On May 28, UISEE Technologies (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “UISEE Technologies”) submitted a prospectus to the main board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (HKEX), planning to be listed on the main board through the Chapter 18C. This is also the 10th company that plans to be listed on the HKEX through the 18C rules. CITIC Securities serves as the exclusive sponsor.
In order to further enhance the attractiveness of the Hong Kong capital market to companies in the new generation of information technology, advanced hardware and software, advanced materials, new energy and environmental protection, and new food and agricultural technology industries, on March 31, 2023, the HKEX issued Chapter 18C of the Main Board Listing Rules and the Guidelines on Specialist Technology Companies (HKEX-GL115-23), and officially accepted new listing applications from specialist technology companies. Specialist technology companies that fail to meet the listing requirements of the HKEX’s main board but meet specific conditions can go to Hong Kong for listing through the listing conditions stipulated in Chapter 18C.
In terms of IPO market value requirements, the market value of non-commercialized companies will be reduced from no less than HK$15 billion to HK$10 billion, and the market value threshold of commercialized companies will be reduced from HK$8 billion to HK$6 billion. (A commercialized company refers to a specialist technology company with a revenue of at least HK$250 million in the most recent audited fiscal year, and a company with a revenue below HK$250 million is considered a non-commercialized company.)
On August 23, 2024, the HKEX issued an announcement to make short-term modifications to certain regulations on mergers and acquisitions of specialist technology companies and special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), which would officially take effect on September 1. The main content of the modification is to lower the market value threshold for specialist technology companies when they go public, reducing them by HK$2 billion on the basis of the original threshold.
Since the official release of Chapter 18C of the HKEX in 2023, three companies have successfully listed through this rule, and seven companies have submitted applications.
Chart: Companies that have successfully listed and submitted listing applications through Chapter 18C
XtalPi
Listed on the main board of the HKEX on June 13, 2024, becoming the first listed company under the HKEX’s Chapter 18C specialist technology system. Core businesses include drug discovery solutions and intelligent automation solutions.
▪ Fundraising at the time of listing: The issue price was HK$5.28, with global offering of 187 million shares, net fundraising of approximately HK$1.043 billion, of which 75% was used for R&D investment and 15% for commercial expansion.
▪ Market value at the time of listing: The closing price on the first day was HK$5.80, corresponding to a market value of approximately HK$19.759 billion, far exceeding the market value threshold of HK$6 billion before the adjustment under Chapter 18C.
▪ Key financial indicators (as of 2024): Full-year revenue of 266 million yuan in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 53%, meeting the HKEX’s revenue threshold requirement for commercial enterprises (HK$250 million) in advance, and the growth rate in the second half of the year was as high as 73%. Adjusted net loss was 457 million yuan, narrowing by 13% year-on-year, mainly due to R&D investment (418 million yuan) and changes in the fair value of convertible preferred shares.
Black Sesame Technologies
Listed on the main board of the HKEX on August 8, 2024. Black Sesame Technologies is a supplier of automotive-grade autonomous driving computing chips (SoCs) and solutions. Its core products include Huashan series SoCs, intelligent driving software platforms, etc. The company’s shareholders include Xiaomi, NIO, Tencent, Geely, etc., and its technical route is based on high computing power and low power consumption as its core advantages.
▪ Fundraising at the time of listing: The issue price was HK$28, with 37 million shares issued, and the net fundraising of HK$951 million, mainly used for SoC R&D, commercialization and procurement of mass production inventory.
▪ Market value at the time of listing: The market value after issuance was approximately HK$11 billion, which met the market value requirement of HK$6 billion before the adjustment under Chapter 18C.
▪ Key financial indicators (as of 2024): In 2021, 2022 and 2024, the revenues of Black Sesame Technologies were 61 million yuan, 165 million yuan and 312 million yuan, respectively, and its net losses in the corresponding periods were 2.357 billion yuan, 2.754 billion yuan and 4.855 billion yuan, respectively, and its adjusted net losses in the corresponding periods were 614 million yuan, 700 million yuan and 1.254 billion yuan, respectively. The revenue in 2024 was 474 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 51.8%.
