Liu Jingkang, founder of Insta 360

AsianFin -- China's STAR Market just got a new face—and it's not a typical veteran founder.

Insta360, a rising star in the smart imaging industry, on Wednesday made its debut on the Shanghai STAR Market with a stunning 285% surge on its first trading day, lifting its market capitalization to over 70 billion yuan ($9.6 billion).

The IPO made history not only for its performance but also for its leadership—Liu Jingkang, the company's 32-year-old founder, is now the STAR Market's first chairman born in the 1990s.

It's a remarkable turnaround for a man once nearly expelled from university.

Back in 2013, Liu, then a 22-year-old software student at Nanjing University, had earned a reputation as a "problem student" after a failed attempt to hack the school's grading system. But what looked like trouble to some caught the eye of Tong Chen, a partner at IDG Capital, who instead saw rare product intuition and technical boldness. "Among post-1990s founders, Liu stands out as one of the best product managers I've ever met," Tong said.

That unconventional thinking would later power one of China's most disruptive hardware startups.

Founded in 2015, Insta360 entered an almost nonexistent panoramic camera market dominated by clunky, expensive hardware from players like Japan's Ricoh. At the time, China's supply chain lacked the capability to produce such cameras, and few consumers even knew what 360-degree imaging was.

Liu and his small team—just six people at launch—faced steep challenges: building real-time stitching algorithms, sourcing scarce components, and evangelizing an unfamiliar product. But VC backers like IDG Capital and Qiming Venture Partners saw something bigger.

"We weren't just betting on a product—we were betting on Liu's originality and the vast untapped potential of immersive imaging," said Ye Guantai, a partner at Qiming.

That bet paid off.

In 2018, Insta360 cracked the consumer market with a 158-gram camera boasting professional-grade stabilization and an "invisible selfie stick"—a viral hit. Within three months, the device had sold over 100,000 units, turning the company profitable and boosting investor confidence.

Today, Insta360 commands a dominant 67.2% share of the global panoramic camera market, outpacing Ricoh (12.4%) and GoPro (9.2%). From 2022 to 2024, its revenue grew from 2.04 billion to 5.57 billion yuan, a CAGR of 65.25%. The company is now profitable across key markets in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and South Korea, with the Asia-Pacific region emerging as a growth engine.

R&D remains core to the company's DNA. In 2024, Insta360 spent 777 million yuan—14% of revenue—on research, with R&D headcount making up 57% of the team. The company holds around 900 patents, nearly 200 of which are invention patents.

Insta360's public debut marked a major payday for early backers. IDG Capital's stake is now worth over 8 billion yuan on paper, while Qiming has booked roughly 6 billion yuan. Xunlei, an early investor that partially exited, still made more than 5 billion yuan—exceeding its own current market cap.

But the real story, investors say, is not in the returns—but in the person behind them.

"Insta360 is a bet on people," said Niu Kuiguang of IDG Capital. "We invested in Liu's continued ability to innovate." Qiming's Ye echoed that sentiment: "We look for sectors where consensus hasn't formed but disruption is imminent. In 2015, 360-degree imaging was that space."

Liu's journey mirrors that of a new wave of Chinese entrepreneurs reshaping the tech landscape—not just software-savvy, but deeply immersed in hardware and engineering. Alongside peers like Xingxing Wang of Unitree Robotics and Zhihuijun of Zhiyuan Robotics, Liu represents a breed of post-90s tech founders unbound by legacy industry thinking.

"They have a geek spirit and a long-term view," said IDG's Niu. "When the wave comes, they're already deep in the water."

Insta360 is now pushing beyond panoramic cameras into 3D imaging and spatial computing—fields where AI and imaging converge. With a stronghold in over 60 countries, the company is positioning itself at the frontier of global imaging innovation.

"This is just the beginning," Ye said. "The integration of imaging and AI is a massive opportunity—and Insta360 is already ahead."

From nearly expelled student to publicly traded CEO, Liu's story is emblematic of China's shifting innovation paradigm. once dismissed as outliers, founders like Liu are now redefining the rules of global hardware—and the capital markets are taking notice.

The IPO boom may fade, but the rise of China's post-90s disruptors is only just getting started. In the age of AI and hard tech, spotting the next Liu Jingkang might be the best investment strategy of all.