Hype creation is really a powerful tool to increase the value of a coin. I think there is effective hyping of this coin. Aside from the good marketing skills of the team, the people behind NEO are really great. Plus the market they are targeting is not a small one but a really really huge one. That is china. More than 1/5 of the world's population comes from there.
That could explain the sudden growth,I also think that all that happened when they changed the old name of Antshares to Neo then maybe they probably have a very active team that take care of the smallest detail.