.

2015 compared to 2014. Our sales and marketing expenses increased from US$35.5 million in 2014 to US$52.6 million in 2015, primarily due to a US$13.7 million increase in salaries and other benefits for our sales and marketing personnel. Our sales and marketing headcount increased from 148 as of December 31, 2014 to 274 as of December 31, 2015.

2014 compared to 2013. Our sales and marketing expenses increased from US$3.0 million in 2013 to US$35.5 million in 2014, primarily due to a US$26.2 million increase in marketing and promotional expenses to enhance our brand awareness and a US$4.7 million increase in salaries and other benefits for our sales and marketing personnel. Our sales and marketing headcount increased from 57 as of December 31, 2013 to 148 as of December 31, 2014.

2013 compared to 2012. Our sales and marketing expenses increased from $0.4 million in 2012 to $3.0 million in 2013, primarily due to a US$1.0 million increase in salaries and other benefits for our sales and marketing personnel, and a US$1.0 million increase in marketing and promotional expenses to enhance our brand awareness. Our sales and marketing headcount more than doubled, from 25 as of December 31, 2012 to 57 as of December 31, 2013.

General and administrative expenses

General and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries and expenses, including share-based compensation expense, professional fees and rental expenses. We expect our general and administrative expenses to increase as our business grows and as we comply with our reporting obligations under U.S. securities laws as a public company.

2015 compared to 2014. Our general and administrative expenses increased from US$10.4 million in 2014 to US$22.9 million in 2015. This increase was primarily due to a US$7.7 million increase in salaries and other benefits including share-based compensation expenses for our general and administrative personnel, a US$1.6 million increase in professional fees for legal, auditing and other services and a US$1.4 million increase in expense of writing off prepayments to game developers due to termination of certain game licensing contracts.

2014 compared to 2013.2013. Our general and administrative expenses increased from US$3.0 million in 2013 to US$10.4 million in 2014. This increase was primarily due to a US$6.6 million increase in salaries and other benefits including share-based compensation expenses for our general and administrative personnel, a US$1.3 million increase in professional fees for legal, auditing and other services, and a US$0.4 million increase of rental expenses as a result of moving into a new headquarters office in May 2014, offset by a decrease in costs associated with the maintenance of our platform. We included bandwidth costs and SMS costs in an amount of US$0.8 million in the first half of 2013 in our general and administrative expenses prior to our monetization in the third quarter of 2013, but have included them in cost of revenues since then.

2013Net (loss) income

2015 compared to 2012.2014 Our general and administrative expenses increased by 52.9% from. Primarily as a result of the foregoing, we recorded net income of US$2.013.7 million in 20122015, compared to net loss of US$3.025.4 million in 2013. This increase was primarily due to an increase of US$0.6 million in salaries and other benefits for our general and administrative personnel, and an increase in costs associated with the maintenance of our platform. We included bandwidth costs and SMS costs in total of US$0.6 million in 2012 and US$0.8 million in 2013 in our general and administrative expenses prior to our monetization in the third quarter of 2013, but have included them in cost of revenues since then.

Net loss2014.

2014 compared to 2013. As Primarily as a result of the foregoing, we recorded net loss of US$9.3 million in 2013 and US$25.4 million in 2014.

2013 compared to 2012. As a result of the foregoing, we recorded net loss of US$3.8 million in 2012 and US$9.3 million in 2013.

Inflation

Since our inception, inflation in China has not materially impacted our results of operations. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the year-over-year percent changes in the consumer price index for December 2012, 2013, 2014 and 20142015 were increases of 2.5%, 2.5%1.5% and 1.5%1.6%, respectively. Although we have not in the past been materially affected by inflation since our inception, we can provide no assurance that we will not be affected in the future by higher rates of inflation in China.

Critical Accounting Policies

We prepare our financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP, which requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect our reporting of, among other things, assets and liabilities, revenues and expenses and contingent assets and liabilities. We continually evaluate these estimates and assumptions based on the most recently available information, our own historical experience and other factors that we believe to be relevant under the circumstances. Since our financial reporting process inherently relies on the use of estimates and assumptions, our actual results could differ from what we expect. This is especially true with some accounting policies that require higher degrees of judgment than others in their application. We consider the policies discussed below to be critical to an understanding of our audited consolidated financial statements because they involve the greatest reliance on our management’s judgment.

