Suzhou Therypharm Completes CNY 250 Million Series C Funding Round Led by Suzhou High-Tech Venture Capital and ECFund

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) has learned that in September 2020, Teray Pharmaceutical (“Teray”), a Suzhou-based “unicorn” incubatee, successfully completed its Series C financing round, raising nearly RMB 250 million. The round was co-led by SND Venture Capital and iCapital Fund. New strategic investors participating in the follow-on investment included Suchang Fund under Jinpu Investment, Yingjia and Talent Fund under Guofa Venture Capital, Taihao Capital under SND Hi-Tech, and Dunxing Venture Capital. Existing investor Legend Capital continued to increase its investment.

Teray Pharmaceutical Inc. is a benchmark enterprise in China’s specialty active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and high-end formulation sectors. With this round of financing, the company will further strengthen its product R&D pipeline, accelerate the development of drugs under investigation, and enhance its independent drug R&D capabilities.

Since its establishment in 2010, Teray Pharmaceutical Inc. has focused on the research and development, manufacturing, and sales of specialized active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and high-end formulations. The company has developed a robust product pipeline, with ongoing projects covering oncology, gastroenterology, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, peptides, and antiviral therapies. To date, seven formulation products and 14 API products have received marketing approval, and clinical trial approvals have been obtained for 11 varieties. Notably, multiple API products have passed certifications from the European Union and the U.S. FDA, demonstrating leadership in quality and technology.

Teray possesses core technologies for active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), including crystallization and purification, green synthesis, and synthesis of complex multi-chiral centers. The company has also established three advanced drug delivery technology platforms: multi-unit sustained-release pellet formulations, oral peptide formulations, and long-acting injectables. In December 2019, it was selected as one of the “2019 Suzhou Unicorn Cultivation Enterprises,” fully reflecting the government’s recognition of and expectations for the company’s future development potential.

As a national high-tech enterprise, Teray Pharmaceutical Inc. has successively undertaken two national-level projects and holds more than 40 domestic invention patents along with six granted foreign patents. Driven by R&D, the company has achieved an integrated development layout across the entire industry chain—from specialized active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) to high-end formulations—through technological and business model innovation, adhering to international high standards.

The successful commissioning of Teray Pharmaceutical’s first-phase specialty active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) production base in Shandong, with a total investment of RMB 350 million, has enabled large-scale capacity release, significantly enhancing the company’s cost efficiency and quality standards. This achievement has further solidified the dominant market position of multiple products across China and globally.

As the lead investor in this round of financing, Dr. Miao Lü, Founding Partner of Su Gaoxin Venture Capital Rongsheng Management Company, stated, “As a local investment institution in Suzhou, we have witnessed Teray’s journey over the past decade, growing from a startup into a company of considerable scale. We remain firmly confident in the company’s integrated development strategy of ‘specialty active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) + high-end formulations.’ Currently, the company’s high-end formulation products are being steadily approved, and the commissioning of its Shandong Lixin production base has resolved capacity bottlenecks, while R&D progress on high-barrier formulations is advancing rapidly. Looking ahead, against the policy backdrop of consistency evaluations and centralized volume-based procurement under the national medical insurance scheme, we believe the company will seize these opportunities to emerge as a highly competitive chemical pharmaceutical enterprise in China.”

As a co-lead investor in this round of financing, Mr. Xu Huaze, Managing Partner of Capital Healthcare Fund, stated: “What we see in Teray is not only a leading enterprise in active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) with profound technological accumulation and outstanding innovation capabilities, but also a high-end formulation company with full-industry-chain integration and global layout capabilities. Over the past decade, under the exceptional vision and courage of General Manager Chu, the company has forged ahead on the path of integrated development of ‘APIs plus formulations.’ We firmly believe that in the coming decade, the company will step onto a broader stage, leveraging the momentum of the deepening national centralized drug procurement program to stand out and achieve prominence.”

As the lead investor in the company’s previous financing round, Legend Capital has continued to increase its investment in this round. Wang Junfeng, Managing Director at Legend Capital, stated, “The company has accumulated substantial expertise in the R&D of specialized active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and differentiated formulations. Against the backdrop of China’s national centralized volume-based procurement, the company has laid a solid foundation for rapid growth over the next five years by leveraging its high-value-added specialized API portfolio and its newly built API manufacturing base in Shandong. Meanwhile, the company is actively pursuing high-barrier, differentiated formulation projects. We believe that, upon completion of this financing round, the company will emerge as an influential new-type pharmaceutical enterprise through continuous self-improvement and resource integration.”

Ms. Chu Hong, the company’s founder, also stated: “The successful completion of this financing round affirms investors’ recognition of Teray Pharmaceutical’s team and their years of dedicated efforts, providing a powerful impetus for the company’s long-accumulated strengths to flourish. Teray Pharmaceutical will continue to press forward, increasing investment in the development of specialized active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), high-end formulations, and innovative generic drugs with high technical barriers that address unmet clinical needs, thereby contributing to the development of China’s pharmaceutical industry and the advancement of global human health.”

Suzhou New District Venture Capital Group Co., Ltd. serves as the equity investment platform and the operational management institution for the government-guided funds of Suzhou Jin Hesheng Holdings Co., Ltd., a wholly state-owned financial holding group in Suzhou New District. The company has established a fund investment system covering the entire corporate lifecycle, including angel investment, venture capital (VC), private equity (PE), industrial investment, and mergers and acquisitions with private placements. To date, Suzhou New District Venture Capital has participated in 50 funds with a total scale of RMB 13.032 billion. These funds have cumulatively invested in over 500 projects, facilitated the listing of more than 40 high-tech enterprises on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, and supported numerous companies in applying for the first batch of listings on the STAR Market. Rongsheng Management Company, the market-oriented direct investment management team under Suzhou New District Venture Capital, specializes in investments within the big health sector.

CapitalOne Fund is the sole asset management platform launched by CapitalOne, China’s leading new-economy investment bank. The fund focuses on growth-stage investment opportunities in leading companies within the new economy sector, with a particular emphasis on healthcare, consumer, and TMT industries. To date, CapitalOne Fund has invested in projects such as Sanbo Brain Hospital, Panacea Medical Imaging, Arrail Dental, Freenome, and Missfresh. CapitalOne Fund currently maintains offices in Beijing and Shanghai.

Legend Capital is an independent professional venture capital firm under Legend Holdings, established in April 2001. Its core business focuses on early-stage venture capital and growth-stage expansion investments, with a strategic emphasis on TMT and innovative consumer sectors, professional services and intelligent manufacturing, healthcare, and culture and sports. The total assets under management in USD and RMB funds exceed RMB 50 billion, with a primary focus on innovation and growth opportunities in China. As of 2020, Legend Capital had invested in nearly 450 companies, among which more than 70 have successfully listed or been quoted on domestic or overseas stock exchanges, and over 60 have exited through mergers and acquisitions. Representative portfolio companies in the healthcare sector include WuXi AppTec, KingMed Diagnostics, Pharmaron, Innovent Biologics, and Mingde Biology.