HELSINKI — Launch firm CAS Space has completed IPO counseling with regulators, marking the first formal step toward a listing on Shanghai Stock Exchange’s tech-focused STAR Market.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) official website indicates that CAS Space Exploration Technology Co., Ltd., or CAS Space, has completed its initial public offering (IPO) counseling record with Chinese regulators Aug. 12, signaling its intent to list on the STAR Market (Science and Technology Innovation Board) amid a crowded and fast-evolving commercial launch sector.
CAS Space flies solid rockets and is developing its first reusable liquid propellant rockets, as well as working on suborbital rockets for science payloads and space tourism. It is aiming to compete with a number of other startups for contracts to launch satellites for China’s two megaconstellations, the national Guowang project and Shanghai-backed Thousand Sails. It has headquarters in Guangzhou, with testing and launch operations in Jiuquan and Haiyang.
Chinese language Securities Times Online reports a financial snapshot that gives insight into CAS Space’s value and ongoing losses. The company is currently valued at about 11.1 billion yuan ($1.55 billion). As of June 30, 2025, its 2024 revenue was 243 million yuan ($34 million), but it recorded a net loss of 748 million yuan ($105 million). The first half of 2025 also saw continued losses, with a net loss of 311 million yuan ($43 million).
The move follows an official policy issued by the CSRC in June, aimed at enhancing the STAR Market’s ability to support high-potential but currently unprofitable technology companies, creating a Sci-Tech Innovation Growth Tier. This may create a more favorable environment for space companies seeking capital. Jilin-based satellite-maker Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co., Ltd. made efforts towards an IPO on STAR Market in 2022 and 2023, before its application was withdrawn in December 2024.
China’s central government has also emphasized the commercial space sector as a key driver of high-tech development, with potential to transform the nation’s space capabilities. This has been followed by strong provincial and local government support for commercial space companies.
CAS Space was established in December 2018 as a mixed-ownership commercial space rocket company. The CAS part of the company name acknowledges its origin as a spin-off from the state-owned Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
Its Lijian-1A (Kinetica-1A) solid rocket briefly became China’s largest solid propellant launch vehicle in July 2022 with its first launch, but has since been surpassed by the Jielong-3 and much larger Gravity-1 from Orienspace. The company’s first liquid propellant rocket, the Lijian-2 (Kinetica-2), is expected to have a test flight in the near future, carrying a prototype reusable low-cost cargo spacecraft.
Landspace IPO
CAS Space’s preparations to list on the Shanghai exchange follows a recent move from a major competitor. Landspace filed preliminary documents with STAR Market in late July, potentially eyeing an IPO in early 2026.
Landspace flies the methane-liquid oxygen Zhuque-2 rocket, which became the first rocket using this propellant mix to reach orbit in July 2023. At time of reporting, a Zhuque-2 was scheduled to launch from Jiuquan spaceport, northwest China, late Aug. 14 Eastern.
The firm is currently working towards a test flight of the larger and reusable, stainless steel methalox Zhuque-3 before the end of the year, having conducted a nine-engine static fire test of the first stage in June. The company received $123 million from China’s National Manufacturing Transformation and Upgrading Fund in December 2024.
In a further sign of growing commercial space IPO activity in China, Jiangsu Yixin Aerospace Technology, or Yixin Aerospace, completed A-share IPO counseling with CSRC in early August. Yixin Aerospace specializes in designing and manufacturing microsatellite communication systems including Internet of Things (IoT) payloads.