36Kr Exclusive | AI-Powered Pharmaceutical Industrial Platform 'Woshi Tech' Secures Tens of Millions in Series Angel Funding

36Kr has learned of a company targeting the development of an AI decision-making platform for pharmaceutical industrial scenarios.「HOURS」, recently announced the completion of an angel funding round worth tens of millions of RMB, with Linear Capital as the investor and existing shareholders from the previous round making follow-on investments.

China's pharmaceutical industry is experiencing rapid development, marked by an astonishing acceleration in R&D speed. In 2020, the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) accepted 828 registration applications for China-made Class 1 innovative drugs, with clinical trial applications increasing by 55% year-on-year and marketing authorization applications reaching 43, up 72% YoY. Meanwhile, the application of artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly prominent, making "AI + new drug development" an industry imperative. Experts from the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, further assert that AI validation will become a "mandatory standard" for advancing drugs to clinical trials in the future.

In recent years, most players in the sector have focused on the “molecular design” stage, while HOURS is dedicated to addressing the accessibility and commercial potential of newly designed drug molecules. This focus targets a more complex systematic engineering endeavor and a high-value domain—specifically, the stages of “molecular synthesis,” “process design,” and “process scale-up,” which are currently less explored by companies in the industry.

From this perspective, most AI drug discovery companies are not competitors but rather partners of 「HOURS」. This also endows 「HOURS」 with distinct scarcity and differentiation among the numerous AI+pharmaceutical R&D enterprises. As a rare investment target in the AI+pharma industry sector, 「HOURS」 serves pharmaceutical CROs, CMOs, and novel drug discovery companies by building an intelligent platform for small-molecule synthesis route and process design. It provides end-to-end software solutions spanning the entire workflow from the data tier to R&D and manufacturing, covering stages from laboratory research to process design and scale-up production.

AI Decision-Making Platform for the Pharmaceutical Industry, assisting enterprises in molecular designTimepieceIt calculates the availability, cost, and process route of target small molecules, thereby enhancing efficiency and accelerating development. This platform replaces traditional database searches and literature reviews, while also bridging the knowledge gap between medicinal chemists and process chemists in conventional workflows. Leveraging the AI platform of HOURS, medicinal chemistry, process chemistry, etc.PolycyclicThe module enables enhanced collaboration, rapid design of reactions optimal for process scale-up, and process route design. Overseas company Synthia has developed a related retrosynthesis module and was acquired by pharmaceutical giant Merck; leading AI drug discovery company Atomwise is also exploring this area.

As an early entrant in this niche sector, HOURS has already demonstrated its first-mover advantage —— it has established a standardized product matrix; while most competitors have only reached the retrosynthesis stage, HOURS has already covered the laboratory and process synthesis pipeline; it has mastered large-scale modeling capabilities with billion-level constraints and developed corresponding solver frameworks. These technological advantages have yielded significant results, enabling HOURS to secure partnerships with multiple leading listed CMO companies ahead of its peers and achieve rapid client expansion. Concurrently, through collaborations with numerous industry giants, the company has accumulated practical experience in actual production processes. “Compared to the predictable progression of R&D outcomes driven by the products themselves, the value discovery and value creation jointly catalyzed by clients’ practical insights and the collision of knowledge introduce an element of serendipity to a startup’s growth, making it a far more precious opportunity,” stated Dr. Zeng Zhuo, the company’s founder.

Huang Songyan, Managing Director and Head of Deep Tech Investments at Linear Capital, stated: "The integration of data intelligence with industrial applications to deliver intelligent decision-making solutions has always been a core focus for Linear Capital. The pharmaceutical industry is a massive and rapidly expanding sector. HOURS has deeply embedded itself in this field, leveraging data models combined with industry-specific mechanisms to provide a comprehensive intelligent decision-making system that spans from process design and scale-up to production. These solutions have already been successfully implemented at several leading manufacturers. The team led by Dr. Zeng boasts a multidisciplinary background in data intelligence, pharmaceuticals, and chemical engineering, coupled with deep industry expertise. They represent the finest team we have encountered in this domain. Linear Capital is committed to leading this early-stage investment in HOURS and will continue to support its long-term growth."

HOURS stated that its next objective is to develop an AI-automated synthesis platform. By integrating hardware with precise software control, the company aims to achieve breakthroughs in the field of synthesis automation, thereby empowering R&D personnel to channel their expertise into more creative domains. Partnership discussions with clients are currently underway, and a prototype is expected to be launched next year.

The core R&D Ph.D. team members of HOURS are from Carnegie Mellon University in the United States, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Georgia Institute of Technology, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, andUniversity of Science and Technology of Chinaand other world-renowned universities. Founder Dr. Zeng Zhuo was awarded the title of Suzhou Industrial Park Leading Talent.