On the morning of June 18, 2025, China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) Chairman Wu Qing announced at the Lujiazui Forum a “1+6” policy package to deepen reforms on the STAR Market, aiming to better serve high-quality tech enterprises with major technological breakthroughs, strong commercial potential, and sustained R&D investment.
That afternoon, the CSRC released Guidelines on Establishing a Sci-Tech Growth Tier on the STAR Market to Enhance Institutional Inclusiveness and Adaptability, detailing plans to:
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Reintroduce Listing Standard V for pre-revenue companies,
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Expand its application to cutting-edge sectors like AI, commercial aerospace, and low-altitude economy,
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Strengthen support for emerging and future industries.
Standard V: A Catalyst for Innovation
Introduced in 2019 with the STAR Market’s launch, Listing Standard V was designed as a pioneering mechanism to enable pre-profit, high-growth tech firms to go public. By June 17, 2025, the STAR Market hosted 588 listed firms with a total market cap of ¥6.8 trillion, becoming a hub for “hard tech” enterprises tackling core technologies.
After a de facto pause in 2023–2024 due to tightened scrutiny on “critical core technologies,” the CSRC’s 2024 Eight STAR Market Measures reaffirmed support for hard tech. In 2025, regulators emphasized “prudently resuming Standard V”, with four pre-revenue firms now having IPO applications accepted.
Capital Markets: The Engine of Innovation
History shows that innovation thrives on capital—from tech giants to nimble startups. Capital markets’ risk-sharing, incentive-aligned mechanisms provide end-to-end financing (VC→IPO→M&A) tailored to firms at seed, growth, and maturity stages.
Emerging technologies face a common hurdle: uncertain commercialization paths. Like Silicon Valley’s success—fueled by VC and Nasdaq’s ecosystem—China’s innovators need patient capital to cross the “valley of death.”
Challenges and Opportunities
In 2023–2024, global VC retreated due to Fed rate hikes and recession risks, while domestic IPO slowdowns and weak Hong Kong small-cap liquidity dented exit channels. Yet today, sectors like AI, biotech, and commercial aerospace are accelerating from lab to market, demanding a more adaptive financial system.
The Way Forward
To foster a virtuous cycle of tech-capital-industry synergy, China must:
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Broaden Standard V’s scope to cover more frontier fields.
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Mobilize social capital (e.g., pension funds, insurance, industrial investors) into private equity.
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Enhance market inclusivity to help homegrown firms list domestically.
During the internet era, dollar-funded Chinese startups like Alibaba and Tencent became giants via overseas listings. Now, as a new tech revolution unfolds, China’s capital markets must empower its next-generation innovators—ensuring more “DeepSeek moments” emerge on the hard tech frontier, propelling the nation’s scientific and industrial leap forward.