Minimax surged 109% on its first day listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, making huge profits for Alibaba, miHoYo, and others!

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On January 9th, Chinese AI large model unicorn MiniMax was officially listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, setting a global record for the fastest listing of an AI company from inception. In its first day of trading, MiniMax’s share price performed strongly, closing at a 109% surge over its issue price, with a market value soaring past the HK$100 billion mark, demonstrating the capital market’s fervent pursuit of leading Chinese generative AI assets.

The IPO was priced at HK$165 per share, at the upper limit of the offering range. With strong support from retail investors and long-term funds, MiniMax’s public offering part was oversubscribed by 1,837 times, and the international placement by 37 times. The offering raised approximately HK$5.54 billion, attracting star cornerstone investors such as Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Singapore sovereign wealth fund, and Alibaba.

Due to domestic tech giants and top VC institutions making early, deep investments, MiniMax’s share surge brought huge on-paper returns for investors. Based on intraday prices, the asset value of early shareholders such as Alibaba, miHoYo, Tencent, and IDG has already doubled compared to the last funding round; among them, Alibaba’s stake value at one point surpassed HK$10 billion.

This listing marks the official start of large-scale secondary market fundraising for Chinese AI companies. While OpenAI and other American peers still mainly rely on private fundraising, Chinese AI startups, facing more urgent funding needs, have taken the lead in heading to the public market. Gavekal Dragonomics analyst Tilly Zhang pointed out that, lacking the financial support of U.S. mega cloud service providers, IPOs have become a realistic way for Chinese AI companies to obtain funding for R&D and infrastructure investment.

Sets Global Speed Record for Listing, Gains International Institutional Support

MiniMax's IPO price was HK$165 per share, at the upper limit of the offering range. However, this high pricing did not dampen market enthusiasm. After opening on January 9th, the stock price quickly surged, at one point up more than 80% intraday. By the close, shares were at HK$345, up 109% from the issue price, with a total market value of HK$105.4 billion (about USD 13.5 billion).

It took just over four years from inception to listing for MiniMax, setting a speed record for AI companies going public on the Hong Kong exchange. This global offering involved approximately 33.58 million shares, and assuming full “greenshoe” exercise, the total fundraising would be about HK$5.54 billion.

Retail investor participation was extremely high, with the public offering portion oversubscribed by 1,837 times, triggering a claw-back mechanism and raising the public offering ratio to 17.4%. Due to fierce competition, the minimum allotment success rate was just 2.81%, meaning investors had to subscribe to 4,000 shares to likely get a single lot. For those lucky enough to get one lot (20 shares), the first-day paper gain was about HK$3,600.

Early Investors Reap Handsome Returns: Alibaba, miHoYo Stake Values Reassessed

MiniMax’s surge has richly rewarded its lineup of “star shareholders.” According to the prospectus and public information, the company brought in 14 cornerstone investors this round, subscribing for a total of about HK$2.723 billion, including well-known institutions such as Aspex, Eastspring, Mirae Asset, Alibaba, and E Fund.

As a core strategic investor, Alibaba holds a significant stake in MiniMax’s shareholding structure. Alibaba currently holds about 38.248 million shares, accounting for 13.66% of the company. At the first-day closing price, Alibaba’s stake is worth approximately HK$10.3 billion.

Other early industry investors were also handsomely rewarded. miHoYo holds about 6.4%, worth about HK$4.8 billion; Tencent holds 2.58%, worth close to HK$2 billion; and IDG holds 2.8%, worth more than HK$2.1 billion. For these institutions, which started investing as early as 2022, it has taken only four years to achieve several times their investment return.

Prior to this IPO, MiniMax had already raised a total of USD 1.556 billion, with its last fundraising in August 2025 post-money valuation at USD 4.24 billion. This means that in less than half a year, the secondary market valuation given to MiniMax has more than doubled over the previous round.

Rapid Revenue Growth, Overseas Market Drives 70% of Profits

MiniMax has shown strong growth momentum in commercialization. According to the prospectus, in the first three quarters of 2025, company revenue was USD 53.4 million (about RMB 380 million), up 174.7% year-on-year. Notably, MiniMax’s revenue is highly reliant on global markets, with overseas revenue accounting for over 70%.

The company’s core business currently focuses on consumer-level AI products. Its roleplay chatbot Talkie is very popular among American teens, and its video generation platform “Hailuo AI” (Conch AI) is also a main revenue source. As of September 2025, MiniMax had over 212 million individual users in more than 200 countries and regions. BNY senior strategist Wee Khoon Chong believes the successful listings of MiniMax and Zhipu AI reflect continued market optimism for China’s AI sector.

MiniMax plans to use funds raised from this IPO mainly for large model upgrades over the next five years, development of AI-native products, and overseas business expansion. While facing profitability challenges, the listed MiniMax now has richer fundraising tools and stronger capital backing. As Chinese AI chip companies like Biren Technology and Moore Threads also start the IPO process, the secondary market’s logic for pricing the domestic AI industry chain is being rebuilt.

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