SHANGHAI - Ten companies slated to list on the ChiNext, China's soon to be launched Nasdaq-style board, said Tuesday they attracted a combined 784.1 billion yuan (S$163.4 billion) in bids for subscriptions.

Demand for the initial public offerings' retail tranche was high with shares in the firms, which range from software to medical equipment makers, oversubscribed by 82 to 258 times, filings to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange said.

The institutional tranche of the IPOs the firms were oversubscribed by 35 to 117 times, according to the statements.

The companies, which took subscriptions from retail and institutional investors on Friday, will raise a total of 6.68 billion yuan from the IPOs - more than double the 3.16 billion initially sought.

Regulators hope the growth enterprise market, to be based in the southern city of Shenzhen, will help start-ups and other companies with high-growth potential, following the example of Wall Street's Nasdaq.

The second set of nine companies, which have a combined fund-raising target of 1.95 billion yuan, will take orders for their IPOs on Oct 13 and the start-up board will be launched in late October.