A total of 35 Chinese firms raised US$8.6 billion in initial public offerings in August, Caixin reported, citing a report from consultancy Zero2IPO. Of those companies, 31 listed on mainland markets, of which 16 were on ChiNext board in Shenzhen, 12 on small- and medium-sized enterprise exchanges, and three in Shanghai. Overseas listings declined dramatically month-on-month, with two Chinese firms listing in Hong Kong and two on the New York Stock Exchange. Companies from the finance sector raised the most money, followed by mechanical equipment manufacturers. The listings involved 32 venture capital and private equity firms in 15 listings, producing an average return on investment of 7.79 times.