XinYue Bio Announces Tens of Millions RMB in Pre-A Financing to Accelerate DEL3.0 Platform Development and Pipeline Expansion

VCBeat learned第一时间 that Shenzhen NewDEL Biotech Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "NewDEL Biotech") recently announced the completion of a multi-million yuan Pre-A round of financing. This Pre-A round was led by Bangqin Capital, with co-investments from TusStar Venture Capital (Qirong Venture Capital) and Guocheng Dejun, while the angel round investor, Top Alliance Ventures, continued to increase its investment. In July last year, NewDEL Biotech completed its angel round of financing led by Top Alliance Ventures and co-invested by Qianhai Chuangfu. The main purpose of this financing is to accelerate the construction of the DEL3.0 (DEL+AI) technology platform and the development of new drug pipelines, addressing significant unmet clinical needs in areas such as cancer immunotherapy, and realizing the vision of "empowering new drug development with unique technologies and making affordable quality drugs for the people."

Shenzhen NewDEL Biotech Co., Ltd. was established in April 2021 as the first biotechnology company incubated by the Guangdong Province Small Molecule Innovative Drug Innovation Center. Relying on its proprietary DEL3.0 technology platform and unique live cell screening technology, NewDEL Biotech focuses on addressing unmet clinical needs through the discovery, research, and industrialization of FIC innovative drugs, with the aim of becoming an internationally leading and distinctively featured biotechnology company.

The most critical technical link in the innovative drug industry chain is new drug discovery. Approximately one-third of new drug development costs are allocated to the new drug discovery and preclinical stages, which take five to six years. New drug development is characterized by high investment, high risk, and a long cycle. The entire process from discovering new molecular entities to bringing innovative drugs to market requires the synthesis and testing of a large number of compounds. New technological tools have become key factors in changing the current state of new drug development.

DNA Encoded Library (DEL) Technology: A Novel High-Throughput Drug Screening Approach

With the accumulation of drug research and development data and the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, the application of AI in new drug discovery has been increasing, with its advantages becoming more prominent. NewDEL Biotech's DEL3.0 technology platform effectively combines DEL and AI to achieve complementarity, addressing both the issue of low-quality DNA-encoded library construction and the challenge of AI technology lacking high-quality big data. This builds an AI model that can be quickly updated and iterated, significantly accelerating the new drug development process. The conceptual validation of the DEL3.0 platform has been completed, and the results have been published in a high-level SCI journal.

In just over a year since its establishment, NewDEL Biotech has collaborated with Professor Ke Ding's team from Jinan University to develop a new generation of targeted anti-tumor drugs. It has also partnered with Lida PreTarget and Nanjing Crystal Clear for new drug development, focusing on novel targets for cancer immunotherapy. DEL3.0 has screened or is about to screen approximately 40 targets, building an extremely rich pipeline. Some projects have shown promising data, indicating broad commercial prospects.

He Xun, founder and chairman of NewDEL Biotech, stated: "We thank the investors of this round—Bond Capital, Qirong Venture Capital, Guocheng Dejun—as well as our existing shareholder Tongchuang Ventures for their support and trust in NewDEL Biotech. This is a full recognition of our DEL 3.0 technology platform and pipeline layout. DEL+AI is highly likely to become the mainstream screening method in the field of small molecule drug discovery. The company will continue to enhance the DEL 3.0 technology platform, explore new DEL+X combination applications such as DEL+PROTAC and DEL+allosteric site drug development, advance our R&D pipeline, and actively engage in long-term collaborations with top pharmaceutical companies and institutions both domestically and internationally. With differentiated technology, we aim to build a globally leading innovative drug enterprise. Supported by this round of financing, we will continue to expand our R&D team, deepen the exploration of DEL 3.0 technology, and advance our project pipeline to achieve new milestones."

Dr. Liu Mingyu, founding partner of Bangqin Capital, stated: "Bangqin Capital consistently focuses on breakthroughs brought by new technologies in the field of new drug development. NewDEL Biotech is the first project Bangqin Capital has led in the innovative drug sector. Over the past six months, the Bangqin project team has conducted multiple visits and exchanges to deeply understand the industry’s development landscape. They believe that NewDEL Biotech’s business model is unique in the industry. It not only possesses a technological tool for new drug screening but also serves as a development platform that continuously generates original small-molecule new drugs. With a dual-track driven model of independent research and joint development, it has broader growth potential and upward mobility compared to traditional biotechnology companies."

The investment director of VCBeat stated: "VCBeat focuses on cutting-edge technological innovation, prioritizing investments in science and technology innovation enterprises that align with national strategies and break through key technologies. The R&D team of NewDEL Biotech has developed a globally leading DEL3.0 technology platform through years of accumulated effort. Based on this platform technology, we hope to collaborate with pharmaceutical companies both domestically and internationally in the future, starting from Shenzhen to serve the global new drug development cause."