Dobot
It was listed on the main board of the HKEX on December 23, 2024 and is a leading manufacturer in the field of collaborative robots in the world. Its core products include six-axis collaborative robots, composite robots, educational robots, etc.
▪ Fund raising at the time of listing: The issue price was HK$18.8, with 40 million shares issued, and the net fundraising of HK$681 million, used for research and development, capacity expansion and global layout.
▪ Market value at the time of listing: The closing price on the first day was HK$18.94, corresponding to a market value of approximately HK$7.576 billion, which met the market value threshold of HK$4 billion after adjustment under Chapter 18C.
▪ Key financial indicators (as of 2024): From 2021 to 2023, the revenues were 174 million yuan, 241 million yuan, and 287 million yuan, respectively, and increased by 30.3% to 374 million yuan in 2024. Net losses from 2021 to 2023 were 41.76 million yuan, 52.48 million yuan, and 103 million yuan, respectively, and net losses in 2024 were 95.36 million yuan, narrowing by 7.6% year-on-year; adjusted net losses were 36.5 million yuan, narrowing by 55.4% year-on-year.
CIDI
Submitted a prospectus to the HKEX for the second time on May 8, 2025 (the first application expired in November 2024). A provider of commercial vehicle autonomous driving solutions, its core businesses include autonomous driving systems and vehicle-road collaboration (V2X) integrated solutions.
Core financial data: In the past 2022, 2023 and 2024, the revenues were 31 million yuan, 133 million yuan and 410 million yuan respectively, and the corresponding net losses were 263 million yuan, 255 million yuan and 581 million yuan respectively, and the corresponding adjusted net losses were 159 million yuan, 138 million yuan and 127 million yuan respectively.
Most of the company’s revenue comes from autonomous driving related products and solutions, accounting for about 62.1% of the current revenue in 2024, while V2X and high-performance perception businesses accounted for 24.8% and 13.1% respectively.
51 WORLD
The prospectus was first submitted to the HKEX on November 29, 2024. Digital twin platform service provider, core products include 51Aes digital twin platform, 51Sim synthetic data platform, 51Earth digital earth platform, etc.
Core financial data: From 2021 to 2023, the revenues were 126 million yuan, 170 million yuan, 256 million yuan, and the revenue in the first half of 2024 was 33 million yuan (year-on-year growth of 12%). Net losses from 2021 to 2023 were 146 million yuan, 190 million yuan, 87 million yuan, and a loss of 65 million yuan in the first half of 2024. R&D investment was 103 million yuan in 2023 and 29 million yuan in the first half of 2024 (year-on-year decrease of 48%).
Yunji Technology
Submitted a prospectus to the HKEX on March 21, 2025. A supplier of commercial service robots, its core products include indoor delivery robots, outdoor logistics robots, robot function kits, etc.
Core financial data: From 2022 to 2024: The revenues were 161 million yuan, 145 million yuan, 245 million yuan (year-on-year growth of 68.6% in 2024), with gross profit margin increased from 24.3% to 43.5%. The net losses for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2023 and 2024 were 365 million yuan, 265 million yuan and 185 million yuan, respectively, indicating that the company’s commercialization capabilities and sustainable growth potential have been enhanced. The company’s adjusted net loss (non-IFRS measurement) decreased from 234 million yuan for the year ended December 31, 2022 to 121 million yuan for the year ended December 31, 2023, and further decreased to 27.6 million yuan for the year ended December 31, 2024.
As of the end of 2024, cash reserves were 278 million yuan.
DEEPEXI
Submitted a prospectus to the HKEX in April 2025. A professional provider of large-model artificial intelligence application solutions, it has realized the deployment and implementation of Agentic artificial intelligence applications in enterprises with its two major infrastructures: the AI-Ready FastData Foil data fusion platform and the Deepexi enterprise-level large model platform.
