A China-based venture capital investor manages seven USD funds with limited partners from prestigious academic institutions and hospital systems in the United States. The firm is capable of investing at any stage, from seed to pre-IPO. While the firm manages USD funds, it is rooted in China and is particularly interested in opportunities with a China angle or involving Asian founders.
The firm has previously invested at the intersection of AI and healthcare, such as AI-driven drug discovery, diagnostics, and imaging, but has broadened its scope to include therapeutics. The firm is particularly interested in novel modalities, including drug conjugates, radiopharmaceuticals, and cell and gene therapies. The firm is open to various indications, prioritizing those with considerable market potential, such as oncology, immunology, CNS, pain management, and kidney diseases. In terms of development phases, the firm prefers companies from IND to clinical phases but is willing to consider companies in the PCC phase at the earliest.
The firm prefers companies with strong management teams, particularly those with industry experience in pharma or biotech.
If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email salescore@lifesciencenation.com.
The firm is a venture capital investor headquartered in the US. The firm is currently investing from its third fund and allocates half of its capital into life science investments. The firm invests in Seed and Series A stages, with a typical check size of $1 million and up to $3 million in total after follow-on investments. The firm invests in four to five new companies each year and focuses on opportunities within the United States.
The firm invests primarily in therapeutics and is also open to medical devices, molecular-based diagnostics, and digital health. The firm is indication- and modality-agnostic.
The firm has no specific management team requirements.
If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email salescore@lifesciencenation.com.
A venture capital investor makes equity investments ranging from a few hundred thousand dollars to $3 million, with additional capital reserved for follow-on rounds. The firm is seeking companies located throughout the United States and plans to make two to three new investments over the next 9–12 months. The firm invests in both seed-stage and later-stage companies.
The firm is interested in companies developing medical devices and diagnostics, healthcare IT products, and life science research tools, with an emphasis on fast-to-market, low-capital-intensity products that reduce the cost of delivering quality healthcare. The firm is open to all sub-sectors and indications in the medical technology space, except for those targeting diseases and disorders of the spine.
The firm seeks companies with skilled and experienced management teams. The firm generally takes a board seat after investment and plays an active role in the management. The firm is willing to invest in both public and privately held companies.
If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email salescore@lifesciencenation.com.
This venture capital firm invests in pre-seed to seed stage opportunities with initial check sizes ranging from $500k to $1M and maintains reserves for follow-on capital. While the firm prefers to lead deals, it is open to syndication. Investment geography spans both Europe and the United States.
The investment team has a deep technical background in software, artificial intelligence, and algorithms. Within life sciences and healthcare, the firm is focused on techbio, synthetic biology, computational biology, chemistry & materials.
The firm is also open to hardware (e.g., diagnostics or medical devices) that enable novel data modalities, digital health, and therapeutic platforms.
However, the firm does not invest in traditional therapeutic assets and is indication-agnostic. Opportunities can be considered as early as the pre-prototype stage, provided there is a roadmap toward intellectual property or patent protection.
There are no strict team or company prerequisites, though the firm has a preference for technical founders with strong scientific grounding. The firm may take a board or observer seat depending on the opportunity.
If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email salescore@lifesciencenation.com.
China’s productivity nearly matches the output of the US and places Europe in a distant third.
A couple of weeks ago, Bloomberg also summarized deal data showing how the share of global licensing by Chinese biotech companies has jumped over the past two years.
Licenses involving Chinese biotechs, as shown by share of upfront cash in licensing deals involving at least one foreign buyer. Data as of June 18, 2025. Calculation includes companies with headquarters in mainland China and Hong Kong. Source: Bloomberg/Dealforma
Judging by a report listing 16 ‘high-value’ currently unlicensed assets from China being hawked by longtime Phalanx Investment Partners analyst David Maris, there is more licensing to come.
In this context, we read with interest a recent Science Immunology paper describing a monoclonal antibody (mAb) program targeting a novel phagocytic checkpoint under development at yet another Chinese biotech: MedimScience, founded in Hangzhou City in 2021. MedimScience is one of a growing cadre of companies, including LTZ Therapeutics, Dren Bio, Chengdu Kanghong, Antengene and ImmuneOnco, looking to develop novel myeloid cell engagers/phagocytic checkpoint inhibitors.
