Zanrong Pharma Secures $20 Million Series A+ Financing to Advance First-in-Class Oncology Drug into Clinical Trials

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) has learned that Zion Pharma, with operations in Shanghai and Suzhou, has announced the completion of its Series A+ financing round, raising nearly $20 million. The proceeds will primarily be used to advance Phase I clinical trials for the company’s core projects in both China and the United States, to complete Investigational New Drug (IND) applications and screen clinical candidate drugs for other projects, and to support the development of new projects, thereby diversifying its R&D pipeline and advancing its global clinical strategy.

This Round of FinancingCo-led by Sherpa Capital and Qiming Venture Partners, with follow-on investment from Mefang CapitalAmong them, Qiming Venture Partners and Matrix Partners China are existing investors in Zion Pharma, while Sherpa Capital is a new investor.

Zion Pharma's Historical Financing

From Zion Pharma’s historical financing activities, we can see that since the company was founded in 2018,Over the past two years, Zion Pharma has successfully completed three consecutive rounds of financing., with investment firms deeply rooted in the healthcare sector continuing to participate in follow-on financing rounds. What exactly is it about Zion Pharma that has attracted sustained attention from the capital markets? VCBeat conducted exclusive interviews with Dr. Cheng Ziqiang, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of the company, and Dr. Zhou Ding, Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer, to explore this question for our readers.

Zicheng Cheng, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Zion Pharma, holds a Ph.D. in Pharmacology (DMPK) from the University of Iowa and an M.S. in Biology from Purdue University. With nearly two decades of experience in the pharmaceutical industry focused on clinical drug development, he previously served as Director of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics (DMPK) at globally renowned pharmaceutical companies AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline.

Dr. Cheng Ziqiang, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Zion Pharma

As the Global R&D Project Lead at AstraZeneca, Cheng Ziqiang successfully guided a first-in-class project from target validation into early-stage clinical development. He also served as a core scientist in advancing an innovative therapy for lung cancer brain metastases to Phase III clinical trials. Recognized as one of the company’s top global talents, he was sponsored to study at the School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University, China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), and the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he comprehensively developed strategic and managerial capabilities beyond his scientific expertise.

Dr. Zhou Ding, Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of Zion Pharma

Zhou Ding, Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of Zion Pharma, holds a Ph.D. and a Master’s degree in Medicinal Chemistry from the Rega Institute at KU Leuven in Belgium and completed his postdoctoral research at the Center for Drug Design at the University of Minnesota in the United States. He previously served as the Head of Medicinal Chemistry for the Neurology nVPoC department at the GlaxoSmithKline China Innovation Center. With nearly 20 years of experience in drug design and development, Dr. Zhou has led multiple initiatives in lead compound selection and optimization, candidate drug screening, and preclinical evaluation. He has effectively addressed numerous challenges related to the DMPK (Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics) properties of clinical candidates, accumulating extensive expertise in the design and evaluation of blood-brain barrier penetration. Dr. Zhou has successfully designed and screened eight “first-in-class” projects that have advanced into clinical studies. Among these, Ivosidenib was approved by the U.S. FDA in 2017, and Vorasidenib is currently in Phase III clinical trials in the United States for glioma.

In addition to its founding team, Zion Pharma has assembled a group of seasoned experts from the pharmaceutical industry. The company’s Chief Medical Officer is a Chinese-American with over 25 years of clinical development experience in oncology. Prior to joining the company, she served as Senior Medical Director at Pfizer and Sanofi in the United States, and also held the position of Chief Medical Officer (CMO) at a Chinese biotechnology firm. The Senior Vice President of Business Development is a native American with more than 25 years of business development experience, having successfully completed over 50 licensing-in and out-licensing transactions.

Furthermore, Zion Pharma’s clinical and preclinical teams are composed of core professionals from renowned pharmaceutical companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, and WuXi Biologics, with each member boasting over 10 years of experience in the healthcare industry, thereby ensuring the team’s robust capabilities and execution excellence.

Having secured funding three times in two years, Zion Pharma has attracted investor interest due to its projects with clear differentiation and international competitiveness, as well as its highly capable execution team.

