Tencent, the Most Outstanding IPO Hunter
The scene at the beginning of the year is amazing:
Investment circles have sorted out several recent major IPOs and unexpectedly found a frequent figure - Tencent. These companies include but are not limited to: MiniMax, Zhipu, Laopu Gold, Mingming Busy, which have already gone public; and Changxin Technology, Suyuan Technology, Yunbao Intelligence, Zeling Biotech, Zhuozheng Medical, Pechoin, Soul, Dongpeng Beverage, etc., which are about to ring the bell.
Among them, MiniMax's latest market value exceeds HK$150 billion, and Zhipu's market value has also exceeded HK$100 billion. Changxin Technology is expected to reach a market value of one trillion.
On the other hand, a few days ago, Pony Ma revealed at Tencent's annual staff meeting that Tencent has exited its investments in JD.com and Meituan. For a moment, people felt a lot of emotions - in the Internet era, Tencent and Alibaba once built half of their empires through investments. Now, the giants are turning to heavily invest in the AI era.
In a blink of an eye, one era ends, and another begins.
At the Beginning of the Year: Three IPOs Worth Over a Thousand Billion for Tencent
The IPO market was booming at the beginning of 2026.
Remember on January 8th, Zhipu officially listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, creating the "world's first large - model stock." Subsequently, its stock price soared all the way, and its market value once exceeded HK$100 billion.
Then on January 9th, MiniMax successfully rang the bell on the Hong Kong stock market. Its stock price rose sharply at the opening. As of today (February 2nd), its market value has approached HK$160 billion.
This spectacular scene is amazing. However, many people don't know that behind these two super IPOs, Tencent is an important shareholder: in the Series B4 financing of Zhipu AI in August 2023, Tencent invested HK$200 million; previously, Tencent also invested in MiniMax and became an important strategic investor.
In this way, Tencent's book returns from its investments are substantial.
The highlight is yet to come. Not long ago, the application for the IPO of Changxin Technology Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as: Changxin Technology) on the Science and Technology Innovation Board was accepted by the exchange. Behind the company is the tycoon Zhu Yiming, who once founded Gigadevice Semiconductor, a semiconductor company with a market value of over a thousand billion. In 2016, Zhu Yiming took a bold move and founded Changxin Technology in Hefei, focusing on DRAM memory chips, which were almost blank in the domestic market at that time.
Along the way, Changxin Technology has left a particularly deep impression on the venture capital circle. Since the mass - production of its first DRAM chip in the third quarter of 2019, investors have flocked to it. Changxin Technology has advanced rapidly in financing at a speed of at least one round per year.
A partner of a well - known domestic industrial capital once revealed to the investment circle that when Changxin Technology was preparing for a certain round of financing, because 220 investment institutions were queuing up to enter, they had to conduct three rounds of reverse roadshows and then select more than a dozen investors for further consideration. The threshold was very strict.
In short, almost every round of financing shares was snatched up instantly. In such a situation, Tencent appeared on the list of investors in the 2022 round of financing.
Roughly calculated, Changxin Technology's post - investment valuation in the 2024 financing was about 150 billion yuan. In this IPO, Changxin Technology plans to raise 29.5 billion yuan, ranking second in the history of financing on the Science and Technology Innovation Board. It is predicted by the outside world that its market value is expected to exceed one trillion after listing. This means that Tencent is expected to achieve an epic IPO investment.
The IPO Map Unfolds, and Tencent Reaps Huge Profits
Looking from here, Tencent's IPO investment map is gradually unfolding.
Its presence is more widespread than expected - on January 22nd, Shanghai Suyuan Technology disclosed its prospectus and plans to list on the Science and Technology Innovation Board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Before the IPO, Tencent, as an important investor in Suyuan Technology, directly holds 19.9493% of the company's shares, and together with its affiliated parties, holds 20.26% of the shares, making it the largest shareholder.
It not only provides funds but also gives orders. According to the prospectus, in the first three quarters of 2025, the related - party sales amount of Suyuan Technology to Tencent accounted for more than 70% of its total revenue. That is to say, 70 yuan out of every 100 yuan of the company's income comes from Tencent.
