Marketingforce's stock surged 14.93% on Wednesday in pre-market trading, reflecting investor enthusiasm following the company's plans to raise HK$110 million through a share placement.

The marketing and sales software company aims to sell up to 1 million new shares at HK$110 apiece to at least six investors. The net proceeds of around HK$109.5 million will primarily fund research and development of artificial intelligence large language models for marketing and sales purposes. This includes improvements to Marketingforce's existing Tforce language model, building out its AI agent platform, and enhancing business applications leveraging AI.

The capital raise signals Marketingforce's focus on bolstering its AI capabilities, likely driving the stock surge as investors anticipate potential competitive advantages and revenue growth opportunities from the company's AI investments and product innovations. The remaining proceeds will also support general working capital needs.