Recently, VIRTUAL MIND (01520) announced a share buyback worth HK$4.4867 million for 2.898 million shares on September 12, 2025. Share buybacks are typically viewed as positive market signals, reflecting management's confidence in the company's long-term value and development prospects, potentially optimizing capital structure, boosting investor sentiment, and further enhancing shareholder returns.
Previously, VIRTUAL MIND signed a subscription agreement with renowned Wall Street alternative investment institution GEM, securing up to HK$225 million in strategic investment, demonstrating professional investors' recognition of its strategic positioning and growth potential.
However, public information reveals the company still faces significant structural challenges, including highly concentrated IP revenue in the competitive toy and gaming sectors, while traditional basic digital rights models lack liquidity and value extension. Additionally, the relatively small scale of derivative IP businesses has resulted in weak risk resistance capabilities, with the business model urgently requiring breakthrough innovation.
To address these challenges, VIRTUAL MIND plans to deeply integrate AI and Web3 technologies, implementing strategic deployment across three major sectors: gaming, cultural tourism, and sports. The company will actively introduce IP resources covering different lifecycle stages, gradually building a multi-layered, multi-category IP portfolio to create synergistic complementary effects and strengthen overall business resilience.
Previously, the company established a joint venture with West Football Chain Technology to professionally undertake Web3.0 model sports IP economy new consumption operation business, marking VIRTUAL MIND's official entry into the sports IP-empowered new consumption track.
Starting with the VIRTUAL MIND West Football Chain business, VIRTUAL MIND will gradually expand from its original toy and gaming IP to sports IP with higher user stickiness, stronger consumption capability, and relatively more relaxed competitive landscape. Initially targeting internationally renowned sports IP such as La Liga, the company plans to gradually extend to more sports projects, achieving diversified IP type deployment.
In physical products, the company will leverage its existing apparel business, upgrading from small-scale customized apparel pilots to integrated fan economy operations. The new VIRTUAL MIND West Football Chain business will launch various IP co-branded apparel and gradually expand to collectible figures, player cards, and other customized derivatives, enhancing IP monetization capabilities through diversified physical formats.
In digital business, the company's existing operations include gaming IP through embedded NFC unlocking exclusive game skins, while new VIRTUAL MIND West Football Chain related business will leverage Web3 technology to develop a series of virtual rights and digital experiences, such as releasing fan-exclusive digital content, issuing online event passes, setting up interactive voting and rights systems, developing AR navigation functions, and establishing membership and loyalty credential systems, thereby enhancing user stickiness and engagement.
The company will also expand offline experience scenarios through creating IP-themed pop-up stores, new product launches, fan meet-and-greets, AR-enhanced exhibitions, and brand collaboration events to deepen user emotional connections and enhance brand influence.
Furthermore, AI and Web3 technologies will play important roles in improving supply chain traceability and transparency, optimizing operational efficiency, and strengthening brand cohesion. In supply chain management, the company will build an IP new consumption procurement supply chain platform through constructing a trusted digital ecosystem. By introducing on-chain traceability systems, it will achieve full-process product traceability, anti-counterfeiting verification, and supplier management, integrating with enterprise ERP and WMS systems to comprehensively enhance supply chain credibility and transparency.
In cross-border finance, Web3 technology can reduce foreign exchange costs and improve settlement efficiency through compliant digital channels while ensuring data privacy compliance. At the consumer level, the company plans to establish digital wallet and unified account systems, tokenize user rights, construct membership grading and loyalty mechanisms, and enhance brand stickiness.
Smart contract-based digital IP licensing will support external secondary licensing and collaboration partnerships, opening revenue-sharing opportunities. In marketing, AI technology will assist user segmentation and personalized recommendations, enabling demand forecasting and dynamic pricing, while supporting overseas market expansion through AI-generated creative content and multilingual adaptation.
The company's strategic deployment is not about expanding entirely new businesses, but rather conducting deep exploration and extension based on existing IP and apparel operations, optimizing revenue structure, and enhancing operational efficiency through introducing AI and Web3 technologies to uncover potential growth points.
Additionally, the company recently announced a transfer agreement, planning to sell partial historical claims under its past financial lending business at HK$11.3997 million, aimed at clearing legacy assets, ensuring principal recovery, and improving asset quality. This move reflects the company's determination to actively address historical legacy issues and protect shareholder interests.
With further optimization and integration of legacy businesses, the company will achieve comprehensive business structure optimization in the fourth quarter of this year, positioning itself for accelerated new business development with concentrated resources.
Recently, VIRTUAL MIND has demonstrated firm confidence in its development prospects through share buybacks and strategic investment introduction. As the company successfully advances its subsequent business strategic deployment and accelerates the implementation of AI and Web3 technologies, it is expected to significantly enhance risk resistance capabilities and unlock new growth opportunities.