Shentuo Biopharma Secures Tens of Millions in Angel Funding to Advance In Vivo Gene Therapy Pipeline

VCBeat has learned that Santo recently completed an angel round of financing amounting to tens of millions of yuan, led byTransfar CapitalLead Investor,Triwise CapitalandShanghai Kindly Medical Devices Holdings GroupJoint participation, with the headquarters established at Hangzhou Qianwan Bio-Port.

Santo is committed to building a globally leading platform for gene therapy and innovative delivery technologies. Its core team members hail from top-tier global research institutions and renowned pharmaceutical companies, combining expertise in cutting-edge biomedical technologies with extensive industry management experience. Guided by clinical translation and application, Santo focuses on developing its fifth-generation lentiviral vector (5G Vector) platform to overcome the limitations of existing vectors and provide safer and more effective delivery tools for in vivo gene therapy. Santo’s pipeline strategy targets solid tumors with urgent global demand and significant market potential, particularly nervous system tumors, aiming to fill gaps in this field. Santo has established collaborations with numerous leading domestic and international research institutions, authoritative Grade-A tertiary hospitals, CROs, and CDMOs. The company is currently conducting design, preclinical efficacy studies, and toxicology and safety assessments for multiple product candidates, with recent key investments focused on developing gene therapies for neurofibromatosis, striving to achieve first-in-class status for its innovative drugs as early as possible.

Dr. Zhou Lu, Founder of SantoStatement: We extend our sincere gratitude to Transfar Group, Triwise Capital, and Kindly Medical Group for their trust in our founding team. The successful completion of this financing round is not only the result of the concerted efforts of Santo’s core team but also owes much to the assistance and support of numerous partners, professional institutions, and industry experts. On behalf of the team, I would like to express our heartfelt thanks. We are honored to establish our presence in Hangzhou, a beautiful city that provides us with a globally leading environment for technological innovation. Gene therapy represents one of the key directions leading the future of biotechnology. Our mission is to develop safe, effective, and precisely targeted delivery technologies to fundamentally alleviate patients’ suffering at the genetic level.

Xie Enwei, Partner at Transfar Life Sciences FundStatement: Transfar Sci-Tech City focuses on the biotechnology industry, strengthening the integration of the innovation chain, industrial chain, capital chain, service chain, and talent chain. It aims to build an industrial innovation ecosystem covering the full lifecycle from R&D to commercialization, accelerating the convergence of talent, technology, and capital to create an international science and technology innovation community. The Life Science Fund primarily invests in high-tech sci-tech projects, with Cell and Gene Therapy (CGT) being a key sector for investment. Santo is a company boasting a globally leading fifth-generation lentiviral vector platform. Its delivery technology platform offers excellent scalability and can be applied across multiple therapeutic areas, demonstrating its value and significant development potential. Meanwhile, Santo’s core team has developed several first-in-class neurological tumor models that align well with drug and gene therapy R&D, fundamentally filling the gap in personalized precision models in this field. Transfar Sci-Tech City highly recognizes the strength of the Santo team and is pleased to co-invest with ecosystem fund partners, facilitating the establishment of Santo’s headquarters at Qianwan BioPort, a specialized biotechnology park built by Transfar Sci-Tech City. We will also leverage our resources and experience to support the founding team, looking forward to Santo accelerating its pipeline progress and achieving product launches as soon as possible to benefit patients both domestically and internationally.

Yu Jianjie, Investment Director at Triwise CapitalTriwise Capital stated: "Adhering to the philosophy of investing early, investing in small-scale ventures, and focusing on hard technologies within the bio-economy sector, we identify early-stage projects based on significant unmet clinical needs and engage in 'co-entrepreneurship' with industry teams. Zhou Lu’s team has conducted in-depth research on lentiviral vector technology and possesses extensive experience in industrialization. The platform they have built holds the potential for expansion into other indications, offering novel therapeutic solutions for cancer patients. We partnered with the Santo team at an early stage of the company’s development, aiming to accelerate the implementation of its innovative therapies, address unmet clinical needs, and continuously create value."

Zhang Hong, Investment Director of Shanghai Kindly Enterprise Holdings Group Co., Ltd.It was stated: “KDL has been in development for 36 years, possessing strong industry resources within the medical sector and featuring dual attributes of both industrial operations and capital investment. We have established our own production bases in cities such as Shanghai, Wenzhou, Zhuhai, and Nanning, and set up an investment platform in London, UK. We are currently positioning ourselves in new tracks of the medical industry. After in-depth discussions with Dr. Zhou Lu and his team, we believe that the carrier technology they are researching represents a future trend. This technology can not only be applied to the treatment of nervous system tumors but also give rise to therapeutic solutions for a broader range of diseases in the future. We hope to leverage our advantageous resources in the industry to support and empower the healthy development of Santo, thereby achieving symbiosis, mutual benefit, and shared growth.”

