111, Inc. co-founders: Yu Gang and Liu Junling (Photo: 111, Inc. website)

NEW YORK, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese leading online pharmacy and healthcare service provider 111, Inc. started trading on Nasdaq stock market on Wednesday.

As the bellwether of its kind in China, 111, Inc. issued 8.25 million American Depositary Shares (ADS) with each share at 14 U.S. dollars, the low end of a price range of 14-16 dollars.

The company planned to issue 9.3 million shares of ADS and raise 148.8 million dollars, according to the company's prospectus.

The underperformance of primary stock market in the United States led to downsizing of the initial public offering (IPO), according to Bruce Wu, managing director of Citigroup Global Markets Asia Limited.

"Floating on Nasdaq is both a milestone and a starting point for 111, Inc. and our mission is much bigger than public listing on the stock market," said Yu Gang, co-founder and executive chairman of 111, Inc.

Yu told Xinhua that the high standards and transparency with Nasdaq would guide the way forward to make the company a great one.

Founded in 2010, 111, Inc. now operates three platforms including 1c Drugstore, 1 Clinic and 1 Drug Mall, serving hundreds of millions of consumers via its on-line and off-line operations.

111, Inc. shares had an opening price of 16.75 dollars and were traded slightly below the offering price of 14 dollars for most of the time in its first session on Wednesday.