BEIJING, Feb. 7 -- Chinese social e-commerce giant Pinduoduo reported robust growth in orders last year as more and more consumers were drawn to interactive shopping experiences.

The company's mobile app saw about 11.1 billion orders in 2018, surging over 158 percent year on year, according to a statement released Wednesday.

Its gross merchandise volume totalled 471.6 billion yuan (about 69 billion U.S. dollars) last year, up about 234 percent compared with 2017.

The e-commerce upstart's active users expanded from 244.8 million by the end of 2017 to 418.5 million by the end of 2018, who spent an average of 1,126.9 yuan last year, more than doubling the sum in 2017.

The NASDAQ-listed company also announced a follow-on public offering plan worth over a billion U.S. dollars, which will be used to enhance and expand its business operations, for research and development, and for general corporate purposes and working capital, including potential strategic investments and acquisitions.