MiniMax lists on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange

Background

MiniMax is a Chinese AI startup. Before its listing, the company was funded through private rounds; its last reported private round was US$600 million, led by Alibaba in March 2024, at a valuation of US$2.5 billion.^[1] The company had 415 employees.^[1] For 2025 it reported revenue of US$79.038 million and a net loss of about US$1.87 billion.^[1]

What happened

On 9 January 2026 MiniMax went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under the ticker 100.^[1] It listed one day after Zhipu AI's Hong Kong debut on 8 January 2026, so two Chinese AI companies began trading in the same market on consecutive days.^[1]

Key details

Caixin reported that the shares jumped 42.67% from the issue price of HK$165 on the first day of trading, and that the surge valued the firm at HK$71.9 billion, or about US$9.2 billion.^[2]

A few of these numbers are worth separating. The issue price is what the company and its underwriters set for the shares sold in the offering; the first-day price is what buyers in the open market were willing to pay. The gap between the two, 42.67% here, is what is usually called the first-day pop. Market value is the share price multiplied by the number of shares, so it moves with the price rather than with the money the company itself raised. The HK$71.9 billion figure is far above the US$2.5 billion valuation attached to the last reported private round in March 2024.^[1]

Why it matters

A stock exchange listing changes what the public can see. A private company discloses its finances to its investors; a listed one discloses them to the market. That makes the reported revenue of US$79.038 million and the net loss of about US$1.87 billion for 2025 figures that anyone can now look up, rather than numbers passed around privately.^[1] For anyone trying to understand the economics of AI companies, the distance between what such a company earns and what it spends is one of the central quantities, and a listing is the moment it becomes visible.

The timing is part of the story too. Zhipu AI listed on 8 January 2026 and MiniMax on 9 January 2026, which put two Chinese AI companies into the Hong Kong market back to back.^[1] The first-day gain of 42.67% reported by Caixin describes how the shares traded on the day they began trading, and the HK$71.9 billion (US$9.2 billion) valuation is the level they reached at that point.^[2]