Based in Wuhan, capital of central Hubei province, Black Sesame plans to float 37 million shares at a price range of between HK$28 and HK$30.3 per share, according to its latest filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange. The company’s listing could raise HK$1.12 billion (US$143 million) at the top of that price range.
The firm’s IPO falls under Chapter 18C of the city’s listing rules that took effect on March 31 last year. This enables companies with at least HK$10 billion in valuation to sell shares in Hong Kong even if they have yet to earn a single dollar in sales. For companies with at least HK$250 million in sales in the financial year before their IPO, the minimum valuation was slashed to HK$6 billion from HK$8 billion.
Black Sesame’s prospectus showed that its 2023 revenue reached 312.4 million yuan (US$43 million), nearly double that of 2022. Its losses, however, widened to 4.86 billion yuan from the previous year.
03:49
Baidu wins permits to offer fully driverless robotaxi service in Beijing
Baidu wins permits to offer fully driverless robotaxi service in Beijing
Black Sesame is considered one of the mainland auto chip designers that can compete with the likes of Nvidia and Qualcomm, boosting the country’s technological self-sufficiency efforts. The company has already raised US$695.8 billion through 10 rounds of funding from investors that include Nio Capital, the investment arm of electric vehicle maker Nio, as well a venture capital fund under smartphone giant Xiaomi.
Still, high investments and limited revenue have weakened the profitability of SoC start-ups like Black Sesame, according to Canalys analyst Ceyuan Liu.
Black Sesame has designed two series of products, the Huashan high-computing power SoCs and the Wudang cross-domain SoCs, which can cover diverse functionalities of intelligent vehicles, such as a smart cockpit, with a single chip.