Revenue Recognition

We recognize revenues when persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists, delivery has occurred, the sales price is fixed or determinable, and collectability is reasonably assured. We principally derive our revenues from membership subscriptionsubscriptions, mobile marketing services, as well as offering the platform for mobile games, developed by third parties, and other services, including the use of paid emoticons and mobile marketinglive music and entertainment broadcasting services.

Membership Subscription.Subscription. Membership subscription is a service package that enables members to enjoy additional functions and privileges. The contract periods for the membership subscription are one month, one quarter, six months and one year. All membership subscription is nonrefundable.non-refundable. We collect membership subscription in advance and record it as deferred revenue. Revenues are recognized ratably over the contract period for the membership subscription services.

Mobile Games.Marketing. We provide gameadvertising and marketing solutions to customers, enabling them to promote their brands and to conduct effective marketing activities through our mobile application.

(i) Display-based online advertising services

For display-based online advertising services such as banners and generate revenueslocation-based advertising on mobile applications, we recognize revenue ratably over the period that the advertising service is provided commencing on the date the customer’s advertisement is displayed, or on the number of times that the advertisement has been displayed for advertising arrangements based on cost per thousand impressions.

(ii) Performance-based mobile marketing services

We enable advertising customers to place links on our mobile platform on a pay-for-effectiveness basis, which is referred as cost for performance model. We charge fees directly from offeringadvertising customers based on the platform foreffectiveness of advertising links, which is measured by active clicks. We estimate revenue based on our internal data, which are confirmed by the respective customers.

Our revenue transactions are based on standard business terms and conditions, which are recognized net of agency rebates, if applicable.

Mobile Games. We publish licensed mobile games developed by third-party game developers and our self-developed mobile games to game players through our mobile application.

Licensed mobile games services

We generate revenue by offering mobile games services developed by third-party game developers. All of the licensed games that we currently offer are developed by third-party game developers and can be accessed and played by game players directly through our mobile game platform. We primarily view the game developers to be our customers and consider our responsibility under our agreements with the game developers to be promotion of the game developers’ games. We generally collect payments from game players in connection with the sale of in-game virtual currencies and remit certain agreed-upon percentages of the proceeds to the game developers and records revenues net of remittances. Purchases of in-game currencies are not refundable after they have been sold unless there are unused in-game currencies at the time a game is discontinued. Typically, a game will only be discontinued when the monthly revenues generated by a game become consistently insignificant. We do not currently expect to pay any material cash refunds to game players or game developers in connection with a discontinued game.

Mobile

Licensed mobile game revenue recognition involves certain management judgments, such as determining who is the principal in providing game services to our players, estimating the consumption date of the in-game currencies and the period of player relationship. We concluded that licensed game developers are the principals based on the fact that the games are primarily hosted by the game developers and such developers are responsible for the maintenance of the games and determination of the prices of the virtual items used in the games. Our primary responsibility is to promote the games of the third-party developers, provide virtual currency exchange services, and offer customer support to resolve registration, log-in, virtual currency exchange and other related issues. Therefore, we report such revenues net of predetermined revenue-sharing with the game developers.developers and commission fees made to third-party application stores and other payment channels.

(i) Non-exclusive licensed mobile games services

We enter into non-exclusive agreements with game developers and offer our mobile game platform for the mobile games developed by such game developers. We have determined that we have no additional performance obligation to the developers or game players upon players’ completion of the corresponding in-game purchase. Therefore, revenues from the sale of in-game currencies are primarily recorded net of remittances to game developers and commission fees made to third-party application stores and other payment channels and deferred until the estimated consumption date by individual games (i.e., the estimated date in-game currencies are consumed within the game), which is typically within a short period of time ranging from one to six days after purchase of the in-game currencies.

We estimate the in-game virtual currency consumption date based on the consumption behavior of game players for each reporting period. The amount and timing of our game revenues could be materially different for any period if management made different judgments or utilized different estimates. Any adjustments arising from changes in the estimate would be applied prospectively on the basis that such changes are caused by new information indicating a change in the user behavior pattern.

