This is perhaps the largest funding round at the end of the year.
The investment community learned that today (December 28), Anshi Biotech, an anti-tumor innovative drug company, announced the completion of the B round of financing of 1 billion yuan, which was jointly led by SDIC China Merchants and IDG Capital, followed by Yanchuang Group and Kaihui**, and the existing shareholder Bain Capital continued to make additional investment.
What few people know is that behind the company stands a group of Beijing Institute of Technology alumni founder Shi Hepeng, chief technology officer Zhang Peilong, and founding member Xue Weizhe, all graduated from Beijing Institute of Technology. Specializing in science and engineering, it was found that students from Beijing Institute of Technology appeared intensively in the venture capital circle this year, creating a sum of financing, which can be called another microcosm of the tide of science and engineering entrepreneurship.
Investment comes first, and school background is becoming one of the criteria for measuring founders. As reported by the investment community this year, the Tsinghua Department in the AI circle, the Harbin Institute of Technology Department in the robotics circle, the Central and South Department in the new energy circle, and the Beihang Department in the aerospace circle. There are many more colleges and universities coming.
Just now, he raised another 1 billion
VC PE gathered
According to public information, the career of the founder Shi Hepeng can be roughly outlined: graduated from Beijing Institute of Technology, Ph.D. in microbiology and biochemical pharmacy from Peking Union Medical College, and has more than 17 years of work experience in large pharmaceutical companies and innovative biotechnology companies.
In 2012, the era of domestic innovative drug research and development emerged. So, Shi Hepeng assembled a team, including many faces from the Beijing Institute of Technology. For example, Zhang Peilong, the company's chief technology officer, is a Ph.D. in organic chemistry at Beijing Institute of Technologyd.**One of the founding team members of Istone;Xue Weizhe, one of the founding team members of the company, is a doctor of applied chemistry from Beijing Institute of Technology.
Starting a business is not easy. During the period of the proliferation of targeted drugs in China, Shi Hepeng chose to lead the team to carry out the research and development of briitinib in the indication of glioma. Glioma is the most refractory treatment in the world and has only a few developers involved, and there is no targeted drug specifically for glioma on the market before. Until March 2021, britinib received a breakthrough designation issued by the China Food and Drug Administration.
This has attracted the attention of investors. At the end of 2021, Anshi Biotech announced the completion of a Series A financing of more than US$200 million, led by Vivo Capital, with deep participation from Bain Capital and Primavera Capital. Half a month ago, the company's first commercial product, Wanbiri buritinib enteric-coated capsules, was first supplied to the market for the first time.
The latest financing was released, Anshi Biotech won the B round of financing of 1 billion yuan in one fell swoop, which was jointly led by SDIC China Merchants and IDG Capital, followed by Yanchuang Group and Kaihui**, and the existing shareholder Bain Capital continued to make additional investment.
As a two-round investor in Anshi Biopharma, Zhu Jia, Partner and Co-Head of Private Equity Asia at Bain Capital, said, "We are very pleased to see that Anshi Biopharma has made breakthrough achievements in the field of oncology-targeted drug research and development, and has become an excellent innovative drug company in China with successful experience in the development of Class 1 innovative drugs. ”
Shi Hepeng revealed that this round of financing will help promote the commercialization of Anshi Biotech's new drug Wanbirui (beritinib enteric-coated capsules), the approval of indications such as glioma, and the research and development of other oncology drugs such as andatinib (PLB1004).
Alumni of Beijing Institute of Technology
Recently lined up to announce financing
Through Anshi Biology, another university in the venture capital circle surfaced at the Beijing Institute of Technology.
Formerly known as the Academy of Natural Sciences in Yan'an, Beijing Institute of Technology has a long history. In 1949, the school moved to BeijingIn 1952, it was named Beijing Institute of Technology, becoming the first national defense industry college in New ChinaIn 1988, it was renamed Beijing Institute of Technology, and was one of the first to enter the national "211 Project" and "985 Project", and the first to enter the "World-class University" construction university class A ranks.
There are many famous schools in Beijing, and Beijing Institute of Technology is not conspicuous in the impression of the outside world. However, as one of the seven sons of national defense, Beijing Institute of Technology has 9 disciplines and 33 first-level disciplines, all of which are doctoral degree authorization points. In the past 80 years, Beijing Institute of Technology has cultivated more than 300,000 talents for the society, including Peng Shilu, the chief designer of China's first nuclear submarine, Wang Xiaomo, the "father of China's early warning aircraft", Mao Erke, an expert in radar and information processing technology, and Duo Yingxian, the "king of Chinese guns", and more than 60 academicians. They set sail from Beijing Institute of Technology and are all over the fields of aerospace, weapons, electronics, information and other scientific and technological fields.
In the past few years, with the rise of the tide of hard technology entrepreneurship, a group of Beijing Institute of Technology students have also begun to appear in the venture capital circle.
