Among them, 297 companies submitted their applications for the first time in 2026, accounting for 56.36%, including 52 companies that submitted twice this year; 210 companies submitted for the first time in 2025, accounting for 39.85%; the rest wereearly-stage first-time submission projects, totaling 20 companies, accounting for approximately 3.8%.
In terms of listing sectors, the main board remains the dominant area, with 514 companies submitting applications for listing on the main board, accounting for 97.5%; only 13 companies submitted to the GEM, indicating that small and medium-sized enterprises are still cautious about listing on the GEM under current market conditions.
It is worth noting that 140 companies submitted with both A-share and H-share status, accounting for 26.57% of the total. This proportion is relatively high in recent years, indicating that the demand for A-share companies to seek a second listing location on the HKEX continues to rise, which also aligns with the policy orientation of the mainland regulatory authorities to encourage high-quality enterprises to list on the HKEX.
The extended validity period for submissions will significantly reduce the risk of invalidation
Looking at the submission status, out of the 527 submissions, 71 companies are already listed, 5 have passed the review, 372 are being processed, and 79 submissions have become invalid.
It is important to note that on August 21, 2026, the HKEX announced that the valid period for eligible new listing applications was extended from 6 months to 12 months. The new measure will be implemented starting today and lasts for three years. Therefore, the 79 invalid submissions were all invalid before August 21, and they do not meet the criteria for the extended effective date.
Additionally, the 5 companies that passed the review are: NZTECH,Starring Technology, Benmu Dynamic, Gureli, Tanboer; it should be noted that there is also one company that recently submitted in October last year, Huahui Optoelectronics, which passed the review in March, but due to statistical limitations, it was not included.
The number of submissions varies, with mainly two rounds of submissions
By the number of submissions, the largest numbers of companies submitted for the first and second times are 245 and 232 respectively, accounting for 46.5% and 44.0%; subsequently, the number of third-time submissions dropped sharply to 41, and only 7 companies submitted for the fourth time; the companies that submitted for the sixth and seventh times are:Central Circle Technologyand Lala Technology.
Central Circle Technology is a company focused on supplying and delivering medicines, especially prescription drugs, to patients in need;Lala Technologyis a leading technology-enabled, data-driven logistics trading platform.
Industry concentration is significant: software services, industrial manufacturing, and healthcare are the three dominant sectors
According to the industries of the submitting companies, in the first eight months of 2026, a total of 29 industries were involved by the newly submitted companies, with the top industries being software services (116 companies, 22.01%), industrial manufacturing (110 companies, 20.87%), healthcare (110 companies, 20.87%), and semiconductor (41 companies, 7.78%).
Geographical concentration is high: Guangdong, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Beijing contribute more than 70%
Based on the provinces where the submitting companies are located, the companies submitted in the first eight months of 2026 were mainly concentrated in:
Guangdong (123 companies, 23.34%);
Shanghai (85 companies, 16.13%);
Jiangsu (66 companies, 12.53%);
Zhejiang (63 companies, 11.95%);
Beijing (48 companies, 9.11%);
Shandong (26 companies, 4.93%);
Hong Kong (20 companies, 3.8%) etc.
Industry consultants are led by Frost & Sullivan,Sponsors are led by Chinese-funded institutions
Industry consultants are essential intermediary agencies before a new stock listing in Hong Kong. Among the 527 submitted companies in the first 8 months of 2026, Frost & Sullivan participated in 368 companies, accounting for 69.83%, while the remaining 12 industry consultants participated in a total of 159 companies, accounting for 30.17%. Frost & Sullivan leads far ahead.
Sponsors, as the most important role in new stock issuance, play a crucial role in the overall listing process, acting as intermediaries between the issuer and other intermediaries.
According to LiveReport Big Data, in the first 8 months of 2026, among the 527 submitted companies, a total of 65 sponsors were involved, with the top three sponsors beingCICC, CITIC Securities, and Huatai Securities, participating in 132, 105, and 69 projects respectively. One-fourth of the submissions were sponsored by CICC.
Overall, in the first 8 months, the sponsors of the submitted companies were mainly Chinese-funded, with only JPMorgan Chase being a foreign-funded institution among the top ten.
Future Outlook: Sufficient IPO reserves, new regulations expected to improve the conversion rate of submissions
Overall, in the first eight months of 2026, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange IPO reserve pool was at a high level in recent years. Behind the 527 submissions were the financing needs of more than 500 enterprises waiting to be met. On the industry side, technology, manufacturing, and healthcare are the core supply forces; geographically, leading economic provinces continue to drive the output of new economy enterprises; in terms of intermediaries, the dominant position of Chinese-funded forces in sponsorship further consolidated.
It is worth emphasizing that the new regulation extending the application validity period from 6 months to 12 months will significantly reduce the risk of invalidation for submitting companies during the review process and the intermediary costs associated with rolling submissions, helping to improve the efficiency of converting submissions into listings. It is expected that the policy effects will become apparent in the fourth quarter of 2026 and 2027. For investors, the large number of submissions accumulated in the first eight months also indicates that the supply of new stocks on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange will remain abundant in the next 12 to 18 months, and the ability to select stocks and price them will require greater research depth from institutions.
