Exclusive Interview with Estrella Chairwoman Zhang Hong: Investing Is Betting on the Future; Post-Investment Management Is Co-Creating It

“Venture capital is about investing in the future. Being invited to manage portfolio companies means I get to participate in the process of creating that future.”

In August 2024, Estrella Immunopharma (“Estrella”), a NASDAQ-listed, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, welcomed Hong Zhang as its Chairwoman and new board member. From Shandong to Beijing and Shenzhen, and now to the San Francisco Bay Area, Ms. Zhang’s 25-year dynamic career in equity investment has endowed her with rich professional experience and a distinctive investment philosophy.

Why Would an Independent Investor, Who Could Easily Coast, Accept the Chairman Offer at a Startup?

Zhang Hong responded as follows: “That was one of the few moments in recent years when I truly felt a sense of ‘worth’—amidst the turbulent macroeconomic landscape, perceiving the ebb and flow of industry cycles and capturing the pulse of the new generation, I still have the capability”, have the courage to take this step, find new directions, discover new opportunities, acquire new knowledge, and participate in the process of shaping the future.

“Investing is Investing in the Future”: Zhang Hong on the Difference Between Professional and Retail Investors, lies in the ability to see a future that others cannot,PosteriorDecisiveBet."This requires substantial experience accumulated over one’s career, subtly shaping a keen ability to identify and understand future industry trends. Through prolonged refinement, this acuity can become an intuition and instinct.”

To understand the logic underlying instincts, we must first return to Estrella—founded in March 2022 for EUREKA Therapeutics(Eureka Therapeutics, Inc.)a controlled subsidiary, founded by Dr. Liu Cheng, a Chinese-American scientist. Estrella has expanded and deepened EUREKA Therapeutics’ gene therapy pipeline, with clinical programs in hematologic malignancies, solid tumors, and autoimmune diseases.

In terms of technological breakthroughs, Estrella possesses EUREKA’s proprietary technology platform, ARTEMIS.^®. This is a cell receptor technology platform that leverages the natural biological properties of T cells. In short, the ARTEMIS technology can “graft” antibodies onto the “scaffold” of the T cell receptor, thereby utilizing the T cell’s own signaling pathways and regulatory mechanisms to activate T cells. Based onThisTechnology, Estrella boasts multiple innovative CAR-T pipelines, significantly enhancing the safety and accessibility of T-cell therapies.

In 2022, Zhang Hong began engaging with Estrella and invested in the company in early 2023. In September 2023, Estrella went public on the Nasdaq. That same year, its lead pipeline candidate, EB103, received FDA IND approval and entered clinical trials.

She explained the rationale for choosing Estrella from three dimensions: future industry trends, innovative tracks, and critical timing.From the perspectives of macroeconomic cycles and innovation logic, Zhang Hong has selected AI & chips and biopharmaceuticals as his two key investment sectors for the future. Furthermore, he focuses on tracks with sufficiently high technical barriers and low competitor overlap, identifying companies that possess strong innovative capabilities and disruptive technological innovations.

The cell and gene therapy sector in which Estrella operates represents a foundational innovation track that has garnered significant attention in the biopharmaceutical industry in recent years. In particular, CAR-T cell therapy has demonstrated disruptive efficacy in the treatment of hematologic malignancies. Estrella’s proprietary T-cell innovation addresses the challenges associated with developing tumor-specific antigen targets, thereby holding promise for expanding the application of T-cell therapies to solid tumors and autoimmune diseases. This points to a market valued at hundreds of billions of yuan.

“Being one step ahead makes you a martyr; being half a step ahead makes you a pioneer,” Zhang Hong joked.Her investment principle is to time entry into targets at the stage where a product prototype already exists and commercialization is imminent.The long development cycles inherent in biopharmaceuticals mean that Biotech firms face longer timelines for technological breakthroughs and product trials, along with greater resource demands and higher risks. Therefore, Zhang Hong chose to enter Estrella at the juncture when its lead pipeline was about to commence first-in-human clinical trials.

In Zhang Hong’s view, Estrella’s first product entering the clinical stage signifies that its technology has been validated and is on the verge of commercialization. This necessitates initiating capital operations to address diverse market opportunities, including mergers and acquisitions and pipeline collaborations.

