Shares of Metis TechBio Co, a biotechnology company using artificial intelligence to deliver and formulate drugs, surged as much as 185 percent in their Hong Kong debut on Wednesday, adding to a string of first-day pops in the city.

The stock jumped as high as HK$29.98 in early trading, compared with a price of HK$10.50 apiece in the initial public offering that raised HK$2.1 billion ($270 million).

Impact Therapeutics Inc, a cancer drug developer that also began trading on Wednesday, rose as much as 82 percent after raising $108 million in an IPO.

Hong Kong’s market for first-time share sales has powered on this year, with almost $20 billion raised so far this year, on track to surpass the four-year high of about $37 billion in 2025. The boom has been largely driven by technology stocks in the artificial intelligence supply chain, like the $2.6 billion offering of Nvidia Crop supplier Victory Giant Technology Huizhou Co.

More recently, biotechnology companies have also increasingly added to the deal flow.

Shares of AI drug discovery startup Insilico Medicine Cayman TopCo have surged 154 percent since their debut in late December, while other companies in the deal pipeline include Earendil Labs, which is mulling a listing to raise as much as $500 million.

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Metis TechBio, at the intersection of the two hottest industries, are benefiting from the investment thesis on AI, said Jialin Zhang, head of China healthcare research at Nomura International HK.

“Investors are expecting AI-enabled technology to turbocharge the whole drug development process, shorten the time needed, target more precisely, reduce the cost,” he said.

AI drug companies are “relatively scarce targets” on the Hong Kong stock exchange, Meng Kehan, head of healthcare research at Haitong Securities Co, said at a May 6 strategy conference.

Founded in 2020, Metis specializes in developing nanomaterials that can bring drugs precisely to where they need to be in the body. It lays claim to the industry’s largest library of lipids, versatile compounds widely used in drug formulation, while using AI to design and optimize those lipids. The technology can be applied to areas like gene and RNA therapies, Nomura’s Zhang said.

The company generates revenue from both partnering with biotech and pharmaceutical companies on research projects, and licensing out internally-developed drug candidates. It reported 105 million yuan revenue in 2025, although it’s still operating at a net loss overall.

In addition to human therapeutics, it is also looking at opportunities in longevity and animal health, according to the prospectus.

BlackRock, UBS, Mirae Asset Capital and ORIX Corporation are among the cornerstone investors for Metis, which last raised 400 million yuan in a Series D financing last August.