SY Holdings Brings in Strategic Investors XtalPi and Be Friends to Accelerate AI Agent and E-commerce Layout
Shenzhen, May 13, 2025 – SY Holdings Group Limited (“SY”; Stock Code: 6069.HK), a digital intelligence company specialising in “AI + Industrial Supply Chains”, has announced its intention to issue new shares to incorporate XtalPi Holdings Limited (“XtalPi”; Stock Code: 2228.HK) and Be Friends Holding Limited (“Be Friends”; Stock Code: 1450.HK) as strategic investors. The inclusion of these strategic investors aims to enhance SY’s capabilities in the field of AI research and development, expand the business scale in e-commerce sector, and increase revenue from platform-based technology services, thereby solidifying the favourable conditions to support SY’s sustainable and robust long-term growth.
As an important initiative aimed at deepening and accelerating its strategic collaborations, SY Holdings plans to issue up to 17.48 million new shares, representing approximately 1.74% of the enlarged issued share capital, at a price of HK$11.99 per share. The net proceeds from the share issuance are expected to be approximately HK$209 million, and are intended for the following purposes:
The accelerated expansion of platform-based technology services will be undertaken with a primary emphasis on strategic emerging sectors, including, but not limited to, e-commerce, applications of artificial intelligence (“AI”), robotics, and cross-border business. This expansion shall be pursued through the integration of ecosystem data, incubation of investments, order matching, facilitation of of working capital services.
Increasing investment in research and development (“R&D”), particularly focusing on upgrading the “SY Cloud Platform,” along with the R&D and commercial rollout of AI applications utilising industrial data.
Other general working capital purposes.
The issuance of new shares by SY Holdings was designed to attract strategic investors and has garnered substantial interest from international investors. Initially aiming for approximately HK$156 million in fundraising, the share issuance was oversubscribed by more than ten times, ultimately prompting SY to upsize the total amount raised by roughly 35%. The top five subscribers were strategic and institutional investors, collectively comprising over 88.6% of the subscribed shares. The prompt execution of this strategic investment significantly strengthens the foundation for long-term cooperation among XtalPi, Be Friends, and SY and serves as an acknowledgement of the synergies and business growth potential linked to SY’s new business initiatives.
Since its inception in 2013, SY has consistently expanded its influence within key national industries, including infrastructure, pharmaceutical, and commodities. SY is also actively venturing into strategic emerging sectors, including e-commerce, robotics, and AI applications. SY remains steadfast in its commitment to a platform-based growth strategy, utilising technology to integrate industry ecosystems. Thus far, it has cumulatively supported over 18,000 small, medium, and micro enterprises (“SMEs”) in order matching and working capital facilitation of a turnover exceeding RMB 240 billion. This strategy has enabled SY to maintain double-digit growth rates in its scale of operations.
Furthermore, SY has maintained profitability for eleven consecutive years and has consistently executed a high dividend payout policy for seven successive years. For the fiscal year 2025, SY anticipates its dividend payments to amount to no less than RMB 940 million, corresponding to a dividend yield of approximately 8%. This underscores SY’s ongoing commitment to distributing the benefits and rewards of its growth and success among its investors.
XtalPi, recognised as the first specialised technology enterprise listed under Chapter 18c of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Listing Rules, is an innovative technology company driven by AI and robotics, grounded in quantum physics. XtalPi’s intelligent autonomous experimental platform integrates AI and high-precision, high flexibility robotics experimental technologies to enable the customised generation, screening, and development of high-value molecules at the microscopic scale. Its platform significantly enhances the efficiency, innovation capacity, and success rate in biopharmaceutical research and development. It has also achieved considerable progress in other fields such as new materials, petrochemicals, new energy, agriculture, and consumer goods.
To date, XtalPi has formed partnerships with numerous multinational enterprises, prominent domestic and international corporations, and leading research institutions, including Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, the Experimental Drug Development Centre (EDDC) of Singapore, Chia Tai Tianqing Pharmaceutical Group, and CK Life Sciences. Notably, XtalPi has established collaborations with 16 of the world’s top 20 multinational pharmaceutical companies.
XtalPi stated, “We maintain a positive and enthusiastic outlook regarding our collaboration with SY Holdings. By leveraging our advanced AI research and development platform alongside automated robotics systems, in conjunction with SY Holdings’ extensive industrial data amassed over the course of more than a decade, we aspire to deliver comprehensive technical assistance in the development of industry-specific AI agents. Moreover, SY Holdings is deeply embedded within the industrial ecosystems of over ten major core enterprises and actively engages in the China-Singapore Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity. This partnership is anticipated to unlock new growth opportunities and business applications, thereby facilitating mutually beneficial expansion and synergistic growth in business scale.”
Be Friends is a leading new media services provider in China. The Company operates “Be Friends Live Room” and the “Be Friends Matrix Live Rooms,” which are prominent livestream e-commerce and new media marketing brands in China, dedicated to building innovative consumption channels across multiple digital platforms such as Douyin and Taobao for premium brands and consumers.
Currently, Be Friends operates two primary livestream studios: “TikTok Be Friends” and “Taobao Be Friends,” along with more than 60 vertical-focused matrix livestream studios that cover apparel, beauty products, food, and other consumer categories. The total follower base across these livestream studios exceeds 60 million, supported by a professional team of over 200 experienced e-commerce livestream hosts.
Since 2024, Be Friends has strategically focused on regional economic development, pioneering an innovative integrated model known as “Industrial Belts + Livestreaming,” specifically tailored for traditional industrial belts. This approach has effectively driven digital transformation and significantly enhanced the e-commerce capabilities of regional industrial belts, achieving remarkable results.
Be Friends stated, “We are very pleased to deepen our strategic partnership with SY Holdings. Livestream e-commerce has become deeply integrated into individuals’ daily lives due to its distinctive appeal. As a leading player and innovator within the livestream e-commerce sector, we have established robust operational and supply chain capabilities, achieving a total Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) across all channels of approximately RMB 15 billion in 2024 and collaborating with over 12,000 merchants. Looking ahead, we will support SY Holdings in penetrating the livestream e-commerce industry, amalgamating our respective resources to enhance service offerings to brand partners, thereby enabling a greater number of domestic brands to attain increased visibility and sales growth. This strategic alignment closely aligns with SY Holdings’ mission of aiding small, medium, and micro enterprises in securing orders and accessing capital.”
SY Holdings has expressed its excitement: “We look forward to forging strong collaborations with XtalPi and Be Friends to generate enhanced synergies in new business expansions. In the livestream e-commerce sector, SY anticipates deepening its integration within the e-commerce ecosystem, strengthening its partnerships with leading e-commerce platforms such as Douyin, and further broadening its reach across major e-commerce platforms. This will enable SY to offer more differentiated capital turnover facilitation services to micro, small, and medium-sized e-commerce merchants. Furthermore, leveraging XtalPi’s advanced AI research capabilities, SY will jointly develop vertical-sector AI agents, driving growth in emerging industries. Additionally, SY will fully utilise its resources in Singapore and international markets to support the overseas expansion of XtalPi and Be Friends, achieving mutual benefits and collaborative success within the industrial ecosystem.”
