Liu Yingjian has grand plans. “Before I retire, I'm going to make my company a member of the Fortune 500,” says the 57-year-old founder and chairman of Hanwang Technology.

Although China's leading e-reader maker has a long way to go to make Fortune magazine's elite list of the biggest companies, with just Rmb574m ($85m) in revenues last year, Mr Liu's optimism is understandable after Hanwang's initial public offering made him a millionaire. Mr Liu and his wife own 36.5 per cent of Hanwang, which last month raised Rmb1.1bn through its listing on the Shenzhen small business board. Its shares have since soared to Rmb155.50 from the IPO price of Rmb41.90.

Hanwang is one of the few technology companies in China with a strong intellectual property profile. It has long provided the technology for Chinese and other Asian language handwriting recognition on touchscreen handsets to Nokia, Samsung and others.