In March this year, United Aircraft announced the completion of the delivery of 900 million yuan of financing funds. So far, the total amount of United Aircraft's Series D financing is about 2 billion yuan, and the post-investment valuation has exceeded 10 billion yuan. The investors behind it are Sichuan Regional Synergy**, Sichuan Manufacturing**, Chengdu Heavy Industry Qingyue**, Anhui Quantum**, Cornerstone Capital, Xingtou Holdings, Jinniu Urban Investment, Deyang Industrial Investment, Shifang Hengxin**, etc.
And Tian Gangyin, the helmsman of this 10 billion unicorn, graduated from Beijing Institute of Technology with a major in aircraft design and engineering.
Two months forward, also in the aerospace field, Micro-Nano Star announced the completion of nearly 400 million yuan of Series B and B+ round financing, with major investors including China Development Bank Manufacturing Transformation and Upgrading**, Yuexiu Industry**, Donghao Lansheng Ruili Investment, Haitong Innovation Investment, Qingkemu**, etc. Founded in 2017, Gao Enyu, the founder of Micro-Nano Star, is also an alumnus of Beijing Institute of Technology.
And in the medical field, the IPO of the Beijing Institute of Technology is coming. In May this year, Sanbo Brain was successfully listed on the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM), with the latest market value of nearly 10 billion yuan. The company was founded in 2003 by well-known neuromedical experts Luan Guoming, Yu Chunjiang, Shi Xiangen and senior medical management expert Zhang Yang. Among them, Zhang Yang is a 1984 alumnus of the School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering of Beijing Institute of Technology and a 1996 alumnus of the School of Management and Economics.
There is also Ye Jiasheng, director of Echo Optoelectronics, who is a 1994 alumnus of the School of Management and Economics of Beijing Institute of TechnologyTick Travel, the founder Song Zhongjie, who is queuing up for an IPO, graduated from Beijing Institute of Technology with a major in computer softwareHuo Yunfei, the founder of Runmed Medical, is also an alumnus ...... of the School of Computer Science of Beijing Institute of TechnologyAbound.
Alumni cherish each other. In July last year, Chen Liguang donated 10 million yuan to Beijing Institute of Technology on behalf of Oceanpine Capital to support his alma mater to host the 13th "Challenge Cup" Chinese College Student Entrepreneurship Plan Competition, and objectively also excavate alumni entrepreneurship projects. In 1991, Chen Liguang graduated from Beijing Institute of Technology, majoring in mechanical design and manufacturing, and received a full scholarship to study in the United States after graduation. At the end of 2017, Chen Liguang founded Oceanpine Capital, which currently manages more than 25 billion yuan.
Quietly, a new force began to rise in the venture capital circle.
VC digs projects around universities
For a long time in the past, domestic science and engineering students spent more time in the laboratory, until the tide of hard technology entrepreneurship, and the founders began to show a distinct university school.
For example, the AI Tsinghua Department, which is hot in financing this year. You may not know that almost all of this year's hot AI startups are from Tsinghua Zhipu AIEO Zhang Peng and President Wang Shaolan;Wang Xiaochuan, founder of Baichuan Intelligence;Yang Zhilin, the founder of the dark side of the moon, and Wang Huiwen, who is also a Tsinghua alumnus, jointly founded Lightyear, and was later acquired by Wang Xing, an old classmate of Tsinghua University.
Shanghai Jiaotong University is also active in the field of AI, and well-known people include Xu Li, co-founder and current CEO of SenseTime, Dai Wenyuan, 4Paradigm, and Lin Chenxi, co-founder of YITU TechnologyIn the field of autonomous driving, Sun Kai, chairman and chief scientist of Hesai Technology, and Liu Weihong, Black Sesame Intelligence, are among others. In addition, Shanghai Jiaotong University is also the cradle of many medical entrepreneurs.
In the robot circle, alumni of Beihang University and Harbin Institute of Technology each occupy half of the country. Among them, Harbin Institute of Technology, which is far away in the northeast, has always been known as the "Robot Whampoa Military Academy";As for Beihang University, more than one investor has said that if you want to find high-tech and promising scientific and technological innovation projects, you must report to Beihang regularly.
In addition, Central South University, located at the foot of Yuelu Mountain in Changsha, Hunan, is known as the "Whampoa Military Academy" of China's lithium battery industry, and a new energy army is coming out here.
The new energy vehicle circle is supported by the South China Institute of Technology and Technology. In He Xiaopeng's words, "If you are a graduate of South China University of Technology and you want to build a car, as long as you squeak in the alumni group, the seniors will already help you get the ** chain." ”
In past exchanges, many investors have mentioned that school background is an important criterion for measuring the direction of the founder. Therefore, we have seen that many investment institutions are digging projects around universities, and some institutions even reimburse tuition fees for partners to study in colleges and universities, and take a look at projects by the way.
Unlike in the past, the current wave of entrepreneurs in China are all from prestigious universities, and academic excellence and science and engineering are the most common labels. All of these are true portrayals of the entrepreneurial era of China's "technology school".