Phagocytic checkpoint inhibitors are drugs that circumvent the molecular cloaks that tumors throw around themselves to avoid uptake and destruction by myeloid cells, such as macrophages, monocytes, and neutrophils. The strategy first came to the fore through pioneering work on the ‘don’t eat me’ signal CD47, work carried out by Ravi Majeti and Irv Weissman at Stanford. Results from their preclinical studies spurred the launch of startup Forty Seven (subsequently acquired in 2020 by Gilead) and the first-in-class anti-CD47 IgG4 magrolimabprogram.Phase 1b trial results of magrolimab combined with azacitidine in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients were so impressive that, by 2022, more than 20 different companies had anti-CD47 programs in clinical development. This blew up spectacularly when early trials failed to be reproduced in larger efficacy trials of combinations — failure that was largely attributed to intolerability/anemia issues related to the target, slow action/early disease progression, and a failure to account for patient heterogeneity with regard to P53 mutation status. But the strategy is compelling and the hunt for new phagocytic checkpoints has continued with new antibody formats seeking to avoid these pitfalls.
Now, Cheng Zhong and his colleagues at MedimScience report the identification of a new evasion actor — PSGL-1 — that suppresses macrophage-mediated phagocytosis in a variety of hematological malignancies. PSGL-1, which was previously known largely for its role in cell adhesion, is highly expressed in various hematologic cancers, including AML, T-acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) and multiple myeloma (MM).
PSGL-1 transcript expression in various cancers. Source: Human Protein Atlas
Moreover, high PSGL-1 expression has been found to correlate with poor patient survival in AML, T-ALL and MM.
PSGL-1 expression and patient survival. (A) Correlation analysis of PSGL-1 expression with survival of patients with AML (n = 957); (B) Correlation analysis of PSGL-1 expression with survival of patients with MM (n = 559). (C) PSGL-1 expression quantified by flow cytometry among patients with B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL; n = 33), AML (n = 41), T-ALL (n = 32), and MM (n = 29). Source:Science Immunology
Using several mouse models, the researchers found that tumors lacking PSGL-1 show slower progression, increased macrophage infiltration, and higher rates of phagocytosis by macrophages, effects that were independent of T cells or dendritic cells.
Mechanistically, the team found that PSGL-1 disrupts the interaction between the cell-adhesion molecule ICAM-1 on tumor cells and the integrin LFA-1 (CD11a/CD18) on macrophages. And when they tested Novartis’ lifitegrast, an inhibitor of ICAM-1/LFA-1 binding, they found this largely abrogates the phagocytosis of PSGL-1 knockout tumor cells, confirming PSGL1’s role in impairing prophagocytic signaling and cytoskeletal reorganization required for effective tumor-cell engulfment.
The authors went on to develop a humanized mAb against PSGL-1 and show its ability to induce phagocytosis of human tumor cells in vitro and to reduce tumor burden in mouse models of AML, T-ALL, and MM. The antibody showed a good safety profile in non-human primates with no significant toxicity at high doses. Additionally, PSGL-1 blockade synergized with chemotherapy (doxorubicin) and antibody-based therapies (anti-CD47 and anti-CD38), further underscoring the translational potential of this strategy, particularly in treatment-resistant settings.
This venture capital fund was established by a group of high-net-worth individuals in China and maintains operations in the US and China. The firm is actively seeking global investment opportunities, with a primary focus on China and the United States. Opportunities based in Canada, Germany, and Switzerland may also be considered.
The firm invests from seed and early stages through growth, with flexibility on check size for early-stage deals. For growth-stage companies, the firm typically invests $1-5M in equity in businesses with valuations up to $18-20M. Investments at earlier stages may take the form of equity or convertible notes. Thanks to an evergreen fund structure, the firm is able to take a long-term investment approach. It usually syndicates investments and seeks to partner with local co-investors, particularly for overseas deals.
The firm targets high-growth sectors, including medical devices, diagnostics (e.