(ii) Exclusive licensed mobile games services

We enter into an exclusive agreementagreements with a game developerdevelopers and provide our mobile game platform for the mobile gamegames developed by such game developers. Under the game developer. Under this exclusive agreement, theagreements, players can access the gamegames only through our platform, weplatform. We have determined that we are obligated to provide mobile games services to game players who purchased virtual items to gain an enhanced game-playing experience over an average period of player relationship. We believe that our performance for, and obligation to, the game developers correspond to the game developers’ services to the players. We do not have access to the data on the consumption details and the types of virtual items purchased by game players. Therefore, we cannot estimate the economic life of the virtual items. However, we maintain historical data of a particular player when the player makes a purchase and logs into the relevant game.games. We have adopted a policy to recognize revenues net of remittances to game developers and commission fees made to third-party application stores and other payment channels over the estimated period of player relationship on a game-by-game basis.

We estimate the period of player relationship based on an assessment of our historical data, user behavioral patterns as well as industry research data. The period of player relationship is estimated based on data collected from those players who have purchased in-game currencies. We estimate the life of the player relationship to be the average period from the first purchase of in-game currencies to the date the player ceases to play the game.

To estimate the last login date the player plays the game, we selected all paying players that logged into the game during a particular period and continue to track these players’ log-on behaviors over a period to determine if each user is “active” or “inactive,” which is determined based on a review of the period of inactivity or idle period from the user’s last log-in. We observe the behaviors of these players to see whether they subsequently return to a game based on different inactive periods (e.g. not logging in) of one month. The percentage of players calculated that do not log back in is estimated to be the probability that players will not return to the game after a certain period of inactivity.

We consider a paying player to be inactive once he or she has reached a period of inactivity for which it is probable (defined as at least 80%) that a player will not return to a specific game. We believe that using an 80% threshold for the likelihood that a player will not return to a game is a reasonable estimate. We have consistently applied this threshold to our analysis.

If a new game is launched and only a limited period of paying player data is available, then we consider other qualitative factors, such as the playing patterns for paying players for other games with similar characteristics in the market. As of December 31, 2014,2015, we operated threeseven games under exclusive arrangements and the estimated period of the player relationship ranged from 4520 to 6975 days.

Future usage patterns may differ from historical usage patterns and therefore the estimated period of player relationship with us may change in the future. The consideration of player relationship with each game is based on our best estimate that takes into account all known and relevant information at the time of assessment. We assess the estimated period of player relationships on a quarterly basis. Any adjustments arising from changes in the estimated period of player relationships are applied prospectively as such change results from new information indicating a change in the game player’s behavioral patterns.

Self-developed mobile games

In February 2015, we launched the first self-developed game on our platform and started to generate revenues by in-game sales of virtual item. We have determined that we have an implied obligation to the players who purchased the virtual items to gain an enhanced game-playing experience over the average playing period of the paying players, and accordingly, we recognize the revenues ratably over the estimated period of player relationship starting from the point in time when the players purchase the virtual items and when all other revenue recognition criteria are met. The estimated period of player relationship of our only self-developed game is 56 days for the year ended December 31, 2015. We recognize revenue derived from our self-developed mobile games on a gross basis as we act as a principal to fulfill all obligations related to the mobile game operation. Commission fees paid to third-party application stores and other payment channels are recorded as cost of revenues.

Paid Emoticons. All paid emoticons are durable with indefinite lives and each of them is effective upon purchase payment made and download completed by a user. The price of each emoticon is fixed and identifiable. The revenues are recognized ratably over the estimated usage life of the emoticon (i.e. 180 days) by the user from the date when the emoticon is downloaded.

Revenue recognition from emoticons also involves certain management judgments. We estimate the emoticons’ estimated economic life based on the historical data for the period from the first launch in 2013 to March 31, 2014, which period was generally longer than 180 days. We performed the analysis to estimate the usage life of the emoticons based on the historical attrition pattern of the usage frequency per day from the launching date to MarchDecember 31, 2014,2015, weighted by the sales amount from each selected emoticon sample during such period. We reassess the estimated life periodically. Any adjustments arising from changes in the estimate would be applied prospectively to all existing emoticons which are not fully amortized on the basis that such changes are caused by new information indicating a change in the frequency of usage pattern.

