Hong Kong sees IPO boom as tech listings stack up
Chinese chipmakers, secondary listings and maybe even Shein rush to go public
Happy Monday,
This week we are focused on something you don’t hear enough about in Asia tech: exits.
Hong Kong started to really focus on tech IPOs before the pandemic, but it is only now that serious traction is coming its way. AI startups and chipmakers are among the buzzy upstarts attracted to the lure of a Hong Kong listing—Shein is even said to be close to filing after finding the US and UK too challenging.
The success Hong Kong is seeing is exactly what India is looking for. Its IPO window might really open soon, with a number of billion-dollar IPOs headed its way: Pine Labs, PhonePe and Meesho are some of the stars in various early-stages.
The lack of exits have held back investment in many markets, so these surges are very welcome—and no doubt inspirational for Southeast Asia, which continues to lag.
Have a great weekend and catch up with the next issue.
Jon
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News in Focus
Hong Kong sees IPO boom as tech listings stack up
Hong Kong is going through an IPO boom after a rough couple of years. Chinese stocks, and particularly tech, have helped generate impressive numbers, as the FT outlined:
Companies have raised $13bn from new listings in the Asian financial hub this year, according to Dealogic, leaving it second only to Nasdaq and well ahead of the New York Stock Exchange and its Chinese peers. Total fundraising is expected to reach HK$200bn ($25.5bn) this year, Deloitte’s team reckons. Meanwhile, newly listed shares have returned an average of 35 per cent.
Things could be about to get a lot bigger and better (in terms of exposure) as Shein has reportedly filed a draft prospectus to hold its IPO in Hong Kong, after the original goal of London (and initially the US) became too complicated thanks to politics and general tensions. That filing is initially a confidential one but Reuters—which has been all over this story—says a listing is slated to happen before the end of the year, all being well.
All hasn’t been well for Shein on that front for some time, so we will wait and see. But there are plenty of other Hong Kong listings happening or coming soon.
Chinese ride-hailing firm CaoCao raised HK$1.85B ($236M) in its Hong Kong IPO—the company is backed by Geely, currently valued at $2.4B and it wants to take a bigger bite out of EVs to challenge incumbent leader Didi.
There’s a lot of movement from China’s most hyped sectors.
Reconova, an Intel-backed AI vision firm, is planning a Hong Kong IPO as soon as this year to raise around $100 million, sources say. Chipmaker Biren Technology, another AI upstart, just raised $207 million from mostly state-backed investors. It, too, is preparing for a Hong Kong IPO.
Montage Technology, another chip maker, is reported to have hired banks for a planned Hong Kong listing that is aimed at raising $1 billion. It is already listed in Shanghai so this would expand its investor capital reach.
Then there’s Lens Technology, a supplier of Apple among others, which is aiming to raise HK$4.8 billion ($606 million) from a similar secondary listing. It is already public in Shenzhen but it is raising up to HK$4.8 billion ($606 million) by selling shares at a discount of 28% with trading set to begin on July 9.
This is likely only the start as China’s tech self-sufficiency push goes up through the gears.
Related: Hong Kong is also making moves around stablecoins and tokenisation, after it announced policy statements to build on the work it has already made as an emerging hub for crypto.
India’s IPO train prepares to leave the station
Hong Kong is not the only one herding in would-be tech listings, India looks to be on the verge of releasing its own IPO train with numerous companies in line to board:
Fintech startup Pine Labs is targeting a $1 billion IPO with a valuation of up to $6 billion, according to a source—it plans to raise $304M in fresh shares
Payment firm PhonePe is set to file for IPO as soon as August—the goal is to raise $1.5 billion at a $15 billion valuation
Meesho has re-registered its business to India and is now likely to file paperwork in July to prepare for its IPO, which will be a notable one
Logistics startup Shadowfax plans to file a confidential IPO draft within a month, according to sources—its goal is to raise $240-$300 million at a valuation of $660-$720 million
Home and sleep startup Wakefit, which includes Peak XV as an investor, plans to raise $55 million after filing papers
Cloud kitchen company Curefoods is raising around $95 million from its IPO
India’s IPO window looks ready to open.