Dr. Cheng Ziqiang disclosed to VCBeat that Zion Pharma currently has five core pipelines, with the most advanced one having entered Phase I clinical trials in both China and the United States. Since its establishment in 2018, Zion Pharma has completed the entire process from independent design of innovative drugs to entering clinical trials within just two years. The company has maintained a steady foothold in the industry while adhering to a “small steps, fast pace” financing rhythm.

Commenting on the successful completion of this funding round, Dr. Zhou Ding provided an interpretation from the perspective of the company’s pipeline strategy: “Differentiated project initiation and addressing unmet clinical needs are the primary reasons Zion Pharma has gained capital market recognition. Our five pipelines are grounded in drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics (DMPK), focusing on drug distribution, metabolism, and absorption to identify and resolve prominent issues with existing clinical compounds, thereby ensuring differentiation in our project selection. Furthermore, investors value that the differentiated challenges our projects aim to address align precisely with the core competencies of our founding team. This alignment ensures the effective realization of such differentiation during implementation. For instance, our leading core program targets the unmet clinical need for treating brain metastases, which closely matches our extensive accumulated expertise in the design and evaluation of blood-brain barrier-penetrating compounds.”

Among the five core pipelines established by Zion Pharma, the most noteworthy is the company’s targetedBreast Cancer Brain MetastasesThe innovative drug pipeline established represents the company’s most rapidly advancing clinical portfolio. Currently, there are no standard-of-care pharmaceutical agents approved for the clinical treatment of breast cancer brain metastases; existing therapeutic options are limited to whole-brain radiotherapy or stereotactic radiosurgery, resulting in extremely short patient survival times. There is an urgent unmet clinical need for effective therapeutics that can address the strong desire for prolonged survival among patients with brain metastases from breast cancer and other primary tumors, which has served as the primary driving force behind Zion Pharma’s development of this innovative drug. The project has garnered significant enthusiasm from leading clinical experts in the field across China and the United States. Participating clinical research centers include Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Duke University, and the Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

How did this project achieve such high efficiency and execution, taking only two years from independent compound design to obtaining clinical trial approvals in both China and the United States?Dr. Cheng Ziqiang shared several key insights:

“We implement the project'sFirstThe principle is “proactive,” meaning that everything should be planned in advance and preparations made for a rainy day. Take, for example, the fact that our company was established on March 8, 2018. On the very next day after its founding, Dr. Zhou and I visited a CRO specializing in animal models. The vice president of this CRO asked when our company had been established. We replied, “Yesterday.” She then pressed further, asking whether we had any compounds and if those compounds had any in vitro data. We answered in the negative. With a look of puzzlement, she asked, “Then what are you here for?” We explained to her that by the time the animal models were ready in four to five months, we would certainly have our compounds and relevant data in hand. In our company, such examples are commonplace and too numerous to count.

SecondThe principle is to devote 95% of our time to important but non-urgent tasks in company operations and project advancement, ensuring that work proceeds in an orderly and systematic manner. This approach allows us to reserve the wisdom and energy needed to respond effectively when true emergencies arise and we are called upon to engage in critical, high-intensity efforts. For instance, during the IND application phase of our first project, which coincided with the most severe period of the pandemic in China, we carried the submission materials down the stairs on our shoulders and backs after the elevators were shut down. Fortunately, as SF Express remained operational, we were able to ship the documents to Beijing, the nation’s capital. Despite encountering force majeure, we successfully submitted the IND application on schedule.

ThirdThis success can be attributed to Dr. Zhou and me having returned to China ten years ago, which gave us an in-depth understanding of the Contract Research Organizations (CROs) involved across the pharmaceutical industry’s supply chain. We decisively adopted the VIC (Venture + IP + CRO) model, thereby enhancing both operational efficiency and project R&D productivity. In our minds, we maintain a “Dianping-style” rating system for CROs—akin to restaurant reviews—where we know each CRO’s specialties down to the specific team (“chef”) handling our projects. This approach has enabled us to secure top-tier services and foster mutual growth with our CRO partners.

FourthThis is also the most important reason: our team members are mostly former colleagues who have worked and fought alongside Dr. Zhou and me. Each one has been carefully selected, capable of doing the work of ten, and possesses exceptional ability to learn by analogy and apply knowledge flexibly. Over the past two years, we have worked together with unity and purpose, maintaining a tense yet orderly pace, following leadership’s example while collaborating seamlessly, resulting in outstanding execution. Our company operates on a high-speed rail model, unlike traditional slow trains that rely solely on the locomotive (the founder) for propulsion; instead, every employee, like each carriage of a high-speed train, has their own driving force.