Weijia Shen, Managing Director of Qirong Venture Capital, stated: "NewDEL Biotech possesses underlying innovative technology, a project pipeline developed through independent and collaborative R&D, a full-industry-chain team for new drug development, and a flexible business model. These factors have strengthened Qirong Venture Capital's confidence in this investment. Qirong Venture Capital will fully leverage the synergistic effects of its investment and global network resources to provide comprehensive and supportive post-investment value-added services to NewDEL Biotech, advancing together."

Tan Jiacheng, Executive Managing Partner of Guocheng Dejun, stated: "Enterprises are the key players in technological innovation and achieving high-level self-reliance and strength in biotechnology. We firmly believe that NewDEL Biotech's unique live-cell screening DEL technology can truly empower the development of biotechnology in China, bring about new, revolutionary leaps, benefit the industry and patients, improve human health, and play a positive leading and exemplary role in promoting technological progress in the biopharmaceutical industry and strengthening the core competitiveness of the pharmaceutical industry."

The Small Molecule Innovative Drug Innovation Center of Guangdong Province was approved as a provincial innovation center in 2018. In June 2019, "Shenzhen Small Molecule Innovative Drug Innovation Center Co., Ltd." was established as the operating entity, and in November 2019, it was officially inaugurated by the leaders of the Provincial Party Committee. It is the first biopharmaceutical innovation center in Guangdong Province, including Shenzhen. The shareholders and alliance members include listed companies in the industry, pharmaceutical central enterprises, well-known companies, industry associations, new research institutes, pharmaceutical investment institutions, professional management teams, and other units. Focusing on the significant innovation and development needs of the biopharmaceutical industry and key common technologies within the industry, it is committed to breaking through key common technical bottlenecks in the industrial chain, promoting the transformation of achievements, and building a collaborative innovation ecosystem.

Bangqin Capital, established in 2016, is a rapidly growing emerging fund company that focuses on investing in enterprises within the life and health sector. With high concentration and deep exploration, Bangqin Capital has successfully initiated nearly 10 funds as a fund manager in less than five years, incubating and investing in over 20 enterprises. These investments span across fields such as medical devices, in vitro diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, and medical services. The main team members come from well-known medical companies like Mindray Medical, Lepu Medical, Haiwang Group, and 3SBio Inc., with extensive experience in both the medical industry and venture capital. They possess profound professional backgrounds, rich hands-on experience, and strong technical comprehension and market analysis abilities. Currently, Bangqin Capital’s private equity fund management brand has started to gain influence, obtaining funding from Shenzhen Angel Mother Fund, Shenzhen Pingshan Guiding Fund, and multiple listed companies and renowned enterprises.

CoStone Partners was founded on June 26, 2000. It is one of the first professional private equity investment companies in China, with 22 years of investment management experience. The company manages assets exceeding 30 billion RMB, has invested in more than 500 enterprises cumulatively, and successfully facilitated over 100 companies to go public. CoStone Partners is a leading professional investment institution in China with a long operational history and consistently excellent returns.

Torchlight Partners focuses on emerging industries with an investment approach centered on industrial chain participation, maintaining a prudent investment strategy. They deeply explore hidden champions, support innovation and entrepreneurship, and are fully committed to serving the real economy.

Qirong Venture Capital was founded in Shenzhen, China, in 2019 as a key strategic layout of TusStar Venture Capital's "networking and clustering" development strategy, focusing on early-stage hard technology investments. Key investment areas include but are not limited to: next-generation information technology, new materials, life sciences and health, aerospace, robotics, intelligent equipment, the Internet, and other industries. Originating from TusStar Venture Capital, Qirong Venture Capital has managed 13 technology venture capital funds, participated in over 20 funds, with a total managed capital scale of 2 billion yuan. It invests in angel-stage technology innovation enterprises at a rate as high as 90%, with a follow-up financing rate exceeding 70%. It consistently ranks among the top-tier early-stage investment institutions recognized by authoritative media outlets such as Zero2IPO, ChinaVenture, 36kr, Lieyun Network, the Mother Fund Alliance, and Science and Technology Daily, receiving accolades like "First Tier" and "TOP10" awards.

Guocheng Dejun was established in 2022, under the Guocheng Biotech umbrella, in response to the national bioeconomy development plan. Adhering to the philosophy of "supporting China's original innovative biological capabilities and technologies to create new heights for China's biomedicine to lead at an international level," it actively invests resources and foundational technologies in companies with disruptive innovative biotechnologies and platforms. The core value and development principle of the company is to "translate biological innovations into applications in the most efficient way." The corporate spirit of "utmost sincerity, truthfulness, virtue, and trustworthiness" supports and accompanies the growth of enterprises, which remains the unchanging mission and purpose of Guocheng Dejun.