XtalPi, a Tencent-backed Chinese AI-driven drug research company, began trading in Hong Kong on Thursday, reports Nikkei Asia. XtalPi raised HK$989.3 million ($126.8 million) in the runup to the listing, marking the third-largest initial public offering in the city this year, following beverage shop chain Sichuan Baicha Baidao’s HK$2.58 billion listing in April and lidar specialist RoboSense Technology’s HK$1.06 billion splash in January.
The shares opened at HK$5.39, or 2.1% higher than the offering price of HK$5.28.
The company is the first to list in Hong Kong under a new rule specifically implemented to attract strategic startups as the US-China rivalry widens into emerging technologies like biotech and pharmaceutical research.