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Authored by Cheng Mengyao of Rui Caijing

After a hiatus of three years, conversational AI pioneer AISpeech Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as AISpeech) has re-embarked on its quest to list on the STAR Market. The company has showcased robust growth in its core business revenue, a substantial reduction in net losses post non-recurring items, consistent R&D investment, and a sustained gross profit margin exceeding 50%.

In May 2023, AISpeech initially sought listing on the STAR Market. Following three rounds of review inquiries, the Listing Review Committee denied its application, citing inadequate justification for the projected compound annual revenue growth rate over the next four years and insufficient disclosure of pre-listing negative net asset risks.

Post the unsuccessful IPO attempt, shareholders including Alibaba and Lenovo opted to partially divest their stakes. However, new investors stepped in, providing strong support and propelling the valuation up by RMB 2 billion in under a month. Subsequently, AISpeech's valuation stabilized between RMB 6 billion and RMB 6.5 billion, ultimately settling at RMB 6.444 billion after the equity transfer in January 2026.

Embarking on a fresh start, AISpeech revised its planned fundraising amount upwards by RMB 522 million to RMB 1.555 billion. These funds are earmarked for projects encompassing AI software and integrated hardware-software solutions, AI smart terminal product R&D and upgrades, and R&D center construction. Based on this, the company's estimated valuation hovers around RMB 7.775 billion.

01 Valuation Skyrockets by RMB 2 Billion in a Month, Alibaba Secures RMB 280 Million Early Exit

AISpeech was co-founded with RMB 30,000 by Gao Shixing and Qin Yanyan in October 2007, with equal equity shares. By March 2021, when it transitioned into a joint-stock company, its registered capital had surged to RMB 50 million. By then, Qin Yanyan was no longer among the 40 shareholders listed. Gao Shixing directly held 11.53%, emerging as the largest individual shareholder; Dazi Jihui held 14.18%, becoming the largest shareholder, while Alibaba Network (formerly Alibaba) held 13.23%, making it the largest external shareholder. Subsequently, AISpeech underwent capital increases, and by the start of the reporting period, its registered capital had reached RMB 360 million, with the shareholding ratios of the 40 shareholders remaining unchanged.

During the reporting period, AISpeech experienced seven capital increases and eight equity transfers, raising a total of RMB 554 million through equity financing. Over the past twelve months, new shareholders such as Nanjing Hongzhuo, Hangzhou Tangqi, Shanghai Simate, and Luzhou Puxin have joined the fray. Nanjing Hongzhuo and Hangzhou Tangqi primarily acquired stakes through capital increases and equity transfers; Shanghai Simate and Luzhou Puxin obtained theirs through transfers from Hangzhou Haoyue and Hengqin Shangchen. Notably, a significant valuation disparity existed between the prices of acquiring stakes through capital increases versus equity transfers.

In July 2023, during the first equity transfer within the reporting period, Alibaba Network divested shares to Yangzhou Tengchuan and Yangzhou Tengchen, cashing out RMB 140 million at a transfer price of RMB 11.11 per registered capital, corresponding to a valuation of RMB 4 billion. Less than a month after acquiring Alibaba Network's shares, Yangzhou Tengchuan and Yangzhou Tengchen each increased their capital in AISpeech by RMB 30 million at a price of RMB 16.67 per registered capital, propelling the valuation to RMB 6.06 billion.

These two transactions, separated by less than a month, directly inflated the valuation by over RMB 2 billion, raising questions about the underlying motives. More intriguingly, this capital increase occurred just three months after AISpeech's initial STAR Market IPO was rejected. Subsequently, through multiple rounds of equity changes, AISpeech's valuation remained between RMB 6 billion and RMB 6.4 billion, specifically RMB 6.014 billion, RMB 6.144 billion, RMB 6.184 billion, RMB 6.284 billion, and RMB 6.379 billion, before finalizing at RMB 6.444 billion ahead of this IPO.

Rui Caijing observed that the pattern of new shareholders acquiring shares through equity transfers and subsequently boosting the valuation through capital increases recurred multiple times during the reporting period. Following Alibaba Network's initial share transfer, in August 2023, Alibaba Network was restructured into Alibaba Network, Hangzhou Haoyue, Chuanbin Technology (Hangzhou) Co., Ltd., and Chuanhang Technology (Hangzhou) Co., Ltd. The AISpeech shares held by Alibaba Network were inherited by Hangzhou Haoyue, corresponding to a registered capital of RMB 34.9909 million.

In June 2025, during the seventh equity transfer, Hangzhou Haoyue signed share transfer agreements with Hangzhou Tangqi, Shanghai Simate, and Luzhou Puxin, divesting shares at a price of RMB 10.26 per registered capital, cashing out a total of RMB 140 million, corresponding to a valuation of RMB 4 billion.

