Exclusive Interview with Dr. Mingyu Liu from BIOCHING CAPITAL: Capital Returns to Rationality, Using Long-term Thinking and Industry Depth to Navigate Cycles

Over the past three years, the healthcare industry has experienced a noticeable shift from "overheating" to "calm." The current market condition is both a return to rationality and an inevitable process of reallocating resources.

The retreat of capital has brought the entire ecosystem back to a more stable rhythm—funds are beginning to flow toward companies that truly possess clinical value, technical barriers, and industrial implementation capabilities. On the other hand, this is not a decline but rather a form of "self-purification." From a long-term perspective, medical innovation is entering deeper waters, and this phase is precisely where truly high-quality companies emerge.

For investment institutions, this is also a moment to test cognition and patience.Against this backdrop, BIOCHING CAPITAL, an investment firm rooted in Shenzhen with unique industrial DNA, is steadily moving forward in the fluctuating market with its own investment philosophy and solid industrial empowerment capabilities.

BIOCHING CAPITAL was founded in 2016, but its true market-oriented operations began in 2020. This "both ancient and young" institution has a core team that mostly comes from the industry sector, with key team members hailing from well-known medical enterprises such as Lepu Medical, Haiwang Group, 3SBio, and Mindray. Under the leadership of General Manager Dr. Liu Mingyu, the firm has developed a distinctive investment methodology centered around the four major tracks of “life, death, beauty, and pleasure.”

Particularly worth mentioning is that multiple companies invested in by BIOCHING CAPITAL, such as Anlu Medical, Sailu Healthcare, Thorough Future, Xinyue Biotech, Herz Life, and Aoli Biotech, successfully completed new rounds of financing against the market contraction in the primary sector in 2025. In this regard, VCBeat exclusively interviewed Dr. Liu Mingyu to delve into BIOCHING CAPITAL's journey from its founding mission to investment logic, from industrial empowerment practices to predictions for the future market.

VCBeat: The core team of BIOCHING CAPITAL has a deep industrial background. What opportunity prompted the team to turn from the industry and co-found a CVC? What are the underlying principles supporting this?

Dr. Liu Mingyu:Many members of our team have transitioned from the industrial sector to the investment field, and we are actually exploring the balance between "convergence" and "divergence." In the industrial world, strategies are focused—within a fixed cycle, all energy and resources revolve around one theme or one market, which aligns with what Mr. Ren Zhengfei refers to as moving from "force through one aperture" to "profit through one aperture." Investment, however, is entirely different. The main thread of the work is "divergence"—you continuously discover and explore new tracks, new teams, and new opportunities. You may encounter and learn about 3-5 completely different products in a single day, ranging from innovative drugs to medical consumables, covering everything from head to toe, truly multifaceted.

Seemingly divergent investment behaviors are, in essence, also a form of focus — operating in an industry is a narrow focus, while investing is a broader focus. We need to maintain sufficient depth while pursuing breadth, which requires the accumulation of time, mental effort, and perseverance. Therefore, our philosophy is "pragmatism, focus, and long-term orientation."

VCBeat: You mentioned that doing investment is very rewarding. Where does this sense of accomplishment come from?

Dr. Liu Mingyu:Being an investor is somewhat similar to being a doctor: First, your success comes from others succeeding first. If the patient recovers, your treatment is successful; if the entrepreneur succeeds, your investment is successful. Secondly, curing a dying patient might just be luck; similarly, investing in a good company could also be luck. To cure a group of patients and invest in a group of successful companies demonstrates true ability. To become a national-level investment institution, you must endure cycles.

VCBeat: BIOCHING CAPITAL was founded in 2016 and focuses on investing in startups in the life and health sector. From a macro perspective, what characteristics did the life and health industry exhibit at that time? Nearly a decade later, what development trends is this industry now showing?

Dr. Liu Mingyu:Over the past decade since the establishment of BIOCHING CAPITAL, the healthcare industry—whether in terms of product markets or capital markets—can be described as "tumultuous and ever-changing." Years ago, China's healthcare industry was primarily characterized by following and imitating: selecting a proven product in the market, studying its functionality, imitating its technology, undercutting its price, and surpassing its sales. In a sense, the first pot of gold was often earned by poaching ideas. Therefore, at that time, many investment institutions placed greater emphasis on the operational efficiency, product iteration capabilities, and channel marketing abilities of entrepreneurial teams, without needing to focus much on product direction. The situation today is completely different; so-called following and imitation have become unprofitable and are now ignored in the primary market.To survive, enterprises must start with differentiation, developing new products, new technologies, new processes, and new methods, making the innovation capability of startup teams more crucial now.

