In 2024, when the first batch of 18C special technology companies such as XtalPi and BLACK SESAME listed on the Hong Kong stock market, the market's enthusiasm for hot sectors like AI, semiconductors, and autonomous driving made these companies the "darlings" of capital markets. However, entering 2025, the tide has turned dramatically—the Hong Kong stock market has not completed a single 18C company IPO to date, and among the 12 companies that have submitted prospectuses, HAOMO.AI and May AI Vision, despite filing for the second time, still struggle to break through the listing bottleneck. This dramatic shift from capital favor to IPO freeze reflects the profound contradiction between commercial validation and market expectations for special technology companies, while exposing multiple risk hazards hidden beneath the glamorous facade of hot sectors.

On September 1, 2024, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's reforms to Chapter 18C for special technology companies officially took effect. This reform lowered the minimum market capitalization standards for special technology companies seeking listing, divided into two categories: the minimum market cap for commercialized companies was reduced from HK$6 billion to HK$4 billion, while for non-commercialized companies it was lowered from HK$10 billion to HK$8 billion. Commercialized companies refer to special technology companies with audited revenue of at least HK$250 million in the most recent financial year (meeting the commercialization revenue threshold); non-commercialized companies are those that have not reached this threshold at the time of listing. This adjustment is a temporary policy implemented for three years, from September 1, 2024, to August 31, 2027.

**3 Listed 18C Companies Rush to Raise Funds Post-IPO? Active Secondary Market Performance Despite No Fundamental Improvements**

Currently, the Hong Kong stock market has 3 listed 18C companies and 12 companies that have publicly filed prospectuses. All 3 listed companies completed their listings under the pre-reform market cap standards: XtalPi was a non-commercialized company at listing with a market cap of HK$18 billion; BLACK SESAME and DOBOT were commercialized companies with listing market caps of HK$15.9 billion and HK$7.5 billion respectively, all exceeding pre-reform standards (HK$10 billion for non-commercialized and HK$6 billion for commercialized companies).

Leveraging Hong Kong's lightning placement mechanism and the recovery momentum of the Hong Kong secondary market, all 3 listed 18C companies began "fundraising" within six months to a year after listing. XtalPi raised a total of HK$3.22 billion through two additional offerings, three times its IPO fundraising scale. The two offerings were separated by only one month, clearly taking advantage of market windows for accelerated financing: the second offering price was HK$6.10 per share, a 43% premium over the first offering price of HK$4.28 per share; fundraising scale increased from HK$1.13 billion to HK$2.09 billion. Comparing the fundraising purposes of both offerings reveals that the January 2025 fundraising plan was relatively specific, while the February 2025 purpose was merely a simplified reduction based on the previous one—further indicating the company's "money-grabbing" intention and reflecting the hasty nature of fundraising planning.

BLACK SESAME has the worst post-market performance among the three 18C companies, with a 31% decline since listing. The company released a positive profit forecast on February 17, 2025, and subsequently launched an additional offering on February 19. However, the offering price (HK$23.20 per share) was at a 17% discount to the IPO price (HK$28.00 per share). After the offering, share prices continued to fall, reaching a low of HK$14.50 per share, nearly 38% below the offering price; the latest closing price of HK$19.30 per share remains below both IPO and offering prices. This performance may be related to the ambiguity in earnings disclosure: the 2024 positive profit forecast showed expected annual revenue of RMB 450-500 million (44%-60% year-over-year growth) and net profit attributable to equity holders of at least RMB 100 million (compared to a loss of RMB 4.855 billion in 2023); actual results showed 2024 revenue of RMB 474 million and profit of RMB 313 million, basically meeting the forecast, but adjusted net loss for the year reached RMB 1.304 billion (expanded from 2023), yet this key information was not mentioned in the forecast, creating a gap between actual results and market expectations.

DOBOT presents a unique "high stock price, weak performance" characteristic: as the company with the smallest market cap at IPO (approximately HK$7.5 billion), it has gained 188% since listing. The company conducted an additional offering on July 15, 2025, with an issuance scale of approximately HK$1.04 billion and an offering price of HK$54.30 per share, a 189% premium over the IPO price. However, its overall performance remains lackluster: the first annual report after listing showed company revenue of RMB 374 million, up 30.3% year-over-year, with adjusted net loss of RMB 95 million, narrowing by only 7.7% year-over-year. Typically, companies issue forecasts to alert the market when significant performance changes occur, but as of August 22, DOBOT has not released a performance forecast for the first half of 2025, possibly indicating no significant improvement in performance. Additionally, the company's R&D investment is significantly lower than the other two: 2024 R&D expenses were only RMB 72 million, accounting for 19.2% of operating revenue, while BLACK SESAME and XtalPi's R&D expense ratios reached 302.6% and 157.0% respectively. As a special technology company, adequate R&D investment is key to maintaining core competitiveness, raising questions about whether DOBOT's current R&D level deviates from special technology attributes.

**18C IPO Issuance Encounters Cold Reception in 2025, HAOMO.AI and May AI Vision Still Make No Major Progress After Second Filing**

Despite the high activity of the 3 listed 18C companies in equity financing and secondary trading, and subsequent filing companies closely following hot concepts like robotics, AI, and autonomous driving, actual market expansion is far from as optimistic as concept speculation suggests. Since the 18C reform implementation, although 12 companies have submitted prospectuses, none have completed listing in 2025 so far. This is particularly notable given that Hong Kong IPO fundraising in 2025 has reached a four-year high, making 18C IPO issuance appear even more subdued, contrasting with reform expectations.

Overall, all 12 filing 18C companies had 2024 revenues exceeding HK$250 million, meeting the commercialization threshold, requiring only a HK$4 billion market cap for listing. However, even with lowered thresholds, companies with weak fundamentals, unclear commercialization paths, or inappropriate previous round valuations still face challenges in Hong Kong IPOs. For example, from the commercialization threshold perspective, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's 18C rules require at least HK$250 million in audited revenue for the most recent period, and 9 of the 12 companies only reached the commercialization threshold in 2024 before rushing to list, with the stability of their commercialization paths not yet verified. Only May AI Vision, SEER Robotics, and Reconova have met commercialization requirements for two consecutive years.

Currently, HAOMO.AI has made the fastest progress: the company first submitted its prospectus on November 7, 2024, received feedback from the Securities and Futures Commission on January 3, 2025, and filed for the second time on May 8, 2025, updating 2024 performance. The company's 2024 revenue grew 207% year-over-year to RMB 410 million, but losses further expanded to RMB 580 million, growing 124% year-over-year. This "revenue growth without profit growth" model has undoubtedly raised market concerns. Additionally, in the latest C+ round financing in February 2024, HAOMO.AI's overall valuation reached RMB 9 billion—existing shareholders hope to maintain or even premium this valuation at IPO, while IPO investors reference the HK$4 billion threshold for calculations, creating a valuation dilemma for the company.

May AI Vision also filed for the second time on May 3, 2025, updating full-year 2024 performance, but the company has not received feedback from the Securities and Futures Commission, suggesting potential ongoing regulatory communication pressures. Notably, although the company recorded slight revenue growth and loss narrowing in 2024, one of the main improvement methods was actually reducing R&D expenses and research personnel: the company's 2024 R&D investment was only RMB 58 million, down 43% year-over-year, and R&D team personnel decreased from approximately 250 in January 2023 to about 118 in December 2024. This approach of "sacrificing innovation for short-term performance" contradicts the core attributes of special technology companies.