Consolidation of Affiliated Entities

PRC regulations currently limit direct foreign ownership of business entities providing value-added telecommunications services, advertising services and internet services in the PRC where certain licenses are required for the provision of such services. To comply with these PRC regulations, we conduct a substantial majority of our business through Beijing Momo and its subsidiary.subsidiaries.

Beijing Momo IT, our wholly-owned PRC subsidiary, holds the power to direct the activities of Beijing Momo and its subsidiarysubsidiaries that most significantly affect our economic performance and bears the economic risks and receives the economic benefits of Beijing Momo and its subsidiarysubsidiaries through a series of contractual agreements with Beijing Momo and/or their nominee shareholders, including:

Based on the advice of Han Kun Law Offices, our PRC legal counsel, we believe above contractual agreements are currently legally enforceable under PRC law and regulations.

More specifically, through these contractual agreements, we believe that the nominee shareholders of Beijing Momo do not have the direct or indirect ability to make decisions regarding the activities of Beijing Momo that could have a significant impact on the economic performance of Beijing Momo because all of the voting rights of Beijing Momo’s nominee shareholders have been contractually transferred to Beijing Momo. Therefore, we have effective control over Beijing Momo. In addition, we believe that our ability to exercise effective control, together with the exclusive cooperation agreements, as supplemented, exclusive call option agreement and equity interest pledge agreement, give us the rights to receive substantially all of the economic benefits from Beijing Momo. Hence, we believe that the nominee shareholders of Beijing Momo do not have the rights to receive the expected residual returns of Beijing Momo, as such rights have been transferred to Beijing Momo. We evaluated the rights we obtained through entering into these contractual agreements and concluded we have the power to direct the activities that most significantly affect Beijing Momo’s economic performance and also have the rights to receive the economic benefits of Beijing Momo that could be significant to Beijing Momo.

Accordingly, we are the primary beneficiary of Beijing Momo and have consolidated the financial results of Beijing Momo and its subsidiarysubsidiaries in our consolidated financial statements.

The shareholders of Beijing Momo are also our shareholders, directors or officers and therefore have no current interest in acting contrary to the contractual arrangements. However, uncertainties in the PRC legal system could limit our ability to enforce these contractual arrangements and if the shareholders of Beijing Momo were to reduce their shareholdings in our company, their interests may diverge from our interests, which may increase the risk that they would act contrary to the contractual arrangements, such as causing Beijing Momo to not pay service fees under the contractual arrangements when required to do so. See “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure—We rely on contractual arrangements with Beijing Momo and its shareholders for our operations in China, which may not be as effective in providing operational control as direct ownership.”

Income Taxes

In preparing our consolidated financial statements, we must estimate our income taxes in each of the jurisdictions in which we operate. We estimate our actual tax exposure and assess temporary differences resulting from different treatment of items for tax and accounting purposes. These differences result in deferred tax assets and liabilities, which we include in our consolidated balance sheet. We must then assess the likelihood that we will recover our deferred tax assets from future taxable income. If we believe that recovery is not likely, we must establish a valuation allowance. To the extent we establish a valuation allowance or increase this allowance, we must include an expense within the tax provision in our consolidated statement of operations.

Management must exercise significant judgment to determine our provision for income taxes, our deferred tax assets and liabilities and any valuation allowance recorded against our net deferred tax assets. We base the valuation allowance on our estimates of taxable income in each jurisdiction in which we operate and the period over which our deferred tax assets will be recoverable. If actual results differ from these estimates or we adjust these estimates in future periods, we may need to establish an additional valuation allowance, which could materially impact our financial position and results of operations.

U.S. GAAP requires that an entity recognize the impact of an uncertain income tax position on the income tax return at the largest amount that is more likely than not to be sustained upon audit by the relevant tax authority. If we ultimately determine that payment of these liabilities will be unnecessary, we will reverse the liability and recognize a tax benefit during that period. Conversely, we record additional tax charges in a period in which we determine that a recorded tax liability is less than the expected ultimate assessment. We did not recognize any significant unrecognized tax benefits during the periods presented in this annual report.