Uber linked with Pony.ai deal and Kalanick return
Travis Kalanick could be poised for an audacious return to Uber if reports that the ride-hailing firm may buy a piece of Chinese autonomous vehicle company Pony.ai are correct.
Uber is said to be in talks to buy Pony.ai’s US arm, with plans to install Kalanick as the boss once the acquisition is complete.
The two companies have formed an unlikely partnership in markets outside of the US, with Uber tapping three autonomous vehicle companies from China to replace its US strategy with Waymo with businesses that are better placed overseas. This would take things in a novel direction if the deal is done and Kalanick does get involved. How would Beijing respond?
Beijing is now backing M&A from China’s tech giants
Public listings aren’t the only exit doors for China-incubated tech that’s being pushed by Beijing, the government is also said to be encouraging its biggest tech players to go ahead and aggressively make acquisitions and acquire assets in areas like AI.
Who can forget how Beijing previously cracked down ruthlessly on firms like Tencent, Alibaba, Didi and Baidu when it considered their influence to be too powerful, and a risk to its control. Now, though, the government is said to be backing its technology giants to accumulate and spend to grow their reach, expertise and edge.
That’s according to a Bloomberg article citing Tencent Music’s recent acquisition of podcasting platform Ximalaya and Ant Group’s purchase of a controlling stake in broker Bright Smart as deals that got the nod from Beijing.
China
AI startup DeepSeek is aiding Beijing’s military and intelligence operations and tried to skirt US chip export controls by using Southeast Asian shell companies, according to a senior US official link
TikTok is taking on Shein and Temu in Latin America’s booming e-commerce market—trying to find advantage through its hugely popular short video app link
Huawei’s new MateBook Fold runs on a 7nm chip made by SMIC, highlighting how US sanctions continue to block China from accessing advanced semiconductor tech link
Bike-share company Hellobike has set up a robotaxi firm with Ant Group and battery maker CATL, with the trio investing an initial $400M+ link
iFlytek launched new AI products for global users, including a medical LLM and healthcare chatbot in English and Cantonese link
Beijing has vowed to respond to Taiwan blacklisting Chinese companies including Huawei link
Tencent is bringing hit mobile games from its subsidiary Supercell to WeChat, starting with Brawl Stars link
China’s AI capital spending is tipped to reach up to $98B in 2025, according to a Bank of America report link
OpenAI said China’s Zhipu AI has made strong progress securing government contracts across several regions link
Alibaba has folded its delivery app and travel agency into its e-commerce group link
China’s Big Fund III is shifting focus to core chip bottlenecks like lithography and design software, aiming to counter US tech curbs link
Prices of drone parts shipped from China to the US have tripled in some cases since Beijing imposed tighter export controls in 2024, trade data shows link
On the back of Xiaomi launching $35,000 SUV that’s aimed squarely at Tesla’s Model Y in China—it has also entered the smart glasses market with its first AI-powered eyewear product link
US chip export curbs may slow DeepSeek’s momentum—its upcoming R2 model could see limited adoption in China due to a worsening shortage of Nvidia server chips, worsened by the recent U.S. ban on Nvidia’s H20 chips, according to Chinese cloud providers link
Germany’s data regulator has warned Apple and Google that DeepSeek violates local law by exposing user data to China—the company ignored an order in May to remove the link or add safeguards link
Battery giant CATL is expanding globally following a $5.2B IPO in May—now it is making big moves in Europe, where it already has supply and manufacturing bases and there are plans to introduce battery-swapping technology in the region link
Alibaba launched Qwen VLo, a new AI model that generates and edits images from text and visuals link
Canada has ordered Hikvision to shut down its local operations, citing national security concerns following a review under the Investment Canada Act—the company has had ongoing challenges in the US, where it has been blacklisted and banned from launching from launching new products since 2022 link
India
