China's STAR Market Marks Seven Years with Over 1.2 Trillion Yuan Raised

China's Shanghai Stock Exchange STAR Market celebrated its seventh anniversary, having listed 612 high-tech companies with a combined market capitalization exceeding 15 trillion yuan. According to People's Daily, the market has raised over 1.2 trillion yuan through initial public offerings and refinancing while amassing more than 150,000 invention patents. By adopting inclusive listing standards—such as admitting pre-revenue firms and establishing a STAR Growth Layer—the market serves as a primary financial lever to advance technological self-reliance across critical sectors including semiconductors and artificial intelligence.

The STAR Market demonstrates how Chinese capital markets are pivoting to finance early-stage, high-risk domestic innovation. By relaxing profitability requirements for strategic hardware and deep-tech sectors, the platform provides critical liquidity to sustain long-term research and development.

China's science and technology innovation board, known as the STAR Market, marked its seventh anniversary with 612 listed companies boasting a combined market capitalization exceeding 15 trillion yuan, according to People's Daily. Established as a pilot for China's registration-based IPO reform, the market has become a primary funding destination for deep-tech enterprises. To date, companies on the STAR Market have raised 1.0342 trillion yuan through initial public offerings and an additional 238.6 billion yuan via refinancing, bringing total fundraising to over 1.2 trillion yuan. Over the past six years, using 2019 as a baseline, listed firms achieved compound annual growth rates of 17 percent in operating revenue and 11 percent in net profit attributable to parent companies. To better accommodate early-stage technology ventures, the STAR Market pioneered inclusive listing standards in China by accepting pre-revenue firms, red-chip corporate structures, and dual-class shareholding. Out of 63 companies that were unprofitable when they listed, 28 have subsequently turned profitable. In June of last year, regulators established the STAR Growth Layer and refined the fifth listing standard, expanding market access to emerging sectors such as artificial intelligence, commercial aerospace, and the low-altitude economy. In 2025, 35 pre-revenue companies in this growth layer recorded an average revenue increase of 18 percent year-on-year. The board has also accelerated industrial clustering, particularly in the semiconductor sector. A total of 131 listed companies now span the integrated circuit supply chain, including chip design, manufacturing, packaging, testing, equipment, and materials. For example, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) raised 53.2 billion yuan in its STAR Market IPO, providing capital for research and capacity expansion while drawing upstream and downstream suppliers into its ecosystem. Policies such as the 'STAR Market Eight Measures' further support listed companies in pursuing supply chain mergers and acquisitions. Beyond capital allocation, the market helps bridge research and commercial application. Founding teams at over 60 percent of STAR Market listed companies consist of scientists, engineers, or industry experts, helping streamline the translation of technical research into commercialized products.