Chenchen Pharma Secures Over RMB 100 Million in Series A Funding Amid Market Downturn to Accelerate High-Quality Product Development and Capacity Expansion

Recently,Hunan Chenchen Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd. Announces Completion of Over RMB 100 Million in Series A Financing, Led by YuanBio Venture Capital with Participation from SUNZ FUND and Jinyu Maowu Investment ManagementHunan Chenchen Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd. has announced the completion of its Series A financing round, raising over RMB 100 million. The round was led by YuanBio Venture Capital, with participation from SUNZ FUND and Jinyu Maowu Investment Management. The proceeds will be used to accelerate the research and development of high-quality products and expand production capacity, ensuring sustained product competitiveness and core technological advantages amidst increasingly intense future competition.As the capital winter sets in, why has Chenchen Pharma garnered favor from renowned investment firms and secured investments totaling over 100 million yuan?

Chenchen Pharma officially commenced operations in April 2020. With over a decade of experience in drug R&D, the founding team pursued their vision by selling their homes to launch the venture, collectively raising tens of millions in startup capital and embarking on their entrepreneurial journey in the biopharmaceutical sector with unwavering determination.

Although Chenchen Pharma encountered numerous adverse factors at its inception, including the outbreak of the pandemic and a downturn in the pharmaceutical industry, which posed significant challenges to business operations, the company achieved leapfrog development within three years by relying on an excellent team and a unique market positioning. Chenchen Pharma’s initial business was pharmaceutical CRO services. To enhance its market competitiveness,Adopted a differentiated development strategy. Relying on an excellent technical team to select pharmaceutical companies during the R&D processHigh-Difficulty, Chokepoint Single-Item R&D Is ChallengingTitle as the entry point, leveraging its robust technical capabilities, it has continuously resolved one “intractable case” after another for its clients, rapidly earning an excellent reputation in the industry and forming“The Industry Impression of ‘Turn to Chenchen for Tough Problems’”, rapidly gaining a firm foothold in the fiercely competitive CRO industry.

While steadily advancing its CRO business, Chenchen Pharma is also actively exploring new ventures to seek a second growth curve. Leveraging its high-caliber pharmaceutical R&D team and state-of-the-art equipment, the company aims to address quality pain points in complex raw materials by focusing on the development of high-quality upstream biopharmaceutical raw materials.. The scope of business has expanded from high-level technical services to the development of high-quality products, forming a dual-core structure comprising biopharmaceutical CRO services and high-quality upstream raw materials.The current product pipeline has expanded to include upstream raw materials for biopharmaceuticals and in vitro diagnostics, as well as life science reagents.We have established a comprehensive product portfolio encompassing GLP-1 drug side chains, monodisperse PEG linkers, GalNAc and solid-phase carrier linkers for oligonucleotide delivery, ultra-high-purity nucleotide raw materials (including mRNA cap analogs, NTPs, dNTPs, etc.), and biofluorescent dye reagents.

Chenchen Pharmaceutical firmly believes that "high-purity raw materials yield high-quality products." The quality of its various products has comprehensively surpassed industry bottlenecks, setting new benchmarks for quality leadership. Meanwhile, innovations in production processes have further reduced costs.

While expanding its business operations, Chenchen Pharma is also actively increasing its investment in fixed assets and strengthening its team building. Without external financial support, Chenchen Pharma has purchased within three years of its establishmentBuilding 1, R&D Building, and addedR&D instruments and equipment worth hundreds of millions of yuan, including 600 MHz and 400 MHz NMR spectrometers (equipped with cryogenic and solid-state probes), Thermo Orbitrap Fusion tribrid ultra-high-resolution mass spectrometer, two Thermo Q Exactive mass spectrometers, TripleTOF high-resolution mass spectrometer, 12 conventional mass spectrometers, over 50 HPLC systems, and 30 preparative HPLC systems. Chenchen PharmaEstablished four high-level technology platforms: chemical synthesis, chemical analysis, chemical separation, and biotechnology., while a 50-mu GMP-compliant manufacturing facility is under accelerated construction, aiming to fully leverage the technological advantages of deep interdisciplinary integration and establish technical barriers for its products.The R&D team has grown from an initial 20 members to over 170, with core researchers hailing from renowned pharmaceutical companies and prestigious institutions such as Stanford University and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. The team and its platform infrastructure are steadily maturing.

Against the backdrop of the current global capital winter, Chenchen Pharma’s successful financing further underscores investors’ strong recognition of the company’s team and innovative capabilities, as well as their consensus optimism regarding its future prospects.This successful fundraising will further strengthen Chenchen Pharma’s financial position, providing more favorable resources for its operational development and helping it achieve greater accomplishments in biopharmaceutical technological innovation and upstream raw material development. Adhering to the philosophy of “pursuing excellence through technological innovation,” Chenchen Pharma is committed to becoming a leader in high-quality products and services within the biopharmaceutical industry.

