Shares of METiS TechBio surged 173 per cent on their Hong Kong debut on Wednesday as the AI-driven drug design start-up’s initial public offering drew strong demand from investors amid buoyant sentiment for AI-related stocks in the city.
Its stocks first traded at HK$28.68, significantly higher than its offering price of HK$10.50 each.
Co-founder and CEO of METiS TechBio, Lai Tsai-Ta, who obtained a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, said artificial intelligence had shortened drug development from years to just 18 months, said
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“We see ourselves like a SpaceX-style company,” he said. “We use AI algorithms to design a large number of nano-rockets. Pharma companies can load their own drugs onto our rockets through nanodelivery platforms to make products.”
The company raised HK$2.11 billion (US$269.5 million) from the sale of 201.23 million shares at HK$10.50 each, making it the third AI-driven drug developer to list in Hong Kong after XtalPi’s debut in June 2024, and Insilico Medicine’s offering in December 2025.
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METiS TechBio’s shares drew strong demand from both retail and institutional investors, as buyers from the mainland and overseas snapped up AI-related stocks in Hong Kong amid a wave of Chinese hi-tech companies rushing to list on the city’s stock exchange. Mike Leung Kit-man, director at Wocom Securities, said, “Several AI-related IPOs have seen their share prices multiply since listing.”