(Yicai Global) July 20 -- Qudian is tapping into the ready-to-eat meals sector with gusto, after a string of failed ventures in everything from cars to edtech, as the Chinese internet financial platform searches for other sources of revenue amid a regulatory crackdown on online lending.

Qudian will open 200,000 ready-to-eat meal franchises and will offer one-year interest-free loans to those who lack the funds to open a brick-and-mortar outlet but wish to do so, the online micro-loan provider said on July 18.

Qudian, which mainly lends money to college students at exorbitant rates, first said it will start making ready meals in March and its products are already on sale through TikTok’s Chinese version Douyin and some shops in southern Guangdong province.

The company is keen to find other revenue streams since it started to scale back its lending business in 2017 due to tighter regulations. The Xiamen, southeastern Fujian province-based firm's share price has lost 93 percent of its value since it went public in New York five years ago, and the stock languished under USD1 for so long that Qudian is at risk of being booted from the New York bourse.

But despite several attempts in different fields, so far none have borne fruit. The e-lender went into auto sales in 2017, but withdrew in 2019. Then in 2020 it launched a luxury goods e-commerce platform but wrapped that up the same year. In 2021 it started a children’s educational platform, but this coincided with a clamp down on out-of-school lessons and the project soon ground to a halt.

This time Qudian will be hoping for better luck. China’s ready-to-eat meal industry will be worth CNY1.07 trillion (USD158.5 billion) by 2026, triple its value last year, according to a report by iiMedia Research.

However the sector might find it difficult to increase acceptance among consumers, resulting in a lower-than-expected market penetration ratio, Founder Securities said.

Qudian’s share price [NYSE:QD] closed up 3 percent at USD1.67 yesterday but slumped 4.9 percent in after-hours trading.

Editor: Kim Taylor