Dr. Cheng Ziqiang added, “Although we are a startup, we hold ourselves to the standards of international pharmaceutical companies. As a result, our submission materials were comprehensive and gained recognition from regulatory authorities in both China and the United States, enabling us to secure approval from the NMPA in just 45 working days (compared to the usual 60 working days). The project also received clinical trial approval from the U.S. FDA at nearly the same time. Currently, clinical trials for this project are underway in both China and the United States.”

Dr. Zhou Ding expressed strong confidence in the layout and advancement of the company’s existing pipeline: “In addition to developing innovative drugs for breast cancer brain metastases, Zion Pharma designs small-molecule anticancer drugs from a differentiated perspective, aiming to address the pain points of current clinical therapies and strive for ‘best-in-class’ or ‘first-in-class’ status. Currently, the selection of the clinical candidate for our second project has been completed, and IND-enabling studies are underway. We aim to obtain clinical trial approval next year. Furthermore, three other differentiated projects are in the lead optimization stage.” He added, “Although all our projects are independently developed from scratch, after two years of careful strategic planning and dedicated efforts, significant progress has been made in our product pipeline and business operations. The company will actively pursue in-depth collaborations with multinational pharmaceutical companies.”

It is reported that Zion Pharma currently holds three international PCT patent applications. In 2019, the company participated in the China Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, where it stood out among 3,700 biopharmaceutical enterprises to secure second place nationwide in the startup category. The company has also been honored with the “Annual Investment Value Award” by the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission, as well as titles including the “Zhangjiang Innovation Vitality Award,” “Suzhou Entrepreneurial Leader,” and “Suzhou Innovation Leader.”

For the investment in Zion Pharma, the lead investorXing Cheng, Managing Partner at Sherpa Capital“It was stated that ‘Zion Pharma’s product pipeline consistently addresses challenges in drug DMPK (Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics), thereby uncovering deeper clinical value for many high-potential targets and benefiting a broader patient population. Within just two years of its establishment, the team has secured clinical trial approvals for its first product in both China and the United States. Despite the pandemic, it successfully advanced key milestones for its pipeline products according to the scheduled timeline, demonstrating exceptional efficiency. We are deeply impressed by the global differentiated innovation of Zion Pharma’s products and the team’s strong execution capabilities.’”

Co-Lead InvestorChen Kan, Executive Director of Qiming Venture Partnersstated: “Zion Pharma boasts a ‘model’ founding team with profound insights into unmet medical needs in the market. By benchmarking against top-tier international standards, the company has meticulously crafted its strategic layout while leveraging both internal and external capabilities to drive execution. Within just two years, its product pipeline has demonstrated significant differentiation and international competitiveness. We believe that Zion Pharma will continue to achieve important milestones and has the strength to expand from China to the global stage.”

Existing InvestorsLi Ming, Partner at Taifu Capital“Zion Pharma possesses a unique development platform in the field of novel small-molecule drug discovery, with products capable of addressing significant unmet needs in current clinical practice and demonstrating strong competitive potential. As a co-founding institution of Zion Pharma, Taifu Capital has witnessed throughout this journey the highly effective collaboration between Dr. Cheng Ziqiang and Dr. Zhou Ding, their exceptional project execution capabilities, and the team’s diligent efforts. We sincerely appreciate the continued support from Qiming Venture Partners and Sherpa Investments, and we look forward to working closely with the team to accelerate the market launch of our products for the benefit of patients.”

Existing InvestorsShi Yongling, Partner at Juming Venture Capital“He stated, ‘The founding team of Zion Pharma possesses highly complementary expertise, and the company has a clear strategic positioning. It focuses on developing differentiated products with global competitiveness to address unmet clinical needs. As the lead investor in Zion Pharma’s Series A financing round, Juming Venture Capital has witnessed the “China speed” with which the company advanced its first product from discovery through preclinical development into clinical trials, as well as its sustained innovative capacity in building a robust product pipeline. The company’s team has also continuously grown and matured as projects progressed from the preclinical discovery stage to the clinical stage. We believe that Zion Pharma will grow into a globally influential innovative small-molecule oncology pharmaceutical company.’”

