From a 2022 exposure to trust product risks to the recent IPO applications of three portfolio companies, MiHoYo has made a remarkable comeback in the investment arena.

Over the past month, three companies backed by MiHoYo have successively submitted listing applications to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's main board: On November 27, Soul App's parent company initiated its third attempt for a Hong Kong listing, with MiHoYo being its second-largest institutional shareholder; On December 21, MiniMax passed the Hong Kong exchange hearing, scheduled to list on January 9, 2026, following MiHoYo's investments in both 2023 and 2024; On January 1, Suplay filed its IPO application, having secured MiHoYo as its largest external investor back in 2021.

Based on our observations and statistics, excluding investments through capital institutions, MiHoYo has directly invested in 30 external companies as of publication. These span the entire gaming industry chain—animation production, art design, voice acting, and publishing—while also venturing into cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence, fusion energy, and commercial aerospace.

Before 2021, MiHoYo's focus remained squarely on the gaming ecosystem. A review of MiHoYo's investment portfolio reveals distinct strategic shifts. Pre-2021 investments primarily served to streamline internal game development processes, with high utilization rates of portfolio services. For instance, MiHoYo's 2018 investment in art outsourcing platform Mihashi has facilitated 263 project requests to date, including ongoing illustration commissions for Honkai Impact 3rd live streams.

The同年investment in animation studio Wulifang has yielded multiple collaborations, producing PVs for Honkai Impact 3rd characters Bronya and Kiana, along with animations for Genshin Impact events like the Primordial Universe Film Festival and Astra Carnival. MiHoYo's animation team miHoYo Anime acknowledged gaining "valuable experience through external partnerships," likely referencing Wulifang.

Wulifang now collaborates with major titles including Honor of Kings, Wuthering Waves, Reverse: 1999, and Onmyoji, having also contributed to the animated film Nezha: Birth of the Demon Child.

MiHoYo's 2019 investment in Qixiang Tianwai earned the studio the moniker "MiHoYo's dedicated voice provider," supplying Mandarin voice acting for Honkai Impact 3rd's Murata Himeko, Genshin Impact's Klee, Zhongli, and Eula, as well as Honkai: Star Rail's AR-214 and Boothill. Founder Peng Bo additionally served as Genshin Impact's Chinese voice director.

The company's 2020 and 2021 follow-on investments in Well-Link Technology culminated in the 2021 launch of Cloud·Genshin Impact, establishing a benchmark for cloud gaming success that prompted major studios to rush their own cloud offerings.

MiHoYo's strategic vision extended beyond development to IP monetization. Its 2017 investment in Lingmeng Technology, parent company of overseas ACG purchasing platform MoeBuy, continues to yield dividends, with numerous Genshin Impact merchandise listings still active on the platform.

The 2018 establishment of Apex-Toys (Paisi Culture) saw MiHoYo both invest and participate as a quality control partner for derivative products. The 2019 release of a groundbreaking 1:1 scale floating statue of Honkai Impact 3rd's Yae Sakura in cheongsam catapulted the manufacturer to fame.

Apex-Toys now collaborates with industry giants like Tencent Games, NetEase Games, Riot Games, Manjuu Network, Hypergryph, and SuperCell, with its flagship store ranking among Top 20 toy retailers during Tmall's Double 11 festival.

That same year, MiHoYo invested in Aimán Animation, a licensed IP service provider whose sub-brand Chaowan Planet operates over 100 themed retail stores across Beijing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou.

During the investment announcement, MiHoYo co-founder "Da Wei Ge" expressed confidence in "the merged entity's end-to-end IP monetization capabilities from design to offline sales," predicting enhanced licensing acquisition and online sales through offline channel synergies.

Suplay represents MiHoYo's most recent direct investment in IP derivatives prior to its current IPO filing. Licensing agreements cover Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail for collectible cards, trendy toys, and derivative products. Suplay's successful launches include Genshin Impact's Slime series, Honkai: Star Rail's Ruan Mei statue, and Zenless Zone Zero's BunBun, with the Ruan Mei Creation series generating over 50 million RMB in GMV during 2024.

Post-2021 marked a strategic pivot toward frontier technologies. The year 2021 emerged as a watershed moment, after which MiHoYo's investments diverged into seemingly game-unrelated advanced technology sectors.

In March 2021, Shanghai Ruijin Hospital announced a strategic partnership with MiHoYo to establish a joint laboratory focusing on brain-computer interface (BCI) development and clinical applications, led by Shanghai Jiao Tong University Professor Lü Liangliang.

That year also witnessed MiHoYo co-founding Lingweiyisi with Professor Lü, dedicated to affective computing and BCI research. Da Wei Ge humorously attributed the BCI investment to "a Shanghai Jiao Tong professor wanting to start a business" during a 2025 university talk.

MiHoYo's 2022 and 2023 investments in fusion energy company Energy Singularity—dubbed the "artificial sun" project—involved co-founder Li Zhuyong, a Shanghai Jiao Tong associate researcher. Da Wei Ge later joked about the investment: "My overseas-returnee classmates pitched me with two PPTs costing 200 million RMB, and I've hardly monitored it since."

The 2022 investment in commercial aerospace firm Oriental Space (founded 2020) propelled the unicorn to a 6-7 billion RMB valuation. Its core products include the world's most powerful solid-fuel rocket "Gravity-1" and the medium-large reusable liquid rocket "Gravity-2." Gravity-1 has completed inaugural and second missions entering commercial operation, while Gravity-2's engines have undergone multiple tests targeting circa-2026 maiden flight.

Post-2022 saw intensified AI sector investments. MiHoYo's July 2022 investment in AI firm MiniMax positioned it as an early backer, with Da Wei Ge joining as non-executive director—perfectly timing the AI boom. MiniMax's prospectus identifies MiHoYo as one of two "pioneering independent investors."

The partnership bears tangible fruit: Honkai: Star Rail integrates MiniMax's models for character control, intelligent dialogue, and plot generation.

2023 brought an investment in XR chipmaker Gravity, which recently unveiled three chips (G-X100, G-VX100, G-EB100) at the "2025 Spatial Computing Conference," potentially heralding future MiHoYo VR products.

The following year's investment in embodied AI firm Xinghaitu—focusing on humanoid robots integrating perception, action, and cognition—may yield 2024 IPO filings according to investment circles, signaling imminent returns on recent bets.

Beyond direct investments, MiHoYo's stakes in institutions like Boyu Capital, Summitview Capital, Tongge Venture Capital, and Futung Capital facilitate indirect holdings across sectors including CATL (new energy), Zhengxu Biotech (biopharma), AID Future Intelligence, and Lingyu Technology (AI hardware).

These seemingly unrelated investments, even when described by Da Wei Ge as "passion projects," may ultimately form a grand strategic blueprint. Imagine: AI model investments constructing next-gen content production pipelines; XR chip stakes capturing immersive interaction portals; BCI research laying groundwork for emotion-driven gameplay.

When these technologies mature, MiHoYo's vision of "creating a virtual world for one billion people by 2030" may materialize sooner than expected. As longtime users and observers, we are unwitting participants in this "tech geeks saving the world" narrative.