Immediately thereafter, in June 2025, during AISpeech's seventh capital increase, Hangzhou Tangqi invested RMB 45 million to subscribe to RMB 2.749916 million in registered capital, corresponding to a valuation of RMB 6.444 billion. Nanjing Hongzhuo also participated, investing RMB 20 million to subscribe to RMB 1.222185 million in registered capital. Prior to this capital increase, Nanjing Hongzhuo had acquired RMB 779,632 in registered capital from Midea Intelligence in April 2025 during the sixth equity transfer, corresponding to a valuation of RMB 5 billion, with Midea Intelligence cashing out RMB 10 million in this transaction.

Shanghai Simate's stakes were acquired through transfers by Hengqin Shangchen and Hangzhou Haoyue. Despite the transfers occurring simultaneously, the prices differed significantly, at RMB 7.62 and RMB 10.26 per registered capital, respectively, corresponding to valuations of RMB 3 billion and RMB 4 billion, highlighting a clear disparity.

02 Cambridge Alumni Forge Entrepreneurial Path, with Alibaba and Lenovo as Key Shareholders

While new shareholders are betting on AISpeech's future prospects, some existing shareholders have chosen to cash out early. Hengqin Shangchen transferred shares to Hangzhou Tangyi, Wuhan Xinfeng, and Shanghai Simate in June 2024, January 2025, and June 2025, respectively, cashing out a total of RMB 61.677 million, corresponding to a valuation of RMB 3 billion each time.

Suzhou Lenovo Star divested shares to Shanghai Yeye in December 2024 for RMB 30 million, corresponding to a valuation of RMB 3 billion; in March 2025, Tus Innovation transferred shares to Oriental Wisdom, cashing out RMB 15 million, corresponding to a valuation of RMB 3 billion.

Entering 2026, on January 29, Dazi Jihui signed a share transfer agreement with CSIC Innovation Investment, agreeing to transfer some of its AISpeech shares to CSIC Innovation Investment, cashing out RMB 32.22 million at a share transfer price of RMB 16.36 per registered capital, corresponding to a valuation of RMB 6.444 billion. This share transfer was not discounted and aligned with the valuation of the previous capital increase.

Currently, AISpeech boasts a total of 58 shareholders. The employee stock ownership platform Dazi Jihui holds 12.47%, remaining the largest shareholder; Gao Shixing and Yu Kai, as the actual controllers, hold 10.54% and 7.28%, respectively. Through a unanimous action agreement signed with Lin Yuandong and Dazi Jihui, they collectively control 33.12% of the voting rights. Lin Yuandong holds no executive position and directly holds 2.84% individually.

Gao Shixing, aged 50, graduated from Northeastern University in 2002 and later pursued advanced studies at the University of Cambridge, earning a master's degree in Technology Policy. Prior to founding AISpeech, he worked at Neusoft Group Co., Ltd. He currently serves as the chairman and general manager of AISpeech.

Yu Kai, Gao Shixing's contemporary, met him at the University of Cambridge. Yu Kai graduated from the Department of Automation at Tsinghua University in 1999 and 2002, earning a bachelor's degree in automation and a master's degree in Pattern Recognition and Intelligent Systems, respectively. He later earned a Ph.D. in Engineering Speech Recognition from the University of Cambridge and joined AISpeech in November 2007. He currently serves as a director and chief scientist of the company.

At its inception, AISpeech primarily provided speech technology solutions for teaching Chinese as a foreign language. In 2012, the advent of Apple's Siri spurred the rapid rise of voice assistants, and conversational AI began to be widely implemented in vertical fields. AISpeech underwent several transformations, discontinuing its education business and establishing its current business layout focused on smart terminals as the main application direction, gradually emerging as a core player in China's conversational AI landscape.

Among other shareholders, Hangzhou Haoyue is the only external shareholder holding more than 5%, with a corresponding proportion of 5.42%. Suzhou Lenovo Star holds 3.79%; Hangzhou Tangqi holds 2.68%; Shanghai Simate holds 1.18%; Luzhou Puxin holds 0.74%; and Nanjing Hongzhuo holds 0.51%.

Hangzhou Haoyue is currently 57.59% owned by Taobao (China) Software Co., Ltd., 35.75% by Zhejiang Tmall Technology Co., Ltd., and 6.66% by Alibaba.com China Limited. The continuous reduction of AISpeech shares by Hangzhou Haoyue reflects Alibaba Network's strategic realignment in large model infrastructure and AI speech and semantic systems.

Besides being AISpeech's largest external shareholder, Alibaba was also its largest client in 2019. However, as Alibaba DAMO Academy began developing its own intelligent speech-related technologies in 2019 and Tmall gradually replaced its intelligent speech service provider with Alibaba Cloud in 2020, business cooperation with AISpeech diminished.

