Klook eyes US, AI player targets city for IPOs

Hong Kong travel booking service platform Klook is reportedly planning to list in the US while Chinese artificial intelligence company and smart device maker Mobvoi is said to be eyeing an initial public offering in the financial hub to raise up to US$300 million (HK$2.34 billion).

The Softbank-backed booking platform is set to raise US$200 million in the second half of this year before a US IPO next year, which could raise between US$300 million to US$400 million, according to International Financing Review.

Meanwhile, Beijing-based Mobvoi, which last month debuted its AI large language model, is working with China International Capital Corporation (3908) and China Merchants Bank International to prepare for the first-time share sale in Hong Kong as soon as this year.

With the early success of OpenAI's ubiquitous chatbot, AI companies in China are rushing to roll out their own answers to ChatGPT and are seeking more funding to fuel the sector's growth.

Beijing's top internet overseer has published draft guidelines that would mandate a security review of generative AI services such as Mobvoi's Xulie Houzi platform as well as models from Baidu (9888) and SenseTime (0020).

Founded in 2012 by a group of former employees of Alphabet's Google, Mobvoi three years later attracted the US tech giant's first direct investment in China since it withdrew its search engine from the country in 2010.

Separately, sales and marketing service provider Plus Group (2486) dived 7.5 percent on Futu Securities' gray market ahead of its debut today.

The firm has raised HK$210 million in net proceeds after pricing its shares at HK$10.6 apiece - the bottom end of its marketed range.