METiS TechBio debuts on Hong Kong stock market as its CEO compares the drug design start-up to SpaceX for the pharmaceutical industry
3-MIN READ3-MINJulie ZhangPublished: 9:30am, 13 May 2026Artificial intelligence has shortened drug development from years to just 18 months, the founder of METiS TechBio said, as the AI-driven drug design start-up made its Hong Kong debut on Wednesday amid strong investor appetite for AI-related stocks in the city.“We see ourselves like a SpaceX-style company,” Lai Tsai-Ta, co-founder and CEO of METiS TechBio, who obtained a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, 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.”
METiS TechBio’s shares drew strong demand from both retail and institutional investors, as buyers from the mainland and overseas have been snapping 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.”
The deal drew 18 cornerstone investors – among them BlackRock, UBS Asset Management Singapore, China State-owned Capital Venture Capital Fund, South Korea’s Mirae Asset Securities, HHLR Advisors and China Asset Management – which subscribed a combined US$148 million and agreed to a six-month lock-up after listing, its exchange filing showed.
