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Chinese Facial Recognition Unicorn Megvii Prepares IPO on Shanghai’s Star Market

January 13, 2021 7:36 pm

Beijing (PingWest)- China’s Megvii Technology, which is well known for its facial-recognition technology, is preparing for initial public offering on Shanghai’s Star Market. The company is working with CITIC Securities for pre-listing tutoring, according to an announcement posed by the China Securities Regulatory Commission on Tuesday.

The company’s effort to list on a stock exchange have failed many times in the past. Megvii begun applied for IPO on Hong Stock Exchange in August 2019, but the firm’s IPO application has lapsed for undisclosed reason. Then, Megvii filed its application again with Hong Kong Exchange in February 2020, unfortunately, its application failed again after Trump Administration put it on trade blacklist for security concerns in October 2019.

Megvii’s shareholders includes Alibaba Group Holding, personal computer maker Lenovo, Apple supplier Foxconn and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

Megvii’s peers include SenseTime and Hikvision in China, as well as Cognex in the US and Japan’s Keyence.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange launched the Star Market in July,2019, with highly anticipation that the tech board will nurture the growth of China’s own world-class firm in key areas such as chip manufacturing、biotechnology and computer software.

The idea behind the Star market is to encourage investment in domestic tech companies, ensuring more Chinese home-grown companies have sufficient capital to grow and have an incentive to list at home.