LTZ Therapeutics Secures Over $10M in Pre-A+ Financing to Advance World’s First Broad-Spectrum Innate Immune Engager Platform

Shenzhen, China, and Redwood City, California, USA – May 31, 2023 — LTZ Therapeutics (referred to as “LTZ” or “the Company”), announced the completion of its Pre-A+ financing round, raising over ten million US dollars. Since its establishment in 2022, the company has raised nearly 30 million US dollars in total.

This round of financing was led by Qiming Venture Partners, with participation from Beijing Shunwei Venture Capital Co., Ltd. and Lihexing Capital, and additional investment from existing shareholder Tibet Xianfeng Qiyun Investment Advisory Co., Ltd. The newly raised funds will be used for the systematic validation of the natural immune engagement antibody technology platform (Innate Engager Platform), advancing preclinical research, IND applications, and early clinical trials for multiple core products, as well as further expanding the global team.

LTZ is a company focused onNatural immune cells (especially macrophages) and immunosuppressive cells (such as Treg, CAF)An international biotechnology company is dedicated to the research and development.The world's first broad-spectrum natural immune cell multifunctional adapter antibody platform.The platform technology canSimultaneously mobilize various types of innate immune cells (including macrophages, NK cells, etc.) as effector molecules to directly kill tumor cells or immunosuppressive cells in a coordinated manner; moreover, indirectly activate adaptive immunity by promoting inflammatory responses within the tumor microenvironment.(ie, adaptive immunity). This novel immunotherapy is expected to comprehensively enhance the clinical benefits for patients, especially in the fields of solid tumors and autoimmune diseases.

Thanks to the care and support from governments at all levels, the trust of shareholders, and the concerted efforts of team members, LTZ Therapeutics has made remarkable progress in team building, innovative R&D, and external collaborations since its establishment just over a year ago. This includes rapidly assembling experienced operational teams in China, the United States, and Europe; preliminarily establishing a technology platform and product pipeline; successfully initiating multiple antibody discovery and non-clinical studies; and launching reverse translational medicine research collaborations with several top-tier cancer hospitals to jointly explore cancer biology and immunology within the tumor microenvironment. Meanwhile, LTZ Therapeutics has appointed an elite group of scientists—Dr. Sarah Hymowitz, Dr. Greg Cosma, Dr. Lukas Amler, Dr. Lillian Siu, Dr. Stephen Beers, and Dr. Hiroyoshi Nishikawa—to form a world-class Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). The SAB will synergistically empower LTZ Therapeutics' entire new drug development process, creating a closed-loop system that fosters bidirectional flow between translational and reverse translational medicine, enhancing both fundamental and clinical research.

"Following the completion of a $17 million Pre-A round a year ago, we are thrilled to once again receive funding from renowned investment institutions. Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to all new and existing investors for their high recognition and strong support."Dr. Robert Li, Co-founder and CEO of LTZ Therapeutics"We plan to complete the preclinical validation of the natural immune衔接多功能抗体平台 and the IND-enabling work for the first drug molecule this year. We will file for an IND early next year and initiate the first-in-human clinical study. As pharmaceutical professionals, our ultimate goal is to treat diseases and save lives. To help patients worldwide gain access to more effective and safer innovative drugs sooner, we are working tirelessly, day and night, to achieve cutting-edge breakthroughs and advance clinical translation."

Dr. Chen Kan, Partner of Qiming Venture Partners"It's very exciting to see the scientific innovation at LTZ. The company’s strategy of developing a novel innate immune-engaging antibody platform for hematologic and solid tumors, along with the preclinical validation of the selected drug molecules, shows great potential—especially in effectively engaging and activating macrophages through novel receptors and mechanisms. This could profoundly influence the strategic direction of immunotherapy in China and even globally."

Mr. Li Rui, Partner of Shunwei CapitalStated: "There are still significant unmet clinical needs in the fields of cancer and autoimmune diseases. The LTZ team is committed to treating these diseases with next-generation immunotherapy, offering diverse application scenarios, tremendous clinical value, and remarkable commercial potential. We are deeply inspired by the company's strong leadership and look forward to fully supporting LTZ in developing novel therapies that improve human health."