Core financial data: From 2022 to 2024, the revenues were 101 million yuan, 129 million yuan, and 243 million yuan, respectively (annual compound growth rate of 55.5%), with gross profit margin increased from 29.4% to 51.9%. Net losses from 2022 to 2024 were 655 million yuan, 503 million yuan, and 1.255 billion yuan, respectively (loss rate of 516.6% in 2024), mainly due to a change in the fair value of preferred shares of 1.155 billion yuan. R&D investment in 2024 was 81 million yuan, accounting for 33.5% of revenue (a significant decrease from 93.7% in 2022).
As of the end of 2024, cash reserves were 208 million yuan.
SEER
Submitted a prospectus to the HKEX on May 27, 2025. An intelligent robot company with control systems as its core, based on the technology and market position of the “robot brain” – control systems, integrates global supply chain resources to provide customers with a one-stop solution for robot development, acquisition, and use. SEER ranked first in global robot controller sales for two consecutive years from 2023 to 2024, and based on this, built the world’s first large-scale intelligent robot open platform.
Core financial data: From 2022 to 2024: The revenues were 184 million yuan, 249 million yuan, 339 million yuan (35.7% CAGR), with gross profit margin stabilized at 45%-49%. The adjusted net losses in 2022, 2023, and 2024 were 30.74 million yuan, 20.90 million yuan, and 10.63 million yuan, respectively, and the losses narrowed year by year. R&D investment in 2024 was 71 million yuan, accounting for 21.0% of revenue.
BASiC Semiconductor
Submitted a prospectus to the HKEX on May 27, 2025. A full-industry chain service provider for silicon carbide power devices, with core products including silicon carbide power modules, silicon carbide discrete devices, etc.
Core financial data: From 2022 to 2024: 117 million yuan, 221 million yuan, 300 million yuan (CAGR 60.8%), gross profit margin increased from -48.5% to -9.7%. Net losses from 2022 to 2024 were 242 million yuan, 342 million yuan, and 237 million yuan, respectively, and the loss rate dropped from 206.7% to 79.3%. R&D investment was 91 million yuan in 2024, accounting for 30.5% of revenue.
As of the end of 2024, cash reserves were 45 million yuan, and IPO fundraising was required to maintain R&D.
UISEE Technologies
Submitted a prospectus to the HKEX on May 28, 2025. Autonomous driving solution provider, core products include autonomous driving vehicle solutions, autonomous driving kit solutions, autonomous driving software solutions, etc.
Core financial data: From 2022 to 2024: The revenues were 65 million yuan, 161 million yuan, 265 million yuan (CAGR 101.3%), with gross profit margin stabilized at 43%-49%. Net losses from 2022 to 2024 were 250 million yuan, 213 million yuan, and 212 million yuan, respectively, and adjusted net losses narrowed from 227 million yuan to 161 million yuan. R&D investment in 2024 was 196 million yuan, accounting for 73.9% of revenue.
As of the end of 2024, cash reserves were 222 million yuan.
It can be seen that the current 18C rules of the HKEX have become the core channel for specialist technology companies to go public in Hong Kong. This mechanism provides a unique financing path for hard technology companies that are not profitable or have insufficient revenue through institutional innovation. Compared with the A-share Science and Technology Innovation Board, which emphasizes industrialization capabilities and profit prospects, Chapter 18C pays more attention to the company’s technical barriers and commercialization potential, especially for unicorn companies that are in the early stages but have higher valuations.
Chapter 18C is not only an iteration of the listing system of the HKEX, but also a strategic layout for China’s capital market to deeply participate in the global technology competition. It lowers the financing threshold for technology companies through institutional innovation, connects global resources with an international platform, and ultimately realizes a positive cycle of technology-capital-industry. In the future, with the deepening of policies such as the “Technology Enterprise Special Line”, Chapter 18C is expected to further release institutional dividends and become the preferred listing place for global hard technology companies.
Note:
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