Fundraising 4.18 billion yuan! The battle for the “First Stock in Commercial Spaceflight” adds a new player

Why Are AI and Commercial Space Companies Intensively Pushing for Listing on the STAR Market Recently?

Valuation exceeds 13.8 billion yuan.

Text | Zhitong IPO ID: zhitongIPO

Author | Wang Fei

The “First Stock in Commercial Space” on the A-shares market, another competitor.

On March 31, the private commercial space company China Rocket Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as: China Rocket) had its STAR Market IPO application accepted by the Shanghai Stock Exchange, aiming to raise 4.18 billion yuan, which will be used for reusable large launch vehicle development projects; reusable launch vehicle and spacecraft development projects; reusable liquid engine industrial base, and more.

It is worth noting that, the day after the IPO acceptance, April 1, China Rocket and Yushu Technology were both selected for on-site inspection.

By June 2025, the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued a document explicitly expanding the scope of the fifth set of standards for the STAR Market, including frontier technology fields such as commercial space; in December of the same year, the Shanghai Stock Exchange further issued the “Guidelines for the Application of the STAR Market Fifth Set of Listing Standards for Commercial Rocket Companies,” detailing from business scope, technological advantages, phased achievements, industry position, and other dimensions. This policy provides a clear path for commercial space companies to go public.

According to incomplete statistics, as of now, about 15 companies in the commercial space field are confirmed to be in the IPO process. These companies cover three major areas: rocket manufacturing, satellite manufacturing and applications, and industry chain supporting.

Since the second half of 2025, commercial space companies mainly engaged in launch vehicles—LandSpace (July), China Rocket (August), Tiantian Technology (October), and GalaxySpace (October)—have successively started the IPO process. Star Glory had already initiated listing guidance as early as December 2020, and Dongfang Space announced in November 2025 that it was actively advancing its listing preparations. Besides China Rocket, LandSpace’s STAR Market IPO was accepted on December 31, 2025, aiming to raise 7.5 billion yuan.

Overseas, SpaceX plans to submit its IPO prospectus soon, targeting completion of listing by June 2026, with a potential fundraising scale exceeding $75 billion, and a target valuation of $1.75 trillion, which could become the largest IPO in history.

China Rocket mainly engages in the research, production, and launch services of series-produced medium and large commercial launch vehicles, and explores new space economy sectors such as space manufacturing, space science experiments, and space tourism. The company has successfully achieved mass production and launch services for the Long March 6 (Li Jian Yi Hao) launch vehicle, focusing on creating high-frequency, “flight-like” launch capabilities, significantly improving the rapid response and large-scale deployment level of commercial launch vehicles.

Source: Official website screenshot

Among them, China Rocket’s Long March 6 (Li Jian Yi Hao) remote two-stage launch vehicle successfully launched “One Rocket 26 Stars,” breaking the then domestic record of multi-satellite launches with a single rocket held by the Long March series, and still maintains the highest record for domestic private commercial rockets launching multiple satellites with one rocket.

China Rocket’s large and medium liquid launch vehicle Long March 2 has successfully launched the Qingzhou prototype test spacecraft, the New Journey 01 satellite, and the Tian Shi satellite 01, fully verifying the launch capacity of Long March 2, which is about to enter mass production and launch phase.

China Rocket’s Li Hong Yi Hao launch vehicle successfully carried the microgravity metal laser additive manufacturing principle prototype on its maiden flight, and the payload fairing landed smoothly for recovery, achieving the first domestic commercial space milestone of suborbital parachute recovery at 100 kilometers, marking the transition of space manufacturing from “concept verification” to “engineering verification,” and pioneering new space economy sectors in China.

The prospectus shows that China Rocket’s main order types include commercial orders, scientific research institution orders, national mission orders, and overseas orders. As of the signing date of the prospectus, Long March 6 has been successfully launched 10 times, delivering 84 satellites and over 11 tons of payloads into planned orbits, making it one of the most mature commercial launch vehicle products domestically.

With core advantages of “large capacity, low cost, high frequency, and high reliability,” in 2024-2025, China Rocket’s market share in the domestic private commercial rocket market by launch payload weight is approximately 50% and 63%, respectively. Its launch payload and revenue scale rank first in the private commercial launch vehicle industry.

From 2022 to 2024 and the first three quarters of 2025 (hereinafter referred to as: the reporting period), China Rocket’s operating income was approximately 5.95 million, 77.72 million, 244 million, and 84.22 million yuan, respectively, totaling about 412 million yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of 538.89%. Net losses were approximately 1.76 billion, 512 million, 861 million, and 749 million yuan, totaling about 17.5k yuan; non-recurring net losses attributable to parent company were about 370 million, 440 million, 826 million, and 762 million yuan.

Source: China Rocket IPO prospectus

The large losses of China Rocket are related to high R&D investments. During the reporting period, the company’s R&D expenses were approximately 184 million, 121 million, 298 million, and 305 million yuan, accounting for 362.49%, 122.13%, 156.10%, and 3086.91% of operating income, respectively.

As of the end of September 2025, China Rocket held approximately 1.83 billion yuan in cash and cash equivalents.

Before the IPO, China Rocket had no shareholders holding more than 30%, and no controlling shareholder; Chairman and General Manager Yang Yiqiang controls a total of 34.71% of voting rights, making him the actual controller of the company.

Notably, in November 2025, China Rocket’s second-largest shareholder, Zhongke Lisen, transferred 0.6349% of its shares, worth 88 million yuan, to Xingheng Xuanji, Chenshi Mining, Hainan Tianli, and Jiaxing Anyi.

Based on this, China Rocket’s valuation is approximately 13.86 billion yuan.

After the IPO, Peng Yijun Lian holds 19.78% of China Rocket’s shares, making him the largest shareholder; Zhongke Lisen (SS) holds 18.52%; Guoke Aerospace holds 9.13%; Guoke Jinke holds 3.81%; Guangzhou Chanchuang Investment holds 3.5%; Nanchong Linjiang holds 2.4%; Guangzhou Yuekai holds 1.98%; National Industry Investment (SS) holds 1.97%; Yueyang Shanghang holds 1.8%; Jiaxing Minxin holds 1.63%; Tianjin Tansuo holds 1.32%; Guoke Ruihua Phase III holds 1.28%; Guangjian Yihou holds 1.08%; Huzhou Zhongqing holds 1%; Zhongke Chuangxing holds 0.74%.

(First image source: China Rocket)