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Key Takeaways:
Knowledge Atlas plans to raise up to 15 billion yuan through a listing on Shanghai's STAR Market, more than double what it raised in its Hong Kong IPO earlier this year
The AI company's Hong Kong-traded shares rose more than 10-fold at one point after their debut at the start of this year
Talk about double dipping.
Just five months after debuting its shares in internationally focused Hong Kong as "China's first large model AI stock," Knowledge Atlas Technology Joint Stock Co. Ltd.（2513.HK) has announced plans for a second listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's Nasdaq-style STAR Market targeting domestic investors. Emboldened by the meteoric rise of its Hong Kong shares since their January debut, the company is aiming to raise up to 15 billion yuan ($2.22 billion) in the second listing, more than triple what it raised in the first one.
As a newly listed company, Knowledge Atlas' rapid return to the capital markets in such a short span underscores just how China's AI sector has become a frenzied dash for cash, as companies rapidly burn through their capital.
According to its Hong Kong filing last week announcing the new IPO plan, Knowledge Atlas plans to issue up to 38.8 million Shanghai-listed shares, representing about 8% of its enlarged share capital. The new funds will be used in three ways: for AI general-purpose foundational large language models (LLM); for a large model-as-a-service (MaaS) one-stop service platform; and for the replenishment of working capital. The AI general-purpose foundational large model project is the most capital-intensive, requiring 12 billion yuan alone.
The company, previously known as Zhipu, raised net proceeds of about HK$4.9 billion ($625 million) from its Hong Kong IPO in January. As of May 29, it still had about HK$2.84 billion in unutilized funds from the listing, indicating the Shanghai IPO is being driven more by industry competition and long-term planning than short-term operational needs.
Knowledge Atlas has developed at a striking pace these last few years. ...