VCBeat: BIOCHING CAPITAL has proposed a very unique framework of "Life, Death, Beauty, and Pleasure" as the four major tracks. How was this framework developed? Could you please elaborate on the specific connotations of these four directions?

Dr. Liu Mingyu:Traditional classification methods are either based on disease areas or business models, but both are defined from the product end. Now is the era of oversupply, BIOCHING CAPITALDefined from the demand side,Summarize the ultimate pursuit of human health into four points:

"Birth" refers to healthy reproduction, where mothers don’t have to endure pain and children are free from genetic diseases; "Death" means living a long life while passing away quickly when the time comes; "Beauty" reflects an inner and outer pursuit of aesthetics, integrating body and soul; "Joy" is about living happily with sufficient emotional fulfillment. Based on these four dimensions, our investments primarily focus on two main areas: the upgrading of medical consumption and the application of cutting-edge technologies, particularly new directions like the longevity industry, mental health, consumer healthcare, and novel technologies such as artificial intelligence, brain-computer interfaces, biomanufacturing, and cellular genetics.

VCBeat: BIOCHING CAPITAL has mentioned three principles for specific project selection: "Strong Essential Needs, Weak Health Insurance Dependency, and Advanced Technology." Why are these three points regarded as ironclad rules? During due diligence, what specific metrics does BIOCHING CAPITAL use to evaluate whether a project aligns with these standards? How do they further identify and mitigate the risk of "internal competition" in these sectors to discover projects with truly differentiated advantages?

Dr. Liu Mingyu:Strong rigid demand,The core of selecting a track and project lies in capturing the rigid demand, that isDemand that exists without additional conditions,Just like people need to eat, breathe, and sleep every day, this may seem simple, but it actually requires professional knowledge and long-term accumulation. It also takes courage to challenge one's own understanding and negate established thinking. The older generation's consumer mindset cannot comprehend why labubu has become so popular.

We have always believed that an excellent entrepreneur must first be an outstanding product manager, or at least there should be one very excellent product manager in the entrepreneurial team. In most product fields, technology, craftsmanship, and manufacturing capabilities are already very sufficient or even excessive, so product definition is far more important than product realization. Look at the entrepreneurs from the DJI ecosystem; none of them are not experts in product psychology.

Weak Medical Insurance,This stems from my lingering fear of the tremendous impact of generic drug and high-value consumables centralized procurement when I worked for a listed company. Looking back, raising this slogan was somewhat emotional, but even after calming down, I still find it applicable. From the perspective of national welfare, inclusive healthcare does not wish for excessive product profit margins—centralized procurement and anti-corruption efforts are actions guided by this principle. Therefore, products and services related to medical aesthetics, weight loss, longevity, and others that individuals bear themselves are also directions that BIOCHING CAPITAL focuses on. At the same time,The country encourages innovative products with huge R&D investment to enjoy reasonable high gross profit. Hard technology also raises the threshold of products, avoiding low-level competition caused by internal friction.

VCBeat: "Industry empowerment" has become an additional label for almost all CVCs. How does BIOCHING CAPITAL's "deep involvement" specifically manifest? Could you share an impressive case where BIOCHING CAPITAL’s industry resources played a critical role in aiding a company during the post-investment phase?

Dr. Liu Mingyu:We compare ourselves to "reaction enzymes" or catalysts. The technical and product capabilities of enterprises are potential energy, and the biggest challenge is whether they can be transformed into kinetic energy. We are very willing to help entrepreneurs achieve this transformation, provided they can change their way of thinking, respect customer needs, market rules, and the value of partners.

