“Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily”, April 16 (Reporter Zhang Yangyang) AIGC's first share is coming soon. Today, Go Out and Inquire officially launched its stock offering, which ends on the 19th, and is scheduled to be officially listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on April 24, 2024, with the stock code “2438.”

Go out and ask about the plan to sell 84.568 million shares in the IPO (depending on whether the over-allotment rights are exercised). Of these, 90% will be sold internationally and 10% will be publicly sold in Hong Kong.

The “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily” reporter learned from going out to inquire that today's international sales are fully funded. Approximately 8 of the net capital raised from this IPO will be used to continue refining the ability to refine large models, launch products that meet the needs of the market and users, and continue to explore commercialization and growth methods, thus promoting the application and development of AI technology on a global scale.

According to the prospectus data, two major local state-owned investors participated in the launch. Zhongguancun International Co., Ltd. and Nanjing Jingkaiju Science and Innovation Investment Partnership have a cumulative subscription scale of about HK$95 million.

Zhongguancun International Co., Ltd. belongs to Zhongguancun Development Group. The sole general partner and fund manager of Nanjing Economic Development Juzhi is Nanjing Xingang Hi-Tech Investment Co., Ltd., the only limited partner is Nanjing Hi-Tech Park Development Company, and the ultimate beneficiary is the Finance Bureau of the Nanjing Economic and Technological Development Zone Management Committee.

Prior to the IPO, I went out and asked many financial investors and strategic investors such as SIG Haina Asia, Google, Sequoia China, Zhenge Fund, Goertek Shares, and Yuanmei Optoelectronics.

It was founded in 2012, with generative AI and voice interaction technology as the core. Currently, the company's business mainly has two parts: AI software solutions and smart devices and accessories.

Among them, AI software solutions are also divided into AI generated content (AIGC) solutions and AI enterprise solutions: the former is mainly aimed at C-side users, and mainly uses subscription payment revenue. Specific products include AI voice product Magic Sound Workshop, AI writing product magic writing, and AI digital human-generated product Wonder; the latter is for B-side customers to generate revenue from customized AI software solutions, such as providing AI language interaction solutions for car manufacturers.

Judging from financial data, AI software solutions have become the main revenue force for people who go out and ask questions. According to the prospectus, revenue from AI software increased from 60 million yuan in 2021 to 343 million yuan in 2023, and the corresponding revenue share increased from 15% in 2021 to 67.7% in 2023.

Overall, the outbound inquiry business has now been profitable. From 2021 to 2023, its revenue was 398 million yuan, 500 million yuan, and 507 million yuan, respectively. The adjusted profit was -073 million yuan, 109 million yuan and 0.18 million yuan, respectively.

Judging from the company's development years, it is considered an AI veteran when going out to ask questions, and it is also one of the first companies to launch a big model in China. Go out and ask began making AIGC products currently popular in the market at the end of 2019, and developed UCLAI, a large model that can understand and generate text in 2020. In 2023, go out and ask to upgrade UCLAI to a generic big model “sequence monkey” and officially enter the big model arena.

Amidst this wave of AI models, go out and ask the founder Li Zhifei. He, who has always been silent for the past few years, has also begun to speak out frequently.

The “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily” reporter noticed that currently, Li Zhifei will continue to update cutting-edge technology and business models on AI on his WeChat account “Phineas Talks About AI.” He positions himself as a big model entrepreneur in China and continues to explore AGI and commercialization.

After 12 years in business, AI officially entered the big model arena and started an IPO to catch up with the current wave of generative AI. An Internet computer industry analyst told the “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily” reporter that going out and asking provided a certain frame of reference for later companies, but the risk factor to consider is whether special big models similar to AI voice products will be replaced by general-purpose big models with better performance.

Judging from the current financial situation, AIGC's business revenue from going out to ask continued to grow. The revenue for 2021-2023 was 6.82 million yuan, 39.86 million yuan, and 118 million yuan, respectively. The number of paying users increased from 63,000 to 410,000, and the average income of a single paid user increased from 104 yuan to 248 yuan.

However, as competition for AIGC products becomes more intense, customer acquisition costs for corresponding businesses are also increasing. In 2021, the average customer acquisition cost for a single registered user of the company was 1.4 yuan; by 2023, the average customer acquisition cost for a single paid user was 31.8 yuan; in 2021, the average customer acquisition cost for a single paid user was 31.8 yuan, and by 2023 this figure had increased to 133.1 yuan.