Chinese Pharma Sector Shows Strong Fundraising Momentum in January with Multiple Companies Securing Over RMB 100 Million

　　【Pharmaceutical Network Industry DynamicsAccording to data from Arterial Network, in the third quarter of 2023, the number of financing events in China's biopharmaceutical industry was 128, a 24% decrease compared to the same period last year. The total financing amount reached 16.599 billion yuan, which is half of what it was during the same period last year. So, how strong is the "fund-raising" capability of the pharmaceutical sector in January 2024?
 

From the current investment and financing announcements disclosed by listed pharmaceutical companies, the "fund-raising" momentum in the pharmaceutical sector has shown signs of recovery since January. From January 2nd to 5th alone, 17 enterprises in China's pharmaceutical and healthcare sector secured investment and financing. These include Jiangsu VcarePharmaTech Co., Ltd., ThunderBio Innovation Limited, and Zhejiang Guozi Robotics Co., Ltd.RobotStairMed and other pharmaceutical companies have raised over 100 million yuan each.
 

Specifically, in recent news, StairMed, which focuses on the R&D of the next-generation brain-computer interface technology, announced the completion of its Series A financing round worth hundreds of millions of RMB. This round was jointly led by Orbimed and Yuanhe Origin Point, with Qifeng Capital serving as the exclusive financial advisor. The funds will continue to be used for system development and team expansion, maintaining the company's leading position in the field of implantable brain-computer interfaces.
 

Kelaisi (Shenzhen) Technology Co., Ltd., an in vitro diagnostic instrument R&D and manufacturing enterprise, recently announced the completion of a nearly 100-million-yuan Series B financing round. This round was led by Luxin Venture Capital, with Hanchi Venture Capital participating. It is reported that after the completion of the financing, the company will further accelerate the commercial promotion of its full range of in vitro diagnostic instruments, including chemiluminescence, immunofluorescence, flow fluorescence, and mass spectrometry pre-treatment systems, providing ultra-stable, high-performance, and cost-effective products and CDMO services to customers both in China and internationally.
 

On January 4, Zhejiang Guozi Robotics Co., Ltd., a mobile robot company, announced the completion of a new round of strategic financing exceeding 200 million yuan. This round of financing was led by Chint New Energy under the Chint Group, with several existing shareholders also participating. The company stated that this financing will help it maintain its leading position in the mobile robot sector. It plans to further increase investment in technology research and development, continuously enhance the performance of its core products, strengthen the construction of its global marketing network, and achieve high-quality business growth.
 

On January 4, ThunderBio Innovation Limited, a developer of digital PCR diagnostic systems, announced the completion of a billion-yuan-level B1 round of financing. This round was led by Luxin Venture Capital, with participation from Zopu Investment, Guangzhou Golden Control Fund, Daohe Technology Investment, and Shenzhen Chenmu Cloud Technology. The funds will be used for the global commercial expansion of multiple droplet microfluidic platforms independently developed by ThunderBio Innovation Limited, establishing a platform for life science instrumentation tools.
 

On January 2, Jiangsu VcarePharmaTech Co., Ltd., an innovative pharmaceutical company, completed a C-round financing of over 4.5 billion yuan, jointly invested by several institutions including Guoshou Equity, DeYi Capital, Hongyao Sci-Tech Innovation, the existing shareholder Nanjing Innovation Capital Group, and Hangzhou Huadian Investment. The funds raised will mainly be used to accelerate the advancement of the innovative drug R&D pipeline and the continuous development of the drug's full industry chain CRO/CDMO.
 

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From the perspective of the subfields to which pharmaceutical companies completing billions of yuan in financing in the past half month belong, they are mainly concentrated in areas such as brain-computer interfaces, in vitro diagnostic instruments, innovative drugs, and mobile robots.
 

Among them, brain-computer interface (BCI) is a popular concept. China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has already identified BCI as an important direction for fostering future industrial development, strengthening the exploration of BCI application scenarios, and accelerating the vigorous growth of the BCI industry. A securities firm once pointed out that, as an emerging industry, BCI technology is mainly divided into hardware and software layers. The hardware layer includes brain signal acquisition equipment and external control devices. Brain signal acquisition equipment encompasses core components and devices, electrodes, BIC chips, power supplies, and materials; external control devices include robotic arms, bionic hands, drones, and more. The software layer includes bio-signal analysis, core algorithms, communication and computing, and security and privacy.
 

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