A lock opens the door to HKEX: Loock Technology rushes toward an IPO

Ask AI · Tsinghua Geek: How Can a Lock Shake Up the Capital Market?

Tsinghua Geek’s Ten Years of Making Locks: Glory and Challenges of the First Stock in Smart Door Locks

Investor.com Zhou Zilan

In the late-night smart home showroom, the smart lock display area remains brightly lit, with fingerprint locks, facial recognition locks, and vein locks lined up side by side. Consumers repeatedly compare unlocking speeds and security levels. Amid this bustling scene, a Beijing-based tech company quietly stands at the threshold of the capital market — LuKe Technology has officially submitted its listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, aiming to become the first AI smart lock stock in Hong Kong. From a technical prototype in Tsinghua’s lab to a consumer hardware company with annual revenue of over 1 billion yuan, this lock-based company has spent ten years from geek entrepreneurship to going public. With the prospectus now public, LuKe’s growth secrets, financial fundamentals, and future risks are fully revealed to the market.

1. From Geek Roots: Chen Bin’s Ten-Year Breakthrough with a Smart Lock

LuKe’s story begins with founder Chen Bin’s personal pain point. A master’s graduate in electronic engineering from Tsinghua University, Chen previously worked as an algorithm engineer at Sony’s Tokyo headquarters and was a core leader in Baidu’s Xiaodu smart hardware division. A typical tech entrepreneur. An experience of his family forgetting keys and waiting outside on a cold night motivated him to redefine home entry security through technology.

In 2014, Chen Bin founded YunDing Technology in Beijing, the predecessor of LuKe. Unlike many entrepreneurs who directly target the consumer market, he first entered the B-end long-term rental apartment sector, providing smart locks and IoT management systems to solve landlord management issues. Quickly, he partnered with major players like Ziroom and Eggshell, establishing a foothold in the industry. In 2017, the company launched its C-end brand “LuKe” and officially joined the Xiaomi ecosystem. Relying on high cost-performance and Xiaomi’s distribution channels, sales exploded.

Over ten years, LuKe secured investments from well-known capital such as Lenovo Star, Sequoia Capital, Fosun, Baidu, and Xiaomi. Its shareholder lineup is quite impressive. Before listing, Chen Bin controlled over 30% of the company’s shares, making him the actual controller; Baidu held 18.43%, becoming the largest institutional shareholder; Xiaomi’s JinMi Capital also invested, forming a stable “tech founder + AI giant + ecosystem hardware” pattern.

Today, LuKe is the world’s leading company in vein-based smart lock shipments, with over 11 million units shipped, ranking among the top three in China’s smart lock market. From a small, tech-focused startup, it has grown into an industry leader.

2. Financial Breakdown: Steady Revenue Growth, Hidden Profit and Structural Pressures

The IPO prospectus’s financial data paints a true picture of LuKe’s operations. In 2023, 2024, and the first three quarters of 2025, the company achieved revenues of 1.015 billion, 1.086 billion, and 774 million yuan respectively, maintaining steady growth. Net profits were 14.02 million, 53.11 million, and 31.98 million yuan, consecutively profitable, escaping the common hardware industry loss-making trap before going public.

However, beneath these impressive figures, structural issues are evident. LuKe’s revenue heavily depends on ODM OEM manufacturing, mainly providing OEM services for brands like Xiaomi. This segment consistently accounts for about half of total revenue. Self-branded sales are relatively low, resulting in gross margins significantly below pure-brand players, severely compressing profit margins.

Additionally, the company relies heavily on a single channel (Xiaomi) and a single core technology (vein recognition). Xiaomi contributes a large portion of revenue and sales. Any change in this partnership could directly impact performance. While vein recognition technology offers better security than traditional fingerprint locks, it is more costly and slower to popularize, facing fierce price competition in lower-tier markets.

From cash flow and asset structure perspectives, LuKe is still in an expansion phase, with ongoing investments in R&D, channels, and marketing. Accounts receivable are relatively high, putting pressure on operational cash flow. Overall, profit quality still has room for improvement.

3. Moat and Risks: Leading Technology in a Red Ocean Industry

LuKe’s ability to stand out in the crowded smart lock market relies on technological barriers and first-mover advantages. It is one of the earliest companies in China to scale vein recognition technology, with superior accuracy, anti-counterfeiting, and suitability for elderly and children, creating a high-end market differentiation. Its dual B-end and C-end deployment, IoT ecosystem integration, and backing from Xiaomi and Baidu form a comprehensive competitive advantage difficult for rivals to replicate.

However, beyond the halo, LuKe’s IPO journey faces challenges. The industry’s entry barriers are lowering as traditional lock companies, appliance giants, and new brands enter, leading to fierce price wars and shrinking industry profits. The ODM model’s low gross margins and bargaining power issues are difficult to resolve in the short term.

More critically, LuKe faces a long-term weakness in brand recognition. Consumers do not yet associate LuKe with the same strong brand loyalty as traditional home appliance brands. Over-reliance on channels and cost-performance makes it hard to develop high-margin product lines. Additionally, slow overseas expansion, domestic market saturation, and supply chain cost fluctuations will continue to impact long-term growth.

As smart locks shift from “emerging home appliances” to “standard home decor,” the industry has moved from technological innovation to a comprehensive war of scale, cost, brand, and channels. LuKe, with its technological leadership, appears to have reached the industry summit, but in reality, it is just entering a more brutal淘汰赛.

In the dimming smart home showroom, the last customers leave with their chosen locks, and LuKe’s capital journey has only just begun. A successful IPO means a comprehensive upgrade of funds, brand, and resources, but also invites the market to scrutinize every financial report, product, and strategic move more strictly. For a company that rose with a lock, the listing is not the end but the start of a greater test. Technology can open doors at home, but may not open the gates to long-term growth. LuKe’s next decade will be rewritten under the spotlight of capital markets.