StepFun (StepFun) will submit a Hong Kong stock IPO application as soon as Monday, with a valuation of 12 billion US dollars

Comparative news. According to surveillance, the Wall Street Journal quoted people familiar with the matter, Chinese artificial intelligence startup StepFun (StepFun) will submit a Hong Kong stock IPO application as soon as Monday. Major investors have proposed that Step Star's IPO valuation be as high as $12 billion, but the final valuation is still subject to change. Prior to Step Star, rivals Smart Spectrum AI and MiniMax were listed in Hong Kong in January of this year. Both companies' stock prices rose sharply after listing, which is expected to bring considerable returns to early investors before the ban expires next month. Recently, both Smart Spectrum AI and MiniMax said they are preparing to go public in the mainland market. Another big Chinese model startup, Dark Side of the Moon, is also preparing to go public in Hong Kong. Intensive listings reflect the urgent need for Chinese artificial intelligence companies to attract investors when the market environment is favorable. Over the past year, Hong Kong has once again become one of the most active initial public offering markets in the world, mainly thanks to a large number of Chinese companies from the fields of artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and biotechnology choosing to go public in Hong Kong. Step Star was founded in 2023. Founder and CEO Jiang Daxin was the former vice president of Microsoft. At the beginning of this year, Step Star hired Yin Qi, the co-founder of face recognition company Kuangshi Technology, as the chairman.