Uncertainties exist with respect to the application of the New EIT Law to our operations, specifically with respect to our tax residency status. The New EIT Law specifies that legal entities organized outside of the PRC will be considered residents for PRC income tax purposes if their “de facto management bodies” are located within the PRC. The New EIT Law’s implementation rules define the term “de facto management bodies” as “establishments that carry out substantial and overall management and control over the manufacturing and business operations, personnel, accounting, properties, etc. of an enterprise.”

Because of the uncertainties resulted from limited PRC tax guidance on the issue, it is uncertain whether our legal entities organized outside of the PRC constitute residents under the New EIT Law. If one or more of our legal entities organized outside of the PRC were characterized as PRC tax residents, the impact would adversely affect our results of operations. See “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Doing Business in China.”

The useful lives and impairment of property and equipment

Property and equipment are stated at historical cost less accumulated depreciation. Depreciation is computed using the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives of the assets, generally from three to five years. Judgment is required to determine the estimated useful lives of assets, especially for computer equipment, including determining how long existing equipment can function and when new technologies will be introduced at cost-effective price points to replace existing equipment. Changes in these estimates and assumptions could materially impact our financial position and results of operations.

We review our long-lived assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset may no longer be recoverable. When these events occur, we measure impairment by comparing the carrying value of the long-lived assets to the estimated undiscounted future cash flows expected to result from the use of the assets and their eventual disposition. If the sum of the expected undiscounted cash flow is less than the carrying amount of the assets, we would recognize an impairment loss based on the fair value of the assets.

Fair value of our ordinary shares

Prior to our initial public offering in December 2014, we were a private company with no quoted market prices for our ordinary shares. We therefore needed to make estimates of the fair value of our ordinary shares at various dates for the following purposes:

In determining the estimated fair value of our ordinary shares, we have considered the guidance prescribed by theAICPA Audit and Accounting Practice Aid, Valuation of Privately-Held-Company Equity Securities Issued as Compensation, or the Practice Aid, which sets forth the preferred types of valuation that should be used. These estimates are not necessary to determinefor determining the fair value of our ordinary shares after our ADSs began trading.

The following table sets forth the fair value of our ordinary shares estimated at different dates in 2012, 2013 and 2014:

Note: the fair values of ordinary shares stated above were adjusted by 1:10 share split that occurred in September 2012.

In determining the fair value of our equity interest in 2012, 2013 and 2014 prior to the completion of our initial public offering, we used both the market approach, also known as backsolve method, and the income approach, also known as the discounted cash flow method.

The backsolve method takes into consideration of the rights and preferences of each class of equity and solves for the total equity value that is comparable with a recent transaction in our own securities, considering the rights and preferences of each class of equity. The method was used when we completed financing transactions with investors on arm’s length basis.

The discounted cash flow, or DCF method, incorporates the projected cash flow of our management’s best estimation as of each measurement date. The projected cash flow estimation includes, among others, analysis of projected revenue growth, gross margins and terminal value. The assumptions used in deriving the fair value of ordinary shares are consistent with our business plan.

The DCF method of the income approach involves applying appropriate discount rates to discount the future cash flows forecast to present value. In determining an appropriate discount rate, we have considered (i) the weighted-average cost of capital, or WACC and (ii) the rate of return expected by venture capitalists, or VCR.

Weighted Average Cost of Capital.Capital. We calculated the cost of equity of the business as of the valuation dates using the capital asset pricing model, or CAPM, the most commonly adopted method for estimating the required rate of return for equity. Under CAPM, the cost of equity is determined with consideration of, the risk-free rate, systematic risk, equity market premium, size of our company, the scale of our business and our ability in achieving forecasted projections. In deriving the WACCs, certain publicly traded companies involving social network were selected for reference as our guideline companies. To reflect the operating environment in China and the general sentiment in the U.S. capital markets towards the social network, the guideline companies were selected with consideration of the following factors: (i) the guideline companies should provide similar services, and (ii) the guideline companies should either have their principal operations in Asia Pacific region, as we operate in China, and/or are publicly listed companies in the United States as we planned to list our shares in the United States.

