STAR Market

STAR Market (科创板) is a Shanghai-based stock exchange board launched as an independent listing venue separate from China's main board, designed to attract companies in next-generation information technology, advanced equipment, new materials, new energy, energy conservation, and environmental protection . In FreeS Fund founder Li Feng's 2019 assessment, it was viewed as the most likely capital-market reform to succeed and generate "wealth effects" that year .

The board operates under a registration-based IPO system that departed from China's traditional approval-based model. Its listing standards are built around market capitalization rather than profitability, with five tiers allowing even pre-revenue companies to go public if they meet certain valuation thresholds—an arrangement described by Huatai United Securities' Jiang Yu as a "historic breakthrough" after 28 years of profitability-centered requirements . The system also permits dual-class share structures and red-chip enterprise listings, features previously barred from A-shares .

STAR Market has served as an exit channel for hard-tech and healthcare ventures. By March 2020, 91 companies had listed, with private enterprises accounting for 78% of listings and a majority of IPO proceeds . The exchange has been positioned alongside ChiNext and the Beijing Stock Exchange as part of China's layered capital market, with STAR Market specifically designated for "hard tech" firms meeting national strategic priorities . Robotics ventures like Geekplus and healthcare companies have cited it as enabling public-market access for capital-intensive sectors .