Shengzhe Medical Secures Tens of Millions of RMB in Pre-A Financing Led by Northern Light Venture Capital

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) has learned that Shanghai Saints Sages Surgical Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Saints Sages Surgical”) has completed a Pre-A financing round worth tens of millions of yuan, led by Northern Light Venture Capital and followed by Longpan Investment. The funds raised in this round will be primarily used for product research and development, clinical trials, and investment in manufacturing hardware.

Saints Sages Surgical was established in Zhangjiang, Shanghai, in December 2017. The company is primarily engaged in the research and development, manufacturing, and sales of minimally invasive surgical energy devices. It operates a modern, tens-of-thousands-square-meter Class 100,000 cleanroom production facility in Shanghai. Reportedly, Saints Sages Surgical completed its angel financing round worth tens of millions of yuan in 2018, led by Volcanic Stone Capital and participated by Honghui Capital.

The core team of Saints Sages Surgical comprises overseas-educated PhDs, executives from renowned multinational corporations, senior engineers from leading global enterprises, and elites from China’s medical industry. Dedicated to the research and development of innovative surgical energy products, the company focuses on characteristics such as “minimally invasive treatment,” “high technological barriers,” and “high added value.” Guided by the mission to “improve patients’ postoperative recovery and enhance their quality of life,” and driven by clinical needs, technological innovation, and product quality, Saints Sages Surgical provides safe and effective minimally invasive surgical solutions for healthcare professionals in departments including gastrointestinal surgery, hepatobiliary surgery, gynecology, urology, glandular surgery, and thoracic surgery. The company holds a complete portfolio of core intellectual property rights in these related fields.

Minimally invasive energy-based devices, hailed as a milestone in the history of surgery for their advantages of minimal trauma, reduced pain, and rapid recovery, are recognized as one of the three mainstream trends in 21st-century medical development. From George Kelling’s successful development of the first laparoscope in Germany in 1901, to physiologist William Bovie’s invention of the high-frequency electrosurgical unit in 1920, to British urologist John Wickham’s coinage of the term “Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS)” in 1983, and into the current era of “endoscopy plus robotics” since 2006, minimally invasive energy surgery has remained in a period of vigorous growth. A wider variety of energy modalities, including radiofrequency, ultrasound, plasma, and laser, have been extensively applied in minimally invasive surgical procedures. By integrating mechanical performance, energy-based devices have significantly enhanced surgical efficiency, safety, and reliability in modern minimally invasive surgery, while also reducing postoperative complications and shortening the learning curve for these procedures.

In the field of surgical instruments, the global market size has exceeded $20 billion, with the United States accounting for approximately 30% of the market share. As a rapidly developing country, China holds only an 8% market share. However, with the rapid increase in the adoption rate of minimally invasive procedures in recent years, energy-based surgical instruments have significant growth potential in China.

The company’s lead pipeline product, the SanAgile (SA01) ultrasonic cutting and hemostasis system, has successfully enrolled patients in clinical trials, receiving positive feedback: key performance indicators, including intraoperative handling smoothness, coagulation efficacy, and surgical smoke generation, are comparable to or even surpass those of mainstream products currently in use. The SA02 is scheduled to enter type testing by the end of the year. Other pipeline products, such as the advanced energy platform Futura, are currently under development.

Regarding this round of financing, Hu Zhe, founder of Saints Sages Surgical, stated: “Product quality is the core of our company. For R&D, systematic testing is the only way to verify product reliability and provides confidence for the subsequent transition from development to mass production. To this end, we have entered into a multi-year strategic cooperation agreement with NAMSA China, leveraging its systematic animal testing data to provide a reliable basis for our product development. In terms of production line planning, we have made significant investments in inspection equipment covering the entire process—from incoming raw material inspection to final product inspection—to ensure product reliability and stability. It is difficult for traditional medical industry players to achieve overtaking on the curve at the front end of their business models; only through accumulation at the back end can enterprises establish their core competitive strengths.”

As the lead investor in this round, Mr. Deng Feng, Founder of Northern Light Venture Capital, stated, “In recent years, advanced energy-based surgical devices have continued to expand their domestic penetration rate under the new market environment. The team at Saints Sages Surgical has focused on this field for several years, possessing successful product development experience and a rich product pipeline. Their products comprehensively benchmark against international brands, with some achieving international leadership. We believe this collaboration will accelerate the company’s launch of innovative products to the market, address clinical pain points, and benefit more patients.”

Yu Zhihua, founder of Longpan Investment, stated: “The barriers to entry in the medical device industry are primarily reflected in two aspects: product (R&D and manufacturing processes) and market strategy. For domestic startups to break through in a high-growth market dominated by international brands, both elements are indispensable. We believe that Saints Sages Surgical possesses these two critical components, particularly given its team’s profound understanding of the underlying product technologies, independent R&D capabilities in both hardware and algorithms, and strong sustainable innovation capacity. We are confident that Saints Sages Surgical can deliver stable, reliable, ‘Made in China’ solutions that rival imported products in clinical settings.”

Northern Light Venture Capital was founded by Mr. Deng Feng in 2005. As a venture capital firm dedicated to “empowering world-class Chinese entrepreneurs and cultivating world-class Chinese enterprises,” it currently manages five U.S. dollar funds and five RMB funds, with a long-term focus on investing in early-stage, technology-driven innovative companies. To date, Northern Light Venture Capital has invested in over 300 companies across the TMT, advanced technology, and healthcare sectors, including nearly 60 investments in the healthcare sector. These portfolio companies include BGI Genomics, Burning Rock Biotech, Guoke Hengtai, Taimei Medical Technology, Eastern Speech, Zeltex Pharmaceuticals, and Belief Biosciences, among others.

Longpan Investment, headquartered in Beijing, is a leading RMB-denominated venture capital firm focused on investment opportunities in China’s biopharmaceutical sector. The firm currently manages three funds with a total assets under management (AUM) of several billion RMB. Its investment stages span from early-stage startups to early-mid stage, growth stage, and mature companies. The fund focuses on technologically advanced biopharmaceutical enterprises, with key market segments including innovative chemical drugs, innovative biologics, and innovative medical devices.

Longpan Investment has invested in more than 30 innovative drug companies and over 10 innovative medical device companies. The marketed Class 1 new chemical drugs from its portfolio account for approximately half of all such products currently marketed by domestic pharmaceutical companies that have not yet launched their own products. In 2018, Longpan’s portfolio included six New Drug Applications (NDAs) in China, representing nearly 50% of the total NDAs submitted by domestic pharmaceutical companies during the same period. Longpan Investment is committed to providing comprehensive value-added services urgently needed by its portfolio companies specializing in innovative drugs and medical devices.