HuaKong Fund Awarded '2023 Future Healthcare 100: Pengcheng Award' for Top Exit and IPO Performance

On May 6, the 7th Future Healthcare 100 Conference, co-hosted by VCBeat, VB100, and Eggshell Research Institute under the theme “No Boundaries,” was grandly held, during which the “Future Healthcare Top 100 List” was officially unveiled. Relying on its outstanding investment performance in the biotechnology sector, Huakong Fund was honored with the “Future Healthcare Top 100 · Pengcheng Award” for Annual Exit and IPO Investment Institution.

Following its recognition as an Emerging Investment Firm in the previous year, Huakong has broken through the ranks of numerous professional pharmaceutical investment institutions with remarkable momentum after a year of development, securing the 2023 Award for Exit and IPO Investment Firm. This achievement serves as testament to the fact that Huakong’s strategic investments in biotechnology have gained preliminary recognition from industry professionals.

The “Top 100 Future Healthcare Companies” list, anchored by a valuation model centered on corporate valuation, is finalized through a rigorous process encompassing company applications, institutional nominations, expert reviews, and cross-verification. It has become an authoritative and objective evaluation standard and system for China’s health and medical innovation industry, and is currently the most closely watched annual selection in the life and health sector by both industry and investment communities.

Over the past seven years, the “Top 100 Future Healthcare Companies” ranking system has been continuously enriched, gradually evolving into a global innovation healthcare ecosystem ranking that serves enterprises, investment institutions, hospitals, and industrial parks. To date, 161 rankings/awards have been released, featuring a cumulative total of 2,964 listed companies. The combined valuation of companies listed in 2022 reached RMB 1,452.986 billion. Among these, the “Pengcheng Award” evaluates investment institutions, enterprises, and industrial parks within the healthcare sector, with a particular focus on assessing candidates’ annual performance and breakthroughs during the review period.

Annual Exit and IPO PerformanceThe evaluation of participating institutions focuses on the exit and initial public offering (IPO) performance of their portfolio companies during the review year. Institutions are required to submit annual data on exits and IPOs as specified. The assessment criteria include fundraising and fund management capabilities, investment performance, and annual exit and IPO activities in the healthcare sector. Huakong Fund adheres to industry cyclical patterns, employing a top-down approach to identify high-growth subsectors and strategically invest in leading enterprises or those poised to become leaders within these niches. Across multiple subsectors—including gene editing, cell therapy, small-molecule targeted drugs, immunotherapy, medical devices, and healthcare services—the fund has successfully invested in numerous outstanding companies characterized by high-value products and significant technological barriers.

Among them, Allgens Medical (688613), the leading Chinese enterprise in biomimetic artificial bone materials; Junshi Biosciences (688180), the first company to gain approval for a domestically produced PD-1 inhibitor; Aim Vaccine (06660), China’s second-largest vaccine R&D and manufacturing enterprise; Sirnaomics (02257.HK), the domestic leader in small nucleic acid therapeutics; and Shengzhao Pharmaceutical (832586), a leading domestic company specializing in long-acting sustained-release and targeted formulations such as microsphere preparations and liposomes, have all successfully gone public, with some investors achieving successful exits accompanied by substantial returns.

Despite a slowdown in growth last year due to the pandemic and other factors, Huakong’s biotechnology portfolio companies still delivered reassuring results, with exit proceeds accounting for nearly 80% of the total investment amount in that year alone. In addition to already-listed companies, Huakong Fund’s biotechnology investments include Sinovate, a leading domestic developer of innovative chemical drugs; Bendao Gene, a pioneer in gene therapy R&D with proprietary delivery technologies; NeuroXess, a global leader in the development and manufacturing of brain–computer interface products; Saifu Pharma, a prominent domestic enterprise providing one-stop CRO services centered on preclinical safety assessment for innovative therapies and large-molecule drugs; and Huaxia Yingtai, a leading developer of fourth-generation TCR-T cell immunotherapies globally. These companies continue to achieve technological innovations and breakthroughs in their respective fields, driving industry advancement.

As the biotechnology era evolves into the life sciences and technology era, more technologies such as AI are being integrated into the biological industry. Drug types are gradually shifting from small molecules and antibodies to living cells and organs. More original scientific and technological innovations are moving toward clinical translation, and the development of life sciences and technology will enhance the health standards and well-being of all humanity.

In the next phase, China’s innovative drug industry will enter the 2.0 era, gradually shifting from a previous follow-on strategy to one of original innovation. China’s capital markets will also become more receptive to investment logic characterized by high risk and high reward. This new era demands outstanding companies that can truly address unmet clinical needs and establish robust commercial closed loops. Committed to its mission of promoting technological innovation and its responsibility to advance human health, Huakong Fund will spare no effort in continuously investing in entrepreneurs who develop breakthrough products to combat diseases and improve human well-being, thereby empowering Chinese biotechnology enterprises to flourish with unstoppable momentum on the global stage.