SoftBank is looking to buy companies in India’s outsourcing sector, signaling a shift from backing startups to making direct acquisitions—it reportedly tried to buy BPO firm AGS Health in a $1B deal, but lost out to Blackstone link
Google is bringing AI Mode in search to India, having initially launched it in the US earlier this year link
GoKwik, which offers a suite of integrated e-commerce products, raised $13M at a $450M pre-money valuation—the startup has now raised $68M since its launch in 2020 link
Stock-trading startup Sahi—founded by Swiggy’s ex-CTO—raised $10.5M led by Accel and Elevation Capital link
A look at how quick commerce apps have changed their design by adding pop-ups, ads, banners and games link
Bessemer Venture Partners released a report on the consumer opportunity for startups in India link
Indian drone startup Raphe mPhibr has raised $100 million in a Series B round led by General Catalyst to expand R&D and local manufacturing amid rising demand for military and surveillance drones. link
Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal invested $20M in ShopOS, an AI startup streamlining ecommerce ops for brands that’s founded by former Flipkart and Scapic execs link
Flipkart is betting on social videos and livestreams to win over young smartphone users and boost loyalty, aiming to outpace rivals Amazon and Reliance link
Southeast Asia
Amnesty International has a report looking into human trafficking, forced labour and slavery around the scamming industry since 2022 link
Malaysia is rolling out generous tax breaks to lure more venture capital, aiming to fire up its startup ecosystem—investors putting at least 20% into local startups can lock in a 5% tax rate for a decade, while fund managers get a 10% rate link
Indonesia is set to require e-commerce platforms to withhold tax on sellers’ income to boost state revenues and level the playing field with physical retailers, according to industry sources and a government document seen by Reuters link
E-commerce platforms are opposing the regulation, arguing it could increase administrative costs and push sellers away from online marketplaces. Indonesia introduced a similar regulation in late 2018, requiring all marketplace operators to share sellers' data and make them pay taxes on sales income, but withdrew it three months later due to a backlash from the industry.
TSMC affiliate Vanguard International Semiconductor may start chip production at its $7.8B Singapore plant by late 2026, earlier than planned, due to rising customer demand amid geopolitical concerns link
South Korea
KakaoPay shares have soared 200% over the past month amid stablecoin moves—before dropping as authorities flagged risks link
The government of Seoul demanded Temu and AliExpress suspend sales of certain children's products over safety concerns link
Krafton, the maker of hit game PUBG, will acquire Japanese ad group ADK Holdings from Bain Capital for $516M—ADK has worked on over 300 animations link
KB Kookmin, Korea's largest bank, has filed stablecoin-related trademarks as it is working to form a consortium with other banks to pursue the stablecoin business link
South Korea’s stock market has been supercharged by an investor frenzy over won-based digital money this month, following newly elected President Lee Jae-myung's pledge to allow crypto assets backed by the national currency link
Circle has become the most popular foreign stock among South Korean investors this month, reflecting surging retail interest in crypto as the new government promotes industry growth link
Japan
Japanese shipping company Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha, or NYK Line, is acquiring Kadmos, a Germany-based salary payment platform for seafaring workers link
SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son says he’s going “all in” on artificial superintelligence, aiming to make the company a global leader in the field within a decade link
Son also hinted at a succession plan during SoftBank’s shareholder meeting, saying he intends to lead for another decade but has internal candidates in mind link
Top executives from Nvidia, AMD, Microsoft and others have been making repeated visits to Tokyo-based Nitto Boseki, the world’s only producer of the highest-grade glass cloth used in high-performance AI servers link
A patent dispute has led to Google no longer being able to sell select older Pixel devices in the country, and the company behind it is gunning for newer generation phones link