Existing InvestorsBai Yang, Partner at Mifang Capital“He said: ‘As an angel investor in Zion Pharma, Mifang Capital has witnessed the company’s rapid growth firsthand since 2018. The company’s product pipeline was initiated from a differentiated perspective, avoiding the pursuit of popular targets and instead carving out a unique path by leveraging the team’s most extensive expertise to develop innovative drugs, which have been continuously validated in practice. Over the past two years, the Zion Pharma team has consistently exceeded my expectations. As a result, the team has continued to gain recognition from new investors, and Mifang Capital has increased its investment in Zion Pharma for three consecutive rounds. We hope that the drugs under development by the company will benefit patients as soon as possible.’”

Sherpa Capital is a dual-currency healthcare investment fund established in 2018, dedicated to professional and focused investing. The core team members have collaborated for over a decade, possessing extensive investment experience and an outstanding track record in China’s healthcare industry. Committed to serving as expert guides behind the climbers of medical technology, Sherpa Capital empowers entrepreneurs to reach the pinnacle of their careers. The Sherpa Capital team has invested in multiple industry-leading enterprises across key sectors such as life sciences, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and diagnostics, and healthcare services, often acting as one of their earliest and most significant investors.

Qiming Venture Partners was established in 2006 and has successively set up offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Suzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Seattle, Boston, and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Currently, Qiming Venture Partners manages nine U.S. dollar funds and five RMB funds, with total assets under management exceeding $5.3 billion. Since its inception, the firm has focused on investing in outstanding early-stage and growth-stage companies in sectors such as TMT and Healthcare.

To date, Qiming Venture Partners has invested in more than 350 high-growth innovative companies. Among these, over 110 have achieved exits through listings on exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), NASDAQ, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the Taipei Exchange, the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, as well as through mergers and acquisitions. More than 30 of these portfolio companies have become industry-recognized unicorns and super unicorns.

Many of Qiming Venture Partners’ portfolio companies have grown into the most influential players in their respective fields, including Xiaomi Corporation (01810.HK), Meituan Dianping (03690.HK), Bilibili (NASDAQ: BILI), Roborock Technology (688169.SH), Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals (603087.SH), Tigermed (300347.SZ), Zai Lab (NASDAQ: ZLAB), Venus Medtech (02500.HK), CanSino Biologics (06185.HK), Schrödinger (NASDAQ: SDGR), Sanyou Medical (688085.SH), Amoy Diagnostics (300685.SZ), Berry Genomics (000710.SZ), Sinocelltech (688520.SH), WeDoctor Group, and UBTECH.

Taifu Capital is a healthcare investment firm focused on early-stage Chinese biopharmaceutical and biotechnology companies with high technological barriers. It has cumulatively invested in more than 50 startups and growth-stage companies, including Zai Lab, Hua Medicine, Pharmaron, and Sanyou Medical, among others. Several of its portfolio companies have been listed on the Nasdaq, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and the STAR Market.

Juming Ventures was established in 2018 and is located within the BioBAY (Suzhou Industrial Park Biopharmaceutical Industrial Park). Since its inception, Juming Ventures has focused on investments in the life sciences sector, including innovative drugs, medical devices, and novel diagnostics. The firm is dedicated to identifying early- to mid-stage projects that address significant unmet clinical needs, feature high technological barriers, and are backed by experienced teams, striving to become one of China’s most professional venture capital firms specializing in early- to mid-stage healthcare investments.

Med-Fine Capital is a professional investment fund dedicated to the pharmaceutical, healthcare, and life sciences sectors. Its management team possesses extensive industry expertise in pharmaceuticals and healthcare, coupled with rich experience in venture capital. The fund has invested in approximately forty emerging enterprises, including Tigran Biosciences (antibody therapeutics), Hanyu Medical (cardiovascular interventional devices), Zion Pharma (novel drug R&D), TrueQuest Diagnostics (tumor sequencing), Linko Pharmaceuticals (novel drug R&D), Ansong Technology (orthopedic devices), Jiajian Medicine (genetic sequencing), Micron Bio (POCT), and Pharmaron (CRO). Adhering to the philosophy of “focusing on pharmaceuticals, healthcare, and life sciences, leveraging capital value, and rewarding trust,” Med-Fine Capital is committed to becoming an open, platform-based professional pharmaceutical investment fund with outstanding international competitiveness and far-reaching reputation.