139.5% NDR vs widening losses: Zhongke Wenge (中科闻歌) moves from CAS lab to the Hong Kong market

IPO clears the way

China Securities Regulatory Commission has issued a filing notice clearing Zhongke Wenge (中科闻歌) to issue up to 60.67 million overseas ordinary shares and list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with about 158 million domestic unlisted shares held by 47 shareholders to be converted into overseas tradable shares. It has been reported that the company confidentially filed with the HKEX on 25 June 2025. Eight years after spinning out of the Institute of Automation at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (中科院自动化所), the firm arrives in Hong Kong carrying the “decision intelligence” label — but which story will investors believe: hyper-sticky customers or persistent losses?

From lab founders to a full‑stack DIOS

The three founders — Wang Lei, Luo Yin and academic lead Zeng Dajun — all hail from the Institute of Automation, giving the company deep scientific roots. Zhongke Wenge’s DIOS stack combines a data layer (X‑Data), a model layer (the Yayi large model) and a decision layer (DI‑Brain). Yayi earned a level‑4 modelling certification from China’s information and communications authority and the company has rolled out vertical models (including a certified traditional‑Chinese‑medicine model). The full‑stack approach is meant to meet large, localized To B/To G deployment needs: more than 72% of 2025 revenue came from local on‑premises deployments, supporting the argument that customers demand integrated solutions rather than standalone model APIs.

Revenue stickiness and the loss problem

The numbers are mixed. Revenue in 2025 was RMB 405 million, gross margin has stayed above 50%, and net dollar retention (NDR) jumped to 139.5% — meaning existing customers, on average, expanded spend by roughly 40%. But retention sits at 55.4% and 2025 IFRS losses widened to RMB 174 million (adjusted loss was about RMB 101 million), and top clients remain concentrated: “flagship” customers accounted for 67.8% of revenue. Delivery efficiency improved materially (average delivery time fell from 185 days in 2023 to 80.2 days in 2025), yet the company warns it may continue to post losses for the foreseeable future. Which metric should define valuation: explosive expansion inside big accounts or the structural risks of To‑G concentration and continuing deficits?

Valuation, geopolitics and the watchlist

No price range has been disclosed. For context, market comparators such as Fourth Paradigm (第四范式) and SenseTime (商汤科技) trade with market caps around HK$20 billion and HK$40 billion respectively, and Hong Kong has increasingly been used as a listing venue for Chinese AI firms amid tighter U.S. export controls and heightened international scrutiny of advanced AI technologies. Key variables for investors: the path to profitability, whether the company can reduce client concentration while maintaining high NDR, the commercial pace of its Yayi model in new industry verticals, and the sustainability of fast‑growing enterprise revenues. Zhongke Wenge’s move from a CAS lab to the HKEX is a milestone for China’s enterprise‑AI scene — but the market will still want to know: how wide is the runway?