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Julie Zhang

Daniel Ren

Biotech firm Hangzhou Diagens Biotechnology is banking on artificial intelligence-powered chromosome testing to drive profit growth following its Hong Kong listing, as China’s falling fertility rate spurs demand for assisted reproduction.
“In China, many young people do not want to marry or have children, and by the time they decide to start a family, they need medical help to do so,” said Diagens’ founder and executive director Song Ning.
“We are meeting an increasing number of couples every year who struggle to conceive and have to turn to in vitro fertilisation (IVF). Chromosome tests are a mandatory step in that process.”
Song said it was a market with “enormous growth potential”.
Diagens, whose shares commenced trading on the local exchange on Monday, opened at HK$219, before retreating to HK$195 at 9.55am, up 97 per cent from its offer price of HK$99. They closed at HK$209.60.
“Our technological strength will help more patients combat the unknown territories of their diseases,” Song said before trading opened. “The Hong Kong listing marks a restart of Diagens’ efforts to scale new heights in medical science.”
The company raised HK$791.9 million (US$101 million) from its primary listing in Hong Kong by offering 7,999,200 shares, it said in an exchange filing on Friday.
About 10 per cent of the deal was allocated to the public tranche, with the remainder placed with institutional investors. The retail portion was 1,073.37 times oversubscribed, while the international offering was covered 3.45 times.


The proprietary AI-powered medical imaging platform developed by Diagens helped doctors identify genetic abnormalities in about four to seven days, compared with about 30 days using conventional ways, the company said in its prospectuses. The AI could allow a doctor to handle 60 to 70 cases a day, up from just over a dozen previously, Song said.
The company expects the digital tool to obtain clearance from China’s drug regulator in the first quarter of this year, and plans to extend its use to blood cancer diagnosis while seeking US Food and Drug Administration approval in April.
The company was also targeting markets in the United Kingdom and Canada, according to Song.
In the US, a single chromosome test could cost between US$1,000 and US$3,000, compared with over HK$2,000 in Hong Kong and about 600 yuan (US$87) to 1,100 yuan in mainland China, according to Song.
“If we can eventually cover 40 per cent of China’s 8 billion annual imaging examinations and capture 30 per cent of that segment, that would be about 1.2 billion cases a year,” he said. “Even if we only take a revenue share of 5 to 10 yuan per case from hospitals, that already translates into a 30 billion to 60 billion yuan market for us.”
Song earned a PhD in medicine from Nagasaki University in Japan, with over 20 years of experience in clinical education, AI technology and industrialisation in medical applications, prospectuses showed.




His team is made up of returnees from the US, UK and Australia as well as Chinese home-grown talent, with an average age of around 30, specialising in both AI computing and clinical medicine.
About half of the initial public offerings (IPO) proceeds will be allocated to the research and development and commercialisation of its flagship product, AI AutoVision, with the remainder earmarked for other imaging products, AI foundation model enhancement, sales expansion in China and overseas and strategic investments.
In the first nine months of last year, Diagens’ overall revenue rose by about 470 per cent year on year, with revenue from its AI-based chromosome diagnosis systems and related equipment growing at about 280 per cent, Song said.
The company reported a net loss of 36.6 million yuan in the first nine months of last year, compared with a net loss of 50.8 million yuan over the same period in the previous year. Its expenses in research and development are growing.
China’s birth count plummeted to a record low last year, with just 7.92 million babies born in 2025, down 17 per cent from 2024.
To arrest the demographic decline, the Chinese government has brought assisted reproductive services, including IVF, under public medical insurance in many parts of the country.
China’s assisted reproduction market is expected to reach 63 billion yuan by 2030, according to Frost & Sullivan.
Additional reporting by Cao Li


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China’s falling fertility rate sees spike in demand for assisted reproduction as biotech firm raises US$101 million from Hong Kong listing


China’s falling fertility rate sees spike in demand for assisted reproduction as biotech firm raises US$101 million from Hong Kong listing.


Chinese company to use AI-powered chromosome testing to boost profits and fast-track IVF

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}China’s falling fertility rate sees spike in demand for assisted reproduction as biotech firm raises US$101 million from Hong Kong listing

China’s falling fertility rate sees spike in demand for assisted reproduction as biotech firm raises US$101 million from Hong Kong listing