New Wave of Funding Surge Hits Suzhou BioBAY: Multiple Biotech Firms Secure Major Investments and Advance Toward IPO

　　【Pharmaceutical Network Industry DynamicsBiopharmaceuticals is Suzhou's "No. 1 Industry." After years of development, the layout of Suzhou’s biopharmaceutical industry has gradually improved, with its scale rapidly expanding and R&D innovation strength continuously increasing. Data shows that, as of the end of November 2023, Suzhou has gathered more than 3,800 biopharmaceutical companies, including 569 large-scale enterprises. In terms of output value, in 2022, the industrial output value of Suzhou’s large-scale biopharmaceutical industry reached 218.8 billion yuan, doubling in size over five years.
 

Reportedly, at the beginning of the Year of the Dragon, several companies within Suzhou BioBAY, one of the key carriers of Suzhou's "No. 1 Industry," have secured a new round of financing. Industry insiders stated that BioBAY is experiencing a financing peak, and these funds will advance the refinement and commercialization of enterprises' independent innovation technologies. Meanwhile, this also reflects investors' deep trust in BioBAY’s industrial ecosystem, injecting strong momentum into the park’s biopharmaceutical innovation and R&D.
 

Among them, Evopoint Biosciences Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Evopoint Biosciences") announced on February 20 that it had completed a Series E round of financing worth 700 million yuan. It is reported that this round of financing was jointly led by Tencent Investment and Guoxin Investment, with participation from multiple institutions such as Jinan Industrial Development, Huakong Investment, Yuekai Capital, Chenhai Capital, Pudong Venture Capital, and Zhuopu Capital. Existing shareholder True Heart Capital continued its support, while Zhiyuan Zhiting served as the exclusive financial advisor for this round of financing.
 

The funds raised in this round will be mainly used to advance the domestic and international clinical trials of the company's multiple pipelines, improve the three self-innovative technology platforms of targeted therapy, anti-infection, and PROTAC, accelerate the operation of production bases and the construction of commercialization teams, and promote the early market entry of products to benefit a wide range of patients.
 

Data shows that Evopoint Biosciences, founded in 2017, is a platform-based innovative drug company. Based on its technology platforms, Evopoint Biosciences has developed a pipeline of innovative drugs including BLI inhibitors, EZH2 inhibitors, hURAT1 inhibitors, and next-generation ADCs, covering disease areas such as cancer, multidrug-resistant bacterial infections, and metabolic disorders.
 

On February 26, Rock Roc Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "ROC ROCK Biotechnology") announced that it had recently completed a Pre-A round of financing worth tens of millions of RMB. This round was led by Guozhu Capital, a management company under Ronghui Group, with continued additional investment from Deshi Capital. Riemann Conjecture continued to serve as the exclusive financial advisor for this round. It is reported that this is a new round of financing for ROC ROCK Biotechnology following its angel round at the end of 2022. The proceeds from this round will mainly be used for the IND application of the clinical pipeline RR-M01 and the construction of the delivery carrier production base of Qingdao ROC ROCK Biotechnology.
 

Data shows that ROC ROCK Biotechnology, established in 2021, is a biotechnology company specializing in the research, development, and production of macrophage-based drugs targeting solid tumors. The company is committed to advancing the industrialization of macrophage drugs in the field of targeted solid tumor therapy. With multiple pipelines in development, the company focuses on the treatment of solid tumors. Its lead pipeline, RR-M01, is a third-generation chimeric antigen receptor macrophage drug independently developed for HER2-positive solid tumors. Indications include recurrent and refractory solid tumors such as HER2-positive ovarian cancer, gastric cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer, endometrial cancer, lung cancer, and pancreatic cancer.
 

In addition, Beyang Therapeutics Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Beyang Therapeutics") announced on February 19 that it had secured tens of millions of yuan in a Pre-A+ round of financing. The funds raised in this round will be used to accelerate the advancement of Beyang Therapeutics' two pipelines in ophthalmology and oncology for (China-US) IND registration and application studies.
 

Profound Bio announced on February 16 the completion of a $112 million oversubscribed Series B financing to accelerate the development of its Antibody-Drug Conjugate (ADC) pipeline, including advancing the pivotal clinical trial for its ADC product rinatabart sesutecan (Rina-S) for the treatment of ovarian cancer.
 

It is reported that BioBAY is one of the important carriers for developing Suzhou's "No. 1 Industry." BioBAY opened in June 2007, and after years of development, it has given rise to 24 listed companies, with cumulative financing reaching the 100 billion yuan mark.
 

Disclaimer: Under no circumstances shall the information or opinions expressed in this article constitute investment advice to any person.