Suzhou Meichuang Medical Secures Nearly RMB 100 Million Series A Funding to Advance ePTFE-Based Interventional Devices

On June 8, 2023, Suzhou Meichuang Medical Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Suzhou Meichuang”) officially announced the completion of its Series A financing round, amounting to nearly RMB 100 million. This round of financing was led byQingsong CapitalLead investor,Lanhu Capital, Sequoia China, Hanchi CapitalCo-investment,RuiLing CapitalServe as the exclusive financial advisor.

The funds raised will support Suzhou Meichuang’s innovative R&D of interventional and implantable medical devices in the fields of peripheral vascular, tumor intervention, and vascular access, and leverage its self-produced medical-grade ePTFE material platform to break through the current bottleneck of reliance on overseas materials.

Liu Wenjing, Founder of Suzhou Meichuang MedicalStatement: We extend our deepest gratitude to Qingsong Capital, Lanhu Capital, Sequoia China, and Hanchi Capital for their recognition and strong support. Such endorsement is particularly rare and precious amid the current capital winter. Suzhou Meichuang is a startup dedicated to procedural development and device innovation built upon its core ePTFE material platform. Guided by the mission to address unmet clinical needs, we are delighted to welcome these investors to our team as we strive to better serve patients and clinicians alike.

Shao Kan, Project Leader at Qingsong CapitalStatement: We are delighted to have the opportunity to participate in Suzhou Meichuang’s Series A financing. Qingsong Capital has always been committed to grounding its investments in industry fundamentals, actively seeking potential industry leaders with platform capabilities and global reach. The founding team of Suzhou Meichuang comprises seasoned industry veterans with profound product intuition and extensive channel resources in the fields of peripheral vascular disease, tumor intervention, and vascular access. By building a cross-border technical team spanning China and the United States, they have achieved breakthroughs in the “chokepoint” area of medical-grade implantable ePTFE. We are eager to support the company’s continuous growth and help develop more high-quality products that benefit patients.

She Zhichao, Project Lead at Lanhu CapitalStated: "We are delighted to participate in this round of financing for Suzhou Meichuang. Lanhu Capital remains committed to addressing the significant unmet clinical needs in China and seeks out enterprises with capabilities for source innovation. The Suzhou Meichuang team boasts extensive entrepreneurial experience and a forward-looking international perspective on innovation. Its core products are globally leading in terms of design philosophy and R&D progress, achieving breakthroughs in medical-grade implantable ePTFE materials. We look forward to the company’s continued innovative development and the early realization of its vision to 'develop new interventional procedures and innovative devices based on the core ePTFE material platform,' thereby providing patients with solutions that offer superior efficacy and accessibility."

Chen Xuanze, Vice President of Sequoia ChinaStatement: The Suzhou Meichuang team possesses many years of R&D and sales experience in the medical device sector, with its capabilities fully validated across multiple dimensions, including execution, resource allocation, and industry insight. The company has simultaneously advanced multiple core product lines in the fields of vascular intervention and oncology intervention. We are also optimistic about the company’s in-house R&D capabilities for ePTFE base materials and look forward to the Meichuang team achieving early domestic production of medical implant-grade ePTFE to better meet patient needs.

Tao Yu, Project Lead at Hanchi CapitalStatement: We are delighted to participate in this round of financing for Suzhou Meichuang. Hanchi Capital is committed to identifying companies that address critical clinical needs and overcome key technological bottlenecks in the industry. Suzhou Meichuang possesses strong R&D and commercialization capabilities, and its team demonstrates exceptional execution. We believe that medical-grade implantable ePTFE materials involve significant technical complexity and offer broad application prospects. Hanchi Capital will continue to provide strategic support and accompany the company throughout its growth journey.

Suzhou Meichuang was established in February 2021 at Medpark in the Suzhou New District, focusing on the innovative R&D, manufacturing, and commercialization of interventional and implantable medical devices in the fields of peripheral vascular disease, tumor intervention, and vascular access. The Suzhou headquarters features a 5,400 m² area dedicated to R&D, manufacturing, and administrative offices, while a 1,300 m² R&D center has been established in Shanghai, and an Innovation Technology Center has been set up in Southern California, USA. In May 2023, Suzhou Meichuang commenced construction of its second phase Class 10,000 cleanroom facility, which will be primarily used for the production of medical-grade implantable ePTFE tubes and membranes, as well as covered medical device products. Suzhou Meichuang has assembled a robust cross-border technical team spanning China and the United States, committed to achieving domestic substitution and self-sufficiency in medical-grade implantable ePTFE. Meanwhile, covered stent series products with international intellectual property rights and dialysis artificial blood vessels are under concurrent development.

Expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) features a unique microporous structure that allows human tissue cells and blood vessels to grow into its pores, forming tissue integration that closely resembles autologous tissue. Furthermore, due to its non-toxic, non-allergenic, and non-carcinogenic properties, ePTFE is widely used in medical devices, instruments, and tissue fillers. Compared to other applications, implant-grade medical ePTFE must exhibit exceptional biocompatibility to prevent rejection by the host organism. It demands extremely high standards for pore size uniformity and porosity within its multi-porous structure, creating significant technical barriers to manufacturing. The supply of implant-grade medical ePTFE materials is monopolized by only two foreign companies, resulting in high costs and long lead times, which severely constrain the research and development of coated medical implant products in China.