There is also Yunbao Intelligence, which is striving to become the "first domestic DPU stock." As early as April 2021, when Yunbao Intelligence was only 8 months old, it completed a round of angel - round financing with a luxurious lineup. Tencent, Sequoia China, and Shenzhen Capital Group were the co - leading investors. After multiple rounds of support, before Yunbao Intelligence's IPO, Tencent and its affiliated parties became the single largest shareholder with a shareholding ratio of 22.5351%, even higher than that of the founder, Xiao Qiyang.
This list is very long: behind the high - end private medical institution Zhuozheng Medical that is about to be listed and the social platform Soul that has submitted its application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Tencent is the largest external shareholder; for Zeling Biotech, which submitted its application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in January this year, Tencent is an important strategic institutional shareholder; and companies such as the outdoor sports brand Pechoin and Card Game, the leader in the Chinese collectible card industry, all have Tencent's investment.
At the same time, Tencent has frequently served as a cornerstone investor in IPOs.
On January 28th, Mingming Busy, the "first mass - market snack stock" on the Hong Kong stock market, was listed. This IPO gathered more than a dozen international top - tier institutions such as Tencent, Temasek, BlackRock, and Fidelity as cornerstone investors; Dongpeng Beverage, which is about to ring the bell, has also introduced a super - luxurious lineup of cornerstone investors, setting a record for the largest number of cornerstone investors in a consumer - industry IPO in the history of the Hong Kong stock market, and Tencent is also on the list.
Even earlier, Tencent was also the cornerstone investor of the new tea - drink company Guming; it also supported Minglue Technology's listing in Hong Kong as both a major shareholder and a cornerstone investor; and for Zhuozheng Medical, which is about to be listed, Tencent once again serves as the cornerstone investor as the largest external shareholder.
The most remarkable investment is in Laopu Gold - since its listing in June 2024, Laopu's stock price has soared all the way. Few people predicted this success in advance. Only Heiyi and Yuyuan Co., Ltd. made investments. Tencent participated in the IPO issuance as a cornerstone investor, holding about 4% of the shares. Calculated in this way, Tencent's floating profit on the books once exceeded HK$5 billion, making Laopu Gold one of its consumer projects with the highest investment returns.
In this big IPO year, Tencent is undoubtedly one of the biggest winners.
Farewell to the Internet Era and Welcome the Next One
A similar scenario has also occurred at Alibaba.
Just like Tencent, Alibaba is also an important shareholder behind Zhipu, MiniMax, and Changxin Technology. Among them, Alibaba also entered the investment in Changxin Technology in 2022; after continuous investment in multiple rounds of financing of MiniMax, Alibaba holds 13.66% of the shares and becomes the largest external shareholder.
At the beginning of this year, the domestic GPU manufacturer Hanbo Semiconductor completed its IPO counseling, and Alibaba invested in it as early as 2021. It is not difficult to find that Alibaba's new - round IPO list is also mostly concentrated in the AI infrastructure and application sectors.
Looking back, Alibaba and Tencent can be regarded as China's "most profitable CVCs." Recall around 2019, the domestic venture capital in China was in a cold winter, but the CVCs represented by BAT had an explosion. Alibaba and Tencent once dominated half of the Chinese Internet market.
Farewell to the Internet era. Now, with the replacement of the global technology wave, the giants have already changed their course.
Recall a few days ago at Tencent's annual staff meeting, Pony Ma highlighted Tencent's AI business. He said that 2025 was a big year for AI, and the only business line in Tencent that spent relatively more money was AI. Tencent President Liu Chiping further emphasized the importance of AI in the group's business development, sighing that "AI is the biggest technological revolution in our generation's lifetime."
Actions often precede summaries. Pony Ma rarely revealed: "Tencent has exited its investments in JD.com and Meituan."
This is undoubtedly a watershed. Entering the AI era, the giants are all leaving enough resources to fight in the core battlefield. As Tencent mentioned in its Q3 2025 briefing: "Our investment portfolio continues to support the innovation ecosystem, and the invested companies are accelerating their IPO processes in fields such as AI, hard technology, and healthcare."
In the past few years, we often heard the argument "Will the Internet giants miss the next era?" Little did we know that they had already planted the seeds of the next era in the soil of IPOs.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Investment Circle" (ID: pedaily2012), author: Yang Jiyun. Republished by 36Kr with authorization.