Shanghai Unveils 20 Measures to Expand STAR Market for Emerging Industries
Miles Bennett
Shanghai's 20-point policy package opens the STAR Market to pre-profit companies in controlled nuclear fusion, embodied AI, and quantum computing, while unlocking follow-on financing — a formal upgrade in how far the capital market will stretch for cash-burning deep tech.
Which industries just got the green light?
The document names five frontier sectors: controlled nuclear fusion, embodied AI, large language models, quantum computing, and brain-computer interfaces — all now pushed toward Listing Standard No. 5 on the STAR Market (a rule designed specifically for companies with high technical barriers but no profits yet).
Separate review guidelines are also required for AI and low-altitude economy companies. This means → regulators are not offering vague "support for tech" — they are building an industry-by-industry checklist with clear review criteria.
In plain terms = these companies used to face a case-by-case judgment call on whether Standard No. 5 applied. Now it is written into policy with named sectors, sharply raising certainty.
Once a pre-profit company lists, how does it keep raising money?
The old pain point: after listing under pre-profit criteria, a company that stayed in the red or saw its stock fall below IPO price was virtually shut out of follow-on financing — listing was "getting through the door," but the funding lifeline could still snap.
The new policy explicitly allows both pre-profit and broken-IPO-price companies to apply for refinancing, using secondary offerings, rights issues, or convertible bonds, and pushes "shelf registration" — a system allowing one-time approval with phased issuance — toward implementation.
This means → the policy has upgraded from "let you list" to "keep you funded after listing," completing the chain from IPO to sustained capital access.
Why are angel investors singled out?
The document proposes pioneering a "qualified angel investor" certification standard — a national first — with supporting benefits such as residency permits and healthcare access.
Yin Jiongyu, senior partner at Shanghai Angel Club, said: "Angel investment carries the highest risk and most needs patient capital."
This reflects a shift in policy logic: instead of focusing only on the IPO moment, authorities are pushing the capital entry point all the way back to the earliest stage, encouraging high-risk money to come in first.
S-funds and share transfers — how does early-stage money get out?
The biggest problem in early-stage equity is not deploying capital — it is exiting. The document proposes expanding the share-transfer platform's coverage to a nationwide scope and studying the creation of an S-fund-of-funds (a fund dedicated to buying and selling existing fund stakes).
Insurers, financial asset investment companies (AICs), and asset management companies (AMCs) are guided to set up or participate in S-funds, with an exploration of exempting S-funds from nesting-level restrictions.
In plain terms = early-stage investors who wanted to sell mid-way had few buyers and thin markets. The plan is to build a nationwide "secondary market" for fund stakes, backed by long-duration institutional capital — so early investors dare to keep investing.
Multiple agencies spoke on the same day — what signal does that send?
Cao Yanwen, deputy director of Shanghai's financial affairs office: the next priority is strengthening lead-investor pricing in early-stage deals and building a national benchmark for sci-tech financing.
Wang Dengyong, deputy director of the Shanghai Securities Regulatory Bureau: major reforms in equity and bond financing, M&A, and offshore finance will pilot in Shanghai first.
This reflects a broader play: Shanghai is not just issuing one document — multiple regulators are showing their hand simultaneously, positioning the city as the national testbed for sci-tech financing institutions. Guotai Junan Securities vice president Han Zhida called it "a well-aligned ecosystem where policy and market reform resonate together."
Where is the real test for implementation?
The 20 measures are broad, but the true exam is in review practice: whether Standard No. 5 can effectively cover sectors like controlled fusion and quantum computing — fields still far from commercialization — will depend on the pace of actual approvals.
After the refinancing channel opens, whether the market is genuinely willing to fund pre-profit companies hinges on investor confidence in these frontier tracks.
In plain terms = the policy document is the starting gun, but how fast the race goes — and whether anyone reaches the finish line — depends on how each future application clears review and whether each financing round finds buyers.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.