Shanghai bets on technology as its new growth engine, shortlists 1,000 start-ups to list on Star Market
- The city’s government will assist these companies get financing, provide tax breaks and help them prepare listing documents in a bid to fast track their IPO
- Shanghai looks for new growth engines as its 6 per cent growth target has been hit by the coronavirus outbreak
Shanghai has picked 1,000 technology start-ups that have the potential to list on the Nasdaq-style Star Market, betting on innovation to bolster its economy hit by the coronavirus epidemic.
The government of China’s financial and commercial capital plans to help these promising companies obtain financing, grant them tax incentives, help them prepare listing documents and recommend them to the Shanghai Stock Exchange to fast track their initial public offerings.
“We want to give them substantial support to quicken their IPO pace,” Li Jun, a deputy director of the Shanghai Financial Services Office, said on Tuesday. “Our job is to pave the way for solid technology companies to get listed on the market.”
The Star Market, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s pet project, made its debut in July last year. Billed as China’s answer to Nasdaq, the board on Shanghai exchange attracts the mainland’s best technology firms with innovative capabilities and earnings potential.
The mainland’s most developed metropolis has ambitions of transforming itself into a technology innovation centre and the creation of the Star Market is expected to play a big role in developing the city’s own technology firms. The key sectors that Shanghai focuses on include microelectronics, neuroscience, artificial intelligence and new material.
Shanghai Vice-Mayor Wu Qing said companies involved in basic sciences would be given priority as the municipality rolled out incentives.