Dr. Lin Yi, Managing Partner of YuanBio Venture CapitalIt is noted that China’s upstream core raw materials for the biopharmaceutical industry have long relied on imported brands, with domestic substitution becoming an inevitable trend in recent years. Dr. Liu Bo leads the core team at Chenchen Pharma, with whom he has worked closely for many years, fostering strong synergy. The team possesses extensive expertise in the synthesis, separation, analysis, and identification of small-molecule compounds. Starting with CRO services, they have supported the clinical registration and filing of multiple generic drugs. Meanwhile, the company has applied these capabilities to the R&D and production of upstream core raw materials for biopharmaceuticals and in vitro diagnostics, successfully developing products such as peptide drug side chains, nucleic acid drug raw materials, fluorescent dyes, and monodisperse PEG linkers, which have gained widespread customer recognition. YuanBio Venture Capital remains firmly optimistic about the development prospects of China’s biopharmaceutical industry. Based on Chenchen Pharma’s execution and R&D technical capabilities, YuanBio Venture Capital will leverage its own resources to help the company expand into domestic and international markets, aiming to establish Chenchen Pharma as a platform enterprise for upstream core raw materials in the global biopharmaceutical industry.

Dr. Xia Jiazhi, Partner at SUNZ FUNDIt was stated that Chenchen Pharma has demonstrated impressive professionalism and strength in the biopharmaceutical sector, particularly with its outstanding advantages in analytical and separation technology platforms. These capabilities provide robust quality research support for the development of high-quality products and offer “precise navigation” for process development, thereby enhancing development efficiency. Notably, its GLP-1 drug side-chain products have achieved industry-leading standards in both quality and cost, with comprehensive and meticulous quality research efforts drawing particular acclaim. Chenchen Pharma’s focus on product quality and breakthroughs in core technologies will secure it a competitive advantage that is difficult to replicate.

Li Hongsen, Partner at Jinyu Maowu Investment ManagementJinyu Maowu’s healthcare team has long focused on investments in the upstream supply chain of the medical and pharmaceutical industries. As an emerging star within the industry, Chenchen Pharma demonstrates exceptional chemical capabilities, particularly in addressing complex chemical challenges in biopharmaceuticals, such as high-difficulty linkers, peptide side-chain modifications, and raw materials for nucleic acid drugs. Dr. Liu’s team further distinguishes itself through strong execution and operational capabilities, with a particular emphasis on cash flow and profitability. Since its inception, the company has maintained robust cash flow and growth momentum, which is especially valuable in the current market environment.

YuanBio Venture Capital is an investment firm focused on early-stage and growth-stage healthcare companies. Based in Suzhou BioBAY, it has a global reach. To date, YuanBio has invested in over 180 outstanding life sciences and healthcare enterprises, covering four key sectors: novel drug development, medical devices, in vitro diagnostics and precision medicine, and healthcare services. The firm has achieved substantial investment returns, with 19 of its portfolio companies listed on capital markets such as the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the STAR Market. YuanBio Venture Capital has been repeatedly recognized as one of the Top 10 venture capital funds in China’s healthcare sector and as one of the most active healthcare investment institutions in China. By bringing together seasoned professional investors and a world-class team of scientific advisors, YuanBio possesses extensive experience in entrepreneurship, venture capital, and corporate operations within the biopharmaceutical industry and beyond. Leveraging its professionalism, focus, and rich industry resources, YuanBio is committed to becoming one of the most successful healthcare venture capital funds in China.

Sunz Venture Capital, established in 2008, serves as a council member of the Venture Capital Professional Committee under the China Investment Association and a council member of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce’s Pharmaceutical Chamber of Commerce. It also holds the position of vice-president unit at the Guangdong Venture Capital Promotion Association and the Hunan Equity Investment Association. The company focuses on investing in forward-looking industries such as healthcare, environmental cleanliness, and technological innovation, covering multiple stages including start-up, growth, and expansion phases. It has built a comprehensive investment operation and management ecosystem and has been recognized as one of the Top 50 Best Venture Capital Funds in China, one of the Top 30 Best Investment Institutions in the Greater Health Sector in China, and one of the Top 10 Most Influential Private Equity Firms in Hunan Province.

The healthcare, pharmaceutical, and broader health industry is one of Jinyu Maowu’s core investment focuses. Its healthcare and pharmaceutical team has been recognized as an “Outstanding Venture Capital Team in Jiangsu Province” by the Jiangsu Provincial Development and Reform Commission for consecutive years. Key investment areas include: medical consumer products (including medical aesthetics, functional skincare, consumer-grade medical devices and pharmaceuticals, and functional foods); the pharmaceutical R&D supply chain (including CXO, life sciences support services, and the pharmaceutical industrial chain); and innovative medical devices (including IVD and high-value innovative devices). The firm also invests in early-stage projects in digital health (such as healthcare IT and AI-assisted diagnostics) as well as novel drugs and new therapeutic technologies.