VCR.VCR. According to guidance prescribed by the AICPA Audit and Accounting Practice Aid, “Valuation of Privately-Held-Company Equity Securities Issued as Compensation,” because private enterprises often seek financing from private equity investors, including venture capital firms, the venture capital arena provides an observable market for the cost of capital for privately held enterprises. The expected return from venture capitalists for investing in our company when we were in expansion stage ranges from 35% to 50%. As we progress through early stage of development towards our initial public offering, the expected return from venture capitalists for investing in our company gradually declines when we were in bridge and IPO stage, which generally range from 25% to 35%.

After considering the WACC, VCR, the relative risk of the industry and the characteristics of our company, we used a discount rate of 40% as of the valuation dates in April 2012 and 18% as of October 2014. The decrease in discount rates was primarily due to our business growth and additional funding from multiple series of preferred shares investments.

The above assumptions used in determining the fair values were consistent with our business plan and major milestones we achieved. We also applied general assumptions, including the following:

Since our capital structure comprised convertible preferred shares and ordinary shares at each grant date, we used the option-pricing method to allocate equity value of our company to preferred and ordinary shares, taking into account the guidance prescribed by the Practice Aid. This method involves making estimates of the anticipated timing of a potential liquidity event, such as a sale of our company or an initial public offering, and estimates of the volatility of our equity securities. The anticipated timing is based on the plans of our board and management. Estimating the volatility of the share price of a privately held company is complex because there is no readily available market for the shares. We estimated the volatility of our shares based on historical volatility of guideline companies’ shares. Had we used different estimates of volatility, the allocations between preferred and ordinary shares would have been different.

We also applied a discount for lack of marketability, or DLOM, ranging from 33.5% to 5.0%, to reflect the fact that there is no ready market for shares in a closely-held company like us. When determining the DLOM, the Black-Scholes option pricing model was used. Under this option-pricing method, the cost of the put option, which can hedge the price change before the privately held shares can be sold, was considered as a basis to determine the discount for lack of marketability. This option pricing method was used because it takes into account certain company-specific factors, including the timing of our initial public offering and the volatility of the share price of the guideline companies engaged in the same industry.

Since our initial public offering in December 2014, the determination of the fair value of the ordinary shares is based on the market price of our ADSs, each representing two Class A ordinary shares, traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market.

Share-based Compensation

All share-based awards to employees and non-employee, including share options, restricted shares and restricted share units, are measured at the grant date based on the fair value of the awards. Share-based compensation, net of forfeitures, is recognized as an expense on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period, which is the vesting period.

The following table sets forth certain information regarding the share options granted under our 2012 Plan and 2014 Plan to our employees and advisors at different dates in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2014.2015.

Grant Date

Category

No. of Options Grant

Exercise Price per Option

Weighted Average Fair Value per Option at the Grant Dates

Intrinsic Value per Option at the Grant Dates

Type of Valuation

October 10, 2013

Staff

8,580,000

US$

0.1404

US$

0.29

US$

0.26

Retrospective

October 10, 2013

Management

5,500,000

US$

0.1404

US$

0.30

US$

0.26

Retrospective

March 1, 2014

Management

4,048,660

US$

0.1404

US$

3.87

US$

3.86

Retrospective

March 1, 2014

Staff

444,866

US$

0.1404

US$

3.87

US$

3.86

Retrospective

March 1, 2014

Non-employee

100,000

US$

0.1404

US$

3.87

US$

3.86

Retrospective

October 29, 2014

Staff

2,583,500

US$

0.0002

US$

6.75

US$

6.75

Contemporaneous

October 29, 2014

Management

380,000

US$

0.0002

US$

6.75

US$

6.75

Contemporaneous

April 22, 2015

Staff

1,680,800

US$

0.0002

US$

5.60

US$

5.60

Contemporaneous

April 22, 2015

Management

1,294,597

US$

0.0002

US$

5.60

US$

5.60

Contemporaneous

May 4, 2015

Staff

2,752,000

US$

0.0002

US$

5.63

US$

5.63

Contemporaneous

August 13, 2015

Staff

476,000

US$

0.0002

US$

7.86

US$

7.86

Contemporaneous

October 15, 2015

Staff

1,535,525

US$

0.0002

US$

6.51

US$

6.51

Contemporaneous

November 13, 2015

Staff

93,000

US$

0.0002

US$

6.34

US$

6.34

Contemporaneous

We estimated the fair value of share options using the binomial tree or Black-Sholes option-pricing model with the assistance from an independent valuation firm. The fair value of each option grant is estimated on the date of grant with the following key assumptions:

The following table sets forth certain information regarding the restricted share units granted under our 2014 Plan to certain directors on December 11, 2014.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

RecentA list of recent accounting pronouncements adopted

In July 2013, the FASB issued a pronouncement which provides guidance on financial statement presentation of an unrecognized tax benefits when a net operating loss carry forward, a similar tax loss, or a tax credit carry forward exists. The FASB’s objectivethat are relevant to us is included in issuing this ASU isnote 2 to eliminate diversity in practice resulting from a lack of guidance on this topic in current U.S. GAAP.

The amendments in this ASU state that an unrecognized tax benefit, or a portion of an unrecognized tax benefit, should be presented in the financial statements as a reduction to a deferred tax asset for a net operating loss carry forward, a similar tax loss, or a tax credit carry forward, except as follows. To the extent a net operating loss carry forward, a similar tax loss, or a tax credit carry forward is not available at the reporting date under the tax law of the applicable jurisdiction to settle any additional income taxes that would result from the disallowance of a tax position or the tax law of the applicable jurisdiction does not require the entity to use, and the entity does not intend to use, the deferred tax asset for such purpose, the unrecognized tax benefit should be presented in the financial statements as a liability and should not be combined with deferred tax assets.

This ASU applies to all entities that have unrecognized tax benefits when a net operating loss is carried forward, a similar tax loss, or a tax credit carry-forward exists at the reporting date. The amendments in this ASU are effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2013. Early adoption is permitted. The amendments should be applied prospectively to all unrecognized tax benefits that exist at the effective date. Retrospective application is permitted. The adoption of this guidance did not have a significant effect on our consolidated financial statements.

Recent accounting pronouncements not yet adopted

In May 2014, the FASB issued, ASU 2014-09, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606)”. The guidance substantially converges final standards on revenue recognition between the FASB and the International Accounting Standards Board providing a framework on addressing revenue recognition issues and, upon its effective date, replaces almost all exiting revenue recognition guidance, including industry-specific guidance,statements, which are included in current U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

The core principle of the guidance is that an entity should recognize revenues to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. To achieve that core principle, an entity should apply the following steps:this annual report.

For a public entity, the amendments in this ASU are effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2016, including interim periods within those reporting periods. Early application is not permitted.

An entity should apply the amendments in this ASU using one of the following two methods:

1. Retrospectively to each prior reporting period presented and the entity may elect any of the following practical expedients:

2. Retrospectively with the cumulative effect of initially applying this ASU recognized at the date of initial application. If an entity elects this transition method it also should provide the additional disclosures in reporting periods that include the date of initial application of:

We are in the process of evaluating the impact of adoption of this guidance on our consolidated financial statements.

In August 2014, the FASB issued a new pronouncement which provides guidance on determining when and how reporting entities must disclose going-concern uncertainties in their financial statements. The new standard requires management to perform interim and annual assessments of an entity’s ability to continue as a going concern within one year of the date of issuance of the entity’s financial statements. Further, an entity must provide certain disclosures if there is “substantial doubt about the entity’s ability to continue as a going concern.” The new standard is effective for fiscal years ending after December 15, 2016. We do not expect the adoption of this guidance to have a significant effect on our consolidated financial statements.

B.	Liquidity and Capital Resources

As of December 31, 2014,2015, we have financed our operations primarily through the issuance of preferred shares in private placements.placements and net cash provided by operating activities. As of December 31, 2012 and 2013 and 2014 and 2015, we had US$18.555.4 million, US$55.4451.0 million and US$451.0169.5 million, respectively, in cash and cash equivalents. Our cash and cash equivalents primarily consist of cash on hand and highly liquid investments, which are unrestricted from withdrawal or use, or which have original maturities of three months or less when purchased. We believe that our current cash and cash equivalents and our anticipated cash flows from operations will be sufficient to meet our anticipated working capital requirements and capital expenditures for the next 12 months. We may, however, need additional capital in the future to fund our continued operations.