“At this stage, corporate development requires not only the transformation and upgrading of internal mechanisms such as R&D and operational management, but also the organic integration of these internal mechanisms with external capital markets and overall industrial resources,” said Zhang Hong.Early-stage R&D teams often prioritize technological development while lacking experience in business management and capital operations, leaving them unsure how to engage with the capital market and effectively leverage financial resources to accelerate corporate growth.This bottleneck phase is an inevitable part of a startup’s transition toward commercialization, creating an urgent need for professional investors with experience in capital markets and operational management to join the company. Their involvement will help facilitate a successful transformation, enabling the enterprise to complete this milestone metamorphosis.

This may well be the key reason behind the mutual attraction between Zhang Hong and Estrella. Twenty-five years ago, driven by curiosity about the dynamic market-oriented environment and a passion for entrepreneurship, Zhang Hong left a stable and comfortable job to join Shandong High-Tech Investment Co., Ltd. As a key figure, he played an instrumental role in the acquisition of the listed company 600783 (now Luxin Venture Capital Group, the first venture capital firm listed on China’s capital markets). Since then, he has been deeply engaged in private equity and industrial M&A. Venturing into uncharted waters and exploring emerging industries, courage and curiosity have defined Zhang Hong’s professional ethos—qualities that are equally vital for early-stage biotech companies.

With 25 years of experience in private equity and executive management, she has developed a keen sensitivity to capital operations and an “instinct” for resource integration and linkage. Zhang Hong stated,Capitalization operations require enterprises to make corresponding rational and standardized adjustments to their core operations in order to withstand the scrutiny of the capital markets and the due diligence of acquirers. “After becoming Chairman，First, IRequired"Facilitate Estrella’s transition by leveraging resource linking, integration, and matchmaking to meet the requirements of capital markets and investors."

The global pharmaceutical market in which Estrella operates can be glimpsed through the industry bellwether, the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference (JPM). Following AstraZeneca’s $1.8 billion acquisition of Cincor and Ipsen Pharma’s $950 million acquisition of Albireo, which reignited the wave of cross-border M&A in 2023, the frenzy of intensive mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and business development (BD) activities has continued through 2024 and 2025. Zhang Hong believes that,The Next 3–5 YearsThe M&A wave will continue to sweep through the global pharmaceutical industry, particularly in major markets with mature industrial chains and established M&A rationales.

“For biotech startups, steadfastly conducting R&D is akin to searching for a beam of light in the long night. The protracted journey is fraught with twists and turns and mortal perils; only a rare few survive the harshest winters to achieve breakthroughs, developing technologies that secure industry leadership. Such companies are recognized by discerning investors and stand out from the crowd. Meanwhile, startups must promptly optimize and refine their operations to meet the requirements for an IPO or for collaboration and acquisition by industry giants. This constitutes a mature M&A logic, rather than merely pursuing business development (BD) as a means of survival.”“Zhang Hong emphasized,“We must recognize that M&A and BD are inevitable paths for biotech companies, representing necessary milestones in their growth cycle; reaching this stage is no small feat.”。ToComplete this node、“Achieving transformation requires both the enterprise’s own dedication and the support of external forces; this is the value I, as an investor, can bring to companies.”

Looking back on the past 25 years, Zhang Hong has summarized his industry insights into four key points:

First, pay attention to the macroeconomic cycle, reasonably identify development trends, and act in accordance with the trend.Determine whether the cycle is ascending or descending, and whether it is at a peak or a trough, before deciding whether to climb the mountain or dive into the sea. Only by clearly seeing the path ahead can you decide which leg to move forward with. Going with the trend allows you to rise with the tide, while going against it makes every step arduous. As micro-level individuals, we lack the power to change the overarching environment; possessing even a modest degree of discernment is no small feat. In this context, choice matters more than effort.

Second, one must have sufficient patience; greatness is forged through endurance.Regardless of whether the right path was chosen, all gains are the result of prolonged hardship; never give up lightly. Moving forward means creating new problems in the process of solving existing ones, and then finding ways to resolve them. The only secret lies in perseverance—persistently applying professional expertise to professional tasks with full dedication. Do good deeds without worrying about the future. When you persist until you can no longer endure, and fail until you no longer expect success, you will suddenly look back and find that success has been there all along, in the dimly lit corner.

