Asset managers have started fund-raising for six retail-oriented Chinese unicorn mutual funds. The 300 billion yuan they seek to raise in the coming days will be used to fund the mainland listings of such homegrown tech firms as smartphone maker Xiaomi and e-commerce giant Alibaba. Our reporter Ying Junyi has more.

The six fund managers picked by the government to launch the funds include China AMC, E Fund and Harvest. They will raise money from retail investors between June 11-15, before taking subscriptions from institutions on June 19. The six funds will act as cornerstone investors for the first China Depository Receipts. That means that unlike an ordinary IPO lottery, investing in these six mutual funds will guarantee retail and institutional investors a slice CDR action.

THEODORE SHOU, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER SKYBOUND CAPITAL "When it comes to the participation in the IPO themselves, I do believe getting a piece of those funds might be a good opportunity for retail investors to lower their cost, because if they participating the IPO themselves, it is highly likely they would not be allowed to be allotted to any shares. And even if they want to go out to the secondary market and buy from the market, it's most likely the share price has already risen to an elevated level. Therefore, for the retail investors, if they really want to participate in the IPO or the CDRs, I believe these six funds probably offer more cost-efficient approach."

CDRs, modelled after the popular ADRs in the United States, allow overseas-traded Chinese firms to re-listed in China. Analysts also point out that aside from allowing increased exposure for investors, investing via mutual funds also means less volatility.

YANG ZHONGNING, INVESTMENT CONSULTANT INDUSTRIAL SECURITIES "First of all, from the design of the mutual funds, they are going to invest CDRs or fixed assets. By their nature they do not invest in the secondary market. Therefore, these products will shield investors from volatility risks in the secondary market. On the other hand, although these funds will not voluntarily dispose their investments, retail investors can still get that information including the volumes of the shares and the lock up period from related listed companies' statements. Therefore, I think the products are very transparent."

Xiaomi is only weeks away from becoming the first overseas-domiciled company to sell shares in China, while other firms planning to issue CDRs include U.S.-listed Baidu and Alibaba. Both Mr. Shou and Mr. Yang believe the market will see more CDRs to come.

THEODORE SHOU, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER SKYBOUND CAPITAL "We believe there are about 5 to 6 large offshore listed Chinese companies that are already qualified for all these CDR listing rules, and we believe there are about 25 to 30 so-called innovative Chinese companies that are not listed anywhere else, will potentially be qualified for the CDR insurance. Therefore, in the following 2 to 3 years, we believe there will be roughly 30 to 40 names that will come to the market under the CDR."

China's market regulator says it's going to be actively pushing the CDR pilot program, but that the number of firms involved will be strictly limited in the initial stages, as will the amount of funding they can raise.