Taking Cooper Medical as an example, it has also experienced many critical decisions during its development process. These include adjustments to equity structure, selection of the second growth curve, and the introduction of key talents. For instance, entering the field of oncology treatment from the urology sector, transitioning from passive devices to active devices, and then moving towards a combination of pharmaceuticals and devices—these steps not only require financial investment but also the establishment of entirely new production, manufacturing, and marketing channel models. Another example is Novo Biotechnology: should it focus solely on CXO business, or simultaneously pursue certain promising targets it believes in? Behind these seemingly straightforward decisions lies a long process of discussion, validation, and trial-and-error with entrepreneurs.

The real pain point for entrepreneurs is that they often feel lonely at the top, with few people around who truly understand them. When outstanding entrepreneurs come to you for discussion, sometimes it’s for advice, but more often it’s to validate the correctness and precision of their own decisions. One of the greatest benefits for investors is the opportunity to grow alongside these exceptional entrepreneurs.

VCBeat: In the so-called "capital winter" of 2025, several companies invested in by BIOCHING CAPITAL successfully completed new rounds of financing against the trend. What do you think are the common traits that enabled these companies to weather the cycle? Does this also reflect the foresight and resilience of BIOCHING CAPITAL's investment strategy?

Dr. Liu Mingyu:In 2025, the secondary market index rose from 3,000 points to 4,000 points, but many individual stocks did not make a profit. This shows that the capital market has never been "all-encompassing or universally beneficial." Similarly, the difficulty in raising funds in the primary market in 2025 does not mean investors are unwilling to invest; rather, it reflects the Pareto Principle. During bubble periods, companies find it relatively easy to raise funds, but now, to secure investment, they increasingly need to rely on their strength. First, they...In a highly futuristic track,If the track is not favored, it is difficult for enterprises to make achievements no matter how hard they try. Secondly,The team has strong growth potential.The growth rate must not only surpass competitors, but alsoExceeding market and customer expectations.Competition in many niche markets has evolved from the "Spring and Autumn Period" to the "Warring States Period," or even the "Three Kingdoms Era," where smaller players find it hard to survive. Take Xinyue Bio, which has just completed an investment by JingTai, as an example. The company’s technology originates from Professor Xiaoyu Li at the University of Hong Kong. Also focusing on AI+DEL, they are not adopting a strategy of following and surpassing; instead, from the very beginning, they have planned a path completely different from their peers, offering innovative pharmaceutical companies and research institutions distinct products.

VCBeat: Taking the innovative drug sector as an example, going global and BD have become hot topics in the past two years. How does BIOCHING CAPITAL view this phenomenon?

Dr. Liu Mingyu:There is a vivid viewpoint that China's innovative drug collective licence-out is like "a poor family selling their children," which makes sense to some extent, but it is also a necessary stage for industrial development. The innovative drug sector, lagging behind by decades, is destined to eventually run neck-and-neck and even take the lead in the future, and this process is essential. Unlike the internet industry where winners take all and only one company remains in each field, the healthcare track is different.In each direction, there will be several leading companies engaging in healthy competition and cooperation, which is also a very healthy industry ecosystem.

Through license-out to complete the initial accumulation, combined with Chinese wisdom, China will see a large number of MNCs, including current giants such as WuXi, BeiGene, Akeso, Hengrui, Mindray, and Lepu, as well as currently lesser-known newcomers.

VCBeat: Do you have any advice for startups?

Dr. Liu Mingyu:As mentioned earlier,The most important thing is to find the right direction and choose the right track.If there is something more important than choosing the right track, it is"With Whom to Go", including choosing partners and angel investors, all of which determine the survival of a business. Most of the fallen companies we've seen were not defeated by competitors but collapsed from within. We are willing and adept at helping businesses with top-level design, formulating strategies, planning directions, and connecting resources. However, when faced with a team that crumbles internally, even investors are powerless.

VCBeat: What is your vision for the next stage of BIOCHING CAPITAL? What distinctive image do you hope to build within the industry?

Dr. Liu Mingyu:The outside world sees us as a fund focused on healthcare, and that is indeed our professional identity. Healthcare is our starting point, but not our endpoint—"life, death, beauty, and joy" encompass far more than just the medical and broader health sectors. In fact, we have already made investments in areas like artificial intelligence, biomanufacturing, chip design, and new materials. We will continue to enhance our precision-strike capabilities in existing sectors while expanding our reach, aligning with the Fourth Industrial Revolution and collaborating with a group of outstanding entrepreneurs to create world-class technologies, products, and enterprises.