Third, maintain sustained curiosity and acuity toward the world, using passion as your spear and sincerity as your shield to explore the unknown.Looking back on a quarter-century investment career, she considers herself fortunate to have chosen investing as her profession. It has afforded her the opportunity to continuously explore cutting-edge fields, engage with the most dynamic industries, and interact with leading innovators, thereby maintaining sharp cognitive agility, constantly updating her knowledge framework, satisfying her curiosity, and even slowing down the aging process.

Fourth, risk control and post-investment management are profound disciplines; they are not only the cornerstone of investment but also a philosophy of conduct.Investors must first immerse themselves in the project and build a strong relationship of trust with the founders. By adopting an empathetic perspective, they should clarify their own core principles while clearly understanding the needs of the other party. Only through continuous positive interaction, mutual concessions, and checks and balances can both parties achieve a win-win outcome.

She further recalled a particularly memorable project from her time in fund management: amid a market downturn, the chairman of a portfolio company passed away, compounding internal troubles with external pressures and exacerbating an already dire situation. As the head of risk control and legal affairs at the investing institution, Zhang Hong decisively initiated litigation to secure priority in share repurchase claims, becoming the first-in-line enforcee under the effective judgment. However, the reality during the enforcement phase was that after the chairman’s death, his wife, as the heir, took over the company and faced aggressive debt collection efforts from creditors, along with significant challenges in industry development and internal management. Despite holding the advantageous position of first-priority enforcement rights, Zhang Hong and her team did not press their advantage unduly. Instead, they fully empathized with the difficulties faced by the company and the heir, actively helped resolve internal management issues, facilitated access to external resources, and worked together to navigate this extremely challenging period.

"In Zhang Hong's words, all efforts and trust are mutual."Even during such extraordinary times, the Chairwoman’s wife strived to repay a portion of the debt each month, albeit in small amounts. Many colleagues believed that full repayment was distant and that project receivables would ultimately come to nothing, but Zhang Hong persisted.“As long as the enterprise is making repayments, regardless of the amount, it demonstrates that the business remains operational and retains a genuine intention to repay; therefore, we should not readily give up.”

Seven years after the passing of its former chairman, the company weathered significant challenges, including an industry downturn and personnel turbulence. Through the concerted efforts of all parties involved, it not only survived but staged a remarkable turnaround, returning to a stable growth trajectory and ultimately repaying the outstanding balance in a single lump sum when conditions permitted.Formerly Hostile Creditor and Debtor Become Allies Fighting Side by Side, which has also become a classic case of risk control and post-investment management that is widely discussed.

Finally, we ask this question once again: a semi-retiredWhy Would an Independent Investor, Capable of Taking It Easy, Accept the Chairman Offer at a Biotech Company?

Reflecting on the past, it is precisely his unwavering commitment to post-investment management and his sincere approach to building friendships with entrepreneurs and founders that have enabled Zhang Hong to deeply participate in the operations and management of portfolio companies. By leveraging his professional expertise and risk control experience to serve these enterprises and foster their growth in the capital markets, he has earned recognition and trust.

From another perspective, Estrella is at a critical turning point in its commercialization journey, requiring further refinement of its management system to align with the expectations of capital markets and institutional investors. More urgently, this team, renowned for its scientific R&D capabilities, must rapidly establish adept resource mobilization and operational mechanisms within the capital market. This necessity has created the opportunity for the “mutual alignment” between Estrella and Zhang Hong.

In this story of mutual commitment, rational judgment serves as the main theme, yet we cannot overlook the nuanced details that flow within it. Zhang Hong highly appreciates Estrella’s simple and focused style, while her pragmatic approach to “doing professional work with diligence” aligns closely with the foundational ethos of the startup Estrella—innovation-focused and science-first.

Recalling stories from the past and reflecting on today’s changes, Zhang Hong spoke with consistent enthusiasm, her words frequently punctuated by laughter. She remarked that the best way to stay young is to spend time with younger people. According to her, investment is a profession that requires winning hearts and building friendships; women’s attentiveness and resilience are highly advantageous in this field. While rationality may be the deciding factor, emotional intelligence makes one more charismatic.

She said that we must be active participants. When we sense that the era is at a turning point, we should bravely step out, go further, and broaden our horizons to fully appreciate the world’s diversity and pluralism, thereby discovering new things. At key junctures within economic cycles, we can identify new opportunities and envision futures that others fail to see.We are not merely bystanders of the future, but active participants and creators shaping it.