IPO Preview | Onyx Information: The "Leader" in Knowledge-Focused Productivity Tools, How to Resolve the Cash Flow Mismatch Dilemma?

In education, scientific research, and professional work, long-text review, annotation, and organization have become routine tasks. Online materials are increasing, but fragmented information and multitasking environments easily drain reading focus and cause visual fatigue. Against this backdrop, knowledge-focused smart tools built specifically for long-text processing have emerged. These devices can provide more comprehensive reading, writing, organizing, syncing, or archiving workflows. According to Frost & Sullivan data, the global knowledge-focused productivity tools market size (by retail value) is expected to exceed RMB 80 billion by 2030, with industry demand continuing to expand, attracting leading companies in the sector to increase financing needs. , the Hong Kong Stock Exchange disclosed on September 23 that Guangzhou Onyx Information Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as Onyx Information) submitted a listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Main Board, with China Securities Co., Ltd. International as the sole sponsor. The company had previously filed with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on January 16, 2026. The proceeds from this offering are planned to enhance the company's technology R&D and product iteration capabilities, strengthen sales and marketing capabilities, upgrade production facilities and supply chains, seek M&A and investment opportunities, and supplement working capital. China's largest knowledge-focused productivity tools brand According to the prospectus, Onyx Information was founded in 2008. The company is a global technology consumer electronics brand in the knowledge-focused productivity tools industry, committed to helping global knowledge workers efficiently acquire textual information through smart hardware devices featuring paper-like reading and writing, focus, and portability, and presenting high-value content through functions such as summarization, search, and editing management of information. The company's smart hardware devices are divided into two categories: high-speed readers and productivity tablets. In the first half of 2026, high-speed readers accounted for 18.2% of the company's revenue, while productivity tablets accounted for 66.9%. Onyx Information's core technology accumulation is divided into three layers: hardware, system, and software applications. The self-developed BOOX OS open operating system is pre-installed on all hardware, capable of optimizing e-ink screen clarity, color, and refresh response performance, and integrating AI and cloud service capabilities; the accompanying independent reading and writing application StarNote enables cross-device note and annotation synced storage and access. Leveraging the software-hardware combination as an ecosystem entry point, the company has built a product system centered on reading and writing for global knowledge workers. As of June 30, 2026, BOOX OS monthly active users have exceeded 1.2 million; the software product StarNote has accumulated approximately 2 million downloads. According to Frost & Sullivan data, knowledge-focused productivity tools belong to a sub-segment under knowledge-focused smart tools. By 2025 retail value, this sub-segment accounts for nearly half of the overall market. Within this sub-segment, Onyx Information is the largest brand in China and the second-largest globally, with a global market share of 4.2%. Stable revenue growth, high inventory levels trigger cash flow mismatch In terms of performance, for the years 2023, 2024, 2025, and the first half of 2026, Onyx Information's revenue was approximately RMB 804 million, RMB 1.018 billion, RMB 1.128 billion, and RMB 574 million, respectively; sales gross margins during the same periods were 33.5%, 36.9%, 37.7%, and 36.5%, respectively; profits for the periods were RMB 124 million, RMB 121 million, RMB 131 million, and RMB 53 million, respectively. Affected by factors such as increased selling and distribution expenses and R&D expenses, the company's net profit margin declined from 15.4% in 2023 to 9.3% in the first half of 2026. It is worth noting that despite book profits, Onyx Information's operating cash flow is in a net outflow state, with net outflows of RMB 71 million and RMB 199 million in 2025 and the first half of 2026, respectively. Onyx Information stated in the prospectus that this was mainly due to increases in inventory and inventory turnover days during the corresponding periods, and the cash flow mismatch caused by the difference between inventory turnover days and trade payables and notes payable turnover days during the track record period. The company's inventory turnover days were 153 days and 155 days in 2023 and 2024, respectively, increased to 209 days in 2025, and increased to 313 days in the first half of 2026. The decline in inventory turnover efficiency was mainly because the company anticipated future sales growth