03 Rapid Revenue Growth, Yet Profitability Remains Elusive

Smart terminals serve as key conduits for AI technology to penetrate the physical world and represent a frontier area for developing new quality productive forces. Conversational AI is the core enabling technology for human-machine interaction in smart terminals. AISpeech's independently developed full-stack conversational AI and on-device intelligence technologies have accumulated comprehensive system optimization capabilities for end-cloud collaboration and software-hardware integration, as well as experience in adapting to multiple chips and scenarios, continuously empowering new-generation smart terminals and agents such as smart cars, smart homes, smart robots, and smart wearables.

With the vigorous development of large model technologies and the explosion of conversational AI, AISpeech has embraced new growth opportunities. From 2023 to 2025 (hereinafter referred to as the reporting period), AISpeech's revenue scale continued to expand, and its gross profit margin remained at a high level. During this period, AISpeech achieved revenues of RMB 539 million, RMB 601 million, and RMB 688 million, maintaining rapid growth. Its comprehensive gross profit margins were 53.69%, 57.81%, and 63.24%, respectively, consistently exceeding 50%.

AISpeech's revenue primarily stems from three segments: smart mobility, smart office, and smart IoT. Its main products are categorized into AI software and technology services and AI hardware. In 2025, the revenue proportions from the three segments were 40.08%, 35.40%, and 24.51%, respectively. The revenue proportion from smart mobility increased from 30.04% in 2023 to 40.08%, becoming the company's largest revenue source. In 2025, four of AISpeech's top five clients were automobile manufacturers, to which AISpeech primarily sold AI software and technology services.

In the smart mobility domain, AISpeech's products have been installed in over 25 million vehicles, with nearly 300 mass-produced models from automakers such as BYD, Mercedes-Benz, SAIC Motor, and Geely Group. According to the ranking of onboard voice supplier installation volumes released by Gasgoo Automotive Research Institute, based on domestic vehicle terminal sales data, AISpeech held a 22% market share in China in 2025, ranking second in the industry, trailing only iFLYTEK (002230.SZ) with 41.9%.

In the smart office sector, AISpeech's enterprise-grade products have been deployed in large enterprises such as Huawei, Alibaba, and Xiaomi, as well as over a hundred universities worldwide, including Peking University, Fudan University, and the National University of Singapore.

In the smart IoT realm, its products cover over 50 smart terminal categories, including black and white goods, kitchen and bathroom appliances, home control centers, household robots, and embodied robots. Long-term cooperative brands include numerous leading enterprises across various sub-segments, such as Midea, Hisense, Zhiyuan, Yinhe General, Ecovacs, and Roborock.

During the reporting period, AISpeech's net losses attributable to shareholders after non-recurring gains and losses were RMB 129 million, RMB 175 million, and RMB 84.2945 million, respectively. After excluding the impact of share-based payments, the losses were RMB 219 million, RMB 144 million, and RMB 48.256 million, respectively, showing a significant narrowing trend.

As of the end of 2025, AISpeech's consolidated balance sheet showed an undistributed profit of -RMB 989 million. It is anticipated that after the initial public offering and listing, the cumulative undistributed losses on the books will persist, and cash dividends to shareholders will not be feasible for

Since 2023, the company has witnessed a steady climb in the sales of its self-branded offerings, including smart ceiling microphones, smart matrix microphones, and AI office notebooks. This growth trajectory has propelled the compound annual growth rate of its AI hardware revenue to an impressive 197.34%, subsequently driving a consistent uptick in inventory balances. The recorded book values of inventory at the close of each respective period stood at 38.3105 million yuan, 50.905 million yuan, and 103 million yuan. By the end of the reporting period, the inventory's book value constituted 14.04% of the current assets.

In tandem with the revenue expansion, there has been a corresponding increase in accounts receivable. The net book values of AISpeech's accounts receivable for each period were recorded at 246 million yuan, 269 million yuan, and 325 million yuan, respectively. Notably, the net book value of accounts receivable at the end of 2025 represented 47.33% of the total revenue.

AISpeech has expressed optimism about the future, stating that as the company's revenue continues to grow and profitability strengthens, the cash flow generated from operating activities is expected to see further enhancement. However, it also cautions that the current pressure from short-term debt should not be underestimated.

As of the end of December 2025, the company's financial snapshot revealed 198 million yuan in cash on hand, juxtaposed against 321 million yuan in short-term borrowings and 44.882 million yuan in non-current liabilities due within the upcoming year. This scenario presents a financial gap of 168 million yuan.

Appendix: List of Intermediary Institutions Involved in AISpeech's IPO

Sponsor & Lead Underwriter: Soochow Securities Co., Ltd.
Issuer's Legal Counsel: King & Wood Mallesons
Auditing Firm: PWC (Special General Partnership)
Appraisal Firm: Jiangsu Zhongqi Huazhongtian Assets Appraisal Co., Ltd.