Mr. Yang Ti, Head of Lihé Hóngxīn InvestmentExpressed: "The R&D strength and international competitiveness of the LTZ team are impressive. They have long been at the forefront of the world in the research and development of novel immunotherapies. Not only have they accumulated profound scientific expertise and abundant successful experiences at the 'technical' level, but they also deeply understand the development principles and exploration pathways of 'First-in-Class' drugs at the 'philosophical' level. We firmly believe in LTZ. We wish the company’s breakthrough therapies a successful and swift market entry to benefit patients worldwide."

Dr. Wang Yunhai, Managing Partner of Tibet Xianfeng Qiyun Investment Advisory Co., Ltd.Stated: "As an existing shareholder, we have been pleasantly surprised to witness the team's highly efficient execution and the company’s remarkable business growth in just over a year since LTZ’s establishment. We are delighted to continue our increased investment in this round of financing, supporting the company’s efforts in developing the next generation of immunotherapy. We look forward to LTZ Therapeutics building on this momentum and leading the way into a new era of immunotherapy in the 'post-PD-1 era.'"

LTZ Therapeutics is a globally integrated biotechnology company focused on immunotherapy, addressing significant unmet clinical needs in the fields of cancer and autoimmune diseases by developing original new drugs to enhance patients' overall clinical benefits. The company's international team is located in Shenzhen, China; Redwood City, California, USA; and Heidelberg, Germany. Based on reverse translational science and emerging tumor microenvironment biology, LTZ Therapeutics is committed to developing next-generation immunotherapies that can both overcome drug resistance and recurrence and enhance anti-tumor immunity.

Qiming Venture Partners was founded in 2006 and has successively established offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Suzhou, Hong Kong, Seattle, Boston, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Currently, Qiming Venture Partners manages 11 US dollar funds and 7 RMB funds, with total managed assets under management reaching 9.5 billion US dollars. Since its establishment, it has focused on investing in outstanding early-stage and growth-stage enterprises in industries such as Technology and Consumer (T&C) and Healthcare. To date, Qiming Venture Partners has invested in more than 530 rapidly growing innovative companies, of which over 200 have been listed or exited through mergers on exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Additionally, more than 70 of these companies have become unicorns or super unicorns recognized within their respective industries.

Shunwei Capital was founded by Mr. Lei Jun and Mr. Xu Dalai in 2011, currently managing over 5 billion US dollars of dual-currency funds. The contributors mainly come from top global investment institutions such as sovereign funds, family funds, fund of funds, and university foundations. Shunwei Capital focuses on areas including mobile internet, Internet+, smart hardware, intelligent manufacturing, deep technology, consumer goods, enterprise services, and the electric vehicle ecosystem. Representative investment projects domestically and internationally include over 500 outstanding enterprises such as Xiaomi Group, Segway-Ninebot, Agora, iQIYI, NIO, ShareChat, and Meesho. Shunwei Capital aims to make our lives better by investing in early to growth-stage companies with dreams.

Shenzhen Lihé Hóngxīn Venture Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership) was established in 2016, focusing on investments in strategic emerging industries such as biomedicine, new energy, new materials, electronic information, integrated circuits, and high-end equipment. The investment stage mainly targets the mid-to-early phase. Currently, it has invested in over 100 projects. In response to the call of China's "Made in China 2025" plan to vigorously develop the high-level biomedicine industry, and to implement Shenzhen's "13th Five-Year Plan" for major deployments in strategic emerging industries such as biomedicine, advanced medical imaging, and gene technology, Lihé Hóngxīn, based in Shenzhen with a global outlook, has gradually increased its investment layout in high-tech enterprises within the biomedicine sector in recent years.

Tibet Xianfeng Qiyun Investment Advisory Co., Ltd. was founded in 2016 as an early-stage venture capital fund focused on life sciences and the medical field. We focus on platform-type opportunities with great potential and are committed to becoming the entrepreneurial partner of top entrepreneurs, continuously empowering them before and after investment. Managing dual-currency funds in both RMB and USD, Xianfeng Qiyun has systematically invested in cutting-edge areas such as gene therapy, gene editing, RNAi, mRNA, circular RNA, antibody-drug conjugates, bispecific antibodies, and surgical robots.