and stockpiled key components in advance to hedge against component price fluctuations, long delivery cycles, and risks such as global trade frictions and supply chain instability, thereby driving up inventory scale. According to the prospectus, Onyx Information's inventory amount grew from RMB 242 million in 2023 to RMB 749 million in the first half of 2026. In comparison, from 2023 to the first half of 2026, the company's trade payables and notes payable turnover days ranged from 41 days to 51 days. Onyx Information further pointed out that the company has adopted liquidity management measures to manage the above mismatch, improve the net operating cash outflow position, reduce overall liquidity risk, and improve working capital efficiency. It can be seen that Onyx Information is a technology company occupying a leading position in a sub-segment with software-hardware integrated technical capabilities. The core highlight of the company's listing lies in whether it can use capital market resources to resolve current profit and cash flow pressures and transform its ecosystem advantages into more solid profitability and growth. Global knowledge-focused smart tools market expected to expand steadily According to Frost & Sullivan data, the growth of the knowledge-focused productivity tools segment has strong certainty. The global knowledge-focused productivity tools market size grew from RMB 13.8 billion in 2021 to RMB 35.3 billion in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 26.5% from 2021 to 2025; it is expected that from 2026 to 2030, the market size will further grow from RMB 44.4 billion to RMB 80.4 billion, maintaining a compound annual growth rate of 16%. The penetration rate of knowledge-focused productivity tools reached 51.8% in 2025 and is expected to increase to 68% by 2030. It is understood that the demand growth for knowledge-focused productivity tools mainly comes from scenarios such as education, academic research, and professional office work. Users' demand for deep reading of long texts and document annotation and organization continues to rise, coupled with the accelerating digitization of paper materials, driving the penetration rate of knowledge-focused productivity tools to continue upward. Technological iteration in knowledge-focused productivity tools is the core engine driving the expansion of the segment. On the one hand, color e-ink technology continues to mature, compensating for the application shortcomings of traditional black-and-white e-ink screens and broadening the product's application space in scenarios such as textbook reading and image-text material review; on the other hand, AI large models and cloud services are gradually embedded into e-paper devices, and products are no longer limited to basic functions such as reading and handwritten annotation, but can achieve value-added capabilities such as document summarization, content retrieval, and intelligent note organization, enhancing the productivity attributes of products. In the knowledge-focused productivity tools segment, Onyx Information has built a self-developed "hardware + OS + software" ecosystem, with its open operating system BOOX OS and note-taking application StarNote constituting core capabilities. Open-system devices represented by the Onyx BOOX series support third-party application installation, adapting to users' diverse personalized workflow needs, and are favored by global knowledge communities. However, the competitive risks facing the company cannot be ignored. Frost & Sullivan statistics show that in 2025, the top five participants in the global knowledge-focused productivity tools segment had a combined market share of only 27.4%, and the industry is still in a stage of full competition. In overseas markets, there are mature brands such as reMarkable and Kobo; in the domestic market, manufacturers such as Iflytek Co., Ltd. and Hanwang continue to increase their presence in e-paper hardware; in addition, ordinary consumer tablets will also divert some lightweight reading and note-taking demand. Industry competition dimensions cover multiple aspects including hardware screen quality, handwriting algorithm precision, operating system experience, software ecosystem construction, and global channel brand operations. This requires Onyx Information to continuously increase R&D investment and build differentiated competitive advantages. Overall, with its self-developed software-hardware ecosystem and global channel layout, Onyx Information occupies a leading position in the knowledge-focused productivity tools segment, with ample medium- to long-term growth space. Currently, the company is still in a business expansion stage, with revenue maintaining growth, but it faces operational challenges such as profitability pressure, continuous operating cash outflow, and high inventory levels. If it can successfully list on the Hong Kong stock market and leverage capital market funding support, the company is expected to further consolidate its core competitiveness and unleash long-term growth potential.