Transfar Capital has deeply cultivated the industry, placing significant emphasis on industrial chain layout and the construction of an industry-finance ecosystem. Adhering to the investment principles of “value investing,” “research-driven decision-making,” and “industry empowerment,” it aims to “empower portfolio companies, enable partner success, and lead industrial investment.” Leveraging its substantial background in real economy industries, Transfar Capital provides value-added services to portfolio companies and partners to achieve mutual growth and win-win outcomes. Its managed funds cover a comprehensive range of vehicles, including venture capital (VC) funds, private equity (PE) funds, private placement and M&A funds, and funds of funds (FOF), with assets under management exceeding RMB 10 billion.

The Transfar Life Sciences Fund, a venture capital healthcare fund under Transfar Capital, was initiated and established by Transfar Sci-Tech City Company. With an initial size of RMB 500 million, the fund is dedicated to identifying and nurturing enterprises with innovative potential. It focuses on sectors such as synthetic biology, CGT (Cell and Gene Therapy) innovative therapies and new drugs with clinical value, as well as innovative medical devices and high-value consumables, aiming to propel small and medium-sized enterprises to become industry leaders. Adhering to the EVC (Ecological Venture Capital) investment philosophy, the Transfar Life Sciences Fund collaborates with local industrial investment fund clusters to provide comprehensive coverage from seed stage, VC, and PE to strategic investments, thereby meeting the capital needs of enterprises throughout their entire lifecycle. This initiative supports Transfar Sci-Tech City in building a new international highland for biotechnology innovation characterized by the convergence of talent, technology, and capital. To date, the fund has invested in several high-potential biotechnology projects, including Lingyi Biologics, Guiyi Technology, Rongrui Technology, and Derui Zhiyao.

Shenzhen Qianhai Triwise International Capital Management Co., Ltd. (P1030072), established in October 2015, brings together seasoned industry professionals from Shenzhen Capital Group, Roche, GSK, BMS, AbbVie, AstraZeneca, and BGI Research, as well as scientific experts from renowned academic institutions both in China and abroad. Guided by the philosophy of “redirecting investment toward the real economy and leveraging capital to serve industrial development,” Triwise Capital strategically builds an industrial ecosystem, emphasizing original and value-driven investments. By connecting with industrial and technological platforms such as the Shenzhen Jiyin Institute for Biomedical Translation and the National Center for Innovation in High-Performance Medical Devices, Triwise Capital engages in “co-entrepreneurship” with industry teams, utilizing financial resources to facilitate the commercialization of scientific achievements. Triwise Capital currently maintains offices in Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, and has initiated and established nearly forty RMB and USD-denominated funds.

Representative investment cases of Triwise Capital include: Akeso (09926.HK), Yihua Pharmaceutical (688176.SH), Anole Pharmaceuticals (ANL.US), Fapon Biotech, Quanxin Biologics, InnoMicro, Ehang Biopharma, Jiashu Medical, 3D Matrix, Northcore Life, Haihe Biopharma, Saifu Pharma, HEC Pharm, and Jiayue Pharma.

Shanghai Kindly Enterprise Holdings Group Co., Ltd. leverages industrial operations to support capital activities and utilizes capital interactions to drive industrial development. By integrating industry and capital, the Company has successfully facilitated the listings of its subsidiaries on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX). Additionally, it operates an international medical industrial park and has established a medical industry fund to invest in high-quality assets. In 2006, the Company invested in the construction of an International Medical Industry Incubation Park in Zhuhai. On November 21, 2016, its controlled subsidiary, Shanghai Kindly Enterprise Development Group Co., Ltd., was successfully listed on the Main Board of the SSE. On November 8, 2019, Shanghai Kindly Medical Devices Co., Ltd. was successfully spun off and listed on the HKEX. In 2020, the Company began strategic layout in the health and elderly care sector of the broader healthcare industry. In July 2017, the Company established the “Huaige Fund,” which invests in equities related to pharmaceuticals, medical devices, medical services, contract research, manufacturing and sales organizations (CMO/CSO), and other industries associated with the broader healthcare sector. Since its inception in 2017, the fund has served as the lead investor in numerous high-quality enterprises.