In the future, we may rely significantly on dividends and other distributions paid by our PRC subsidiary for our cash and financing requirements. There may be restrictions on the dividends and other distributions by our PRC subsidiary. The PRC tax authorities may require us to adjust our taxable income under the contractual arrangements that our PRC subsidiary currently has in place with our consolidated affiliated entity in a way that could materially and adversely affect the ability of our PRC subsidiary to pay dividends and make other distributions to us. In addition, under PRC laws and regulations, our PRC subsidiary may pay dividends only out of its accumulated profits as determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations. Our PRC subsidiary is required to set aside at least 10% of its accumulated after-tax profits each year, if any, to fund a statutory reserve fund, until the aggregate amount of such fund reaches 50% of its respective registered capital. At its discretion, our PRC subsidiary may allocate a portion of its after-tax profits based on PRC accounting standards to staff welfare and bonus funds. The reserve fund and the staff welfare and bonus funds cannot be distributed as cash dividends. See “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure—We may rely on dividends paid by our PRC subsidiary to fund cash and financing requirements. Any limitation on the ability of our PRC subsidiary to pay dividends to us could have a material adverse effect on our ability to conduct our business and to pay dividends to holders of the ADSs and our ordinary shares.” Furthermore, our investments made as registered capital and additional paid-in capital of our PRC subsidiary, consolidated affiliated entity and its subsidiaries are also subject to restrictions on their distribution and transfer according to PRC laws and regulations.

As a result, our PRC subsidiary, consolidated affiliated entity and its subsidiaries in China are restricted in their ability to transfer their net assets to us in the form of cash dividends, loans or advances. As of December 31, 2014,2015, the amount of the restricted net assets, which represents registered capital and additional paid-in capital cumulative appropriations made to statutory reserves, was US$93.591.0 million. As of December 31, 2014,2015, we held cash and cash equivalents of US$386.982.4 million in aggregate outside of the PRC and US$64.187.1 million in aggregate in the PRC, of which US$20.275.8 million was denominated in RMB and US$43.911.3 million was in U.S. dollars. Of such cash and cash equivalents held in the PRC, our PRC subsidiary held cash and cash equivalents in the amount of US$43.911.3 million and RMB64.0RMB98.7 million (US$10.315.3 million), and our consolidated affiliated entity and its subsidiary Chengdu Momosubsidiaries held cash and cash equivalents in the amount of RMB61.2RMB392.1 million (US$9.960.5 million).

As an offshore holding company, we are permitted under PRC laws and regulations to provide funding from the proceeds of our offshore fund raising activities to our PRC subsidiary only through loans or capital contributions, and to our consolidated affiliated entity and its subsidiaries only through loans, in each case subject to the satisfaction of the applicable government registration and approval requirements. See “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Doing Business in China—PRC regulation of loans to, and direct investment in, PRC entities by offshore holding companies and governmental control of currency conversion may restrict or prevent us from using offshore funds to make loans to our PRC subsidiary and consolidated affiliated entity and its subsidiaries, or to make additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiary.” As a result, there is uncertainty with respect to our ability to provide prompt financial support to our PRC subsidiary and consolidated affiliated entity when needed. Notwithstanding the forgoing,foregoing, our PRC subsidiary may use its own retained earnings (rather than RMB converted from foreign currency denominated capital) to provide financial support to our consolidated affiliated entity either through entrustment loans from our PRC subsidiary to our consolidated affiliated entity or direct loans to such consolidated affiliated entity’s nominee shareholders, which would be contributed to the consolidated variable entity as capital injections. Such direct loans to the nominee shareholders would be eliminated in our consolidated financial statements against the consolidated affiliated entity’s share capital.

Our full-time employees in the PRC participate in a government-mandated contribution plan pursuant to which certain pension benefits, medical care, unemployment insurance, employee housing fund and other welfare benefits are provided to such employees. We accrue for these benefits based on certain percentages of the employees’ salaries. The total provisions for such employee benefits were US$0.31.0 million, in 2012, US$1.02.6 million and US$6.5 million in 2013, 2014 and US$2.6 million in 2014.2015, respectively. We expect our contribution towards such employee benefits to increase in the future as we continue to expand our workforce and as salary levels of our employees continue to increase.

The following table sets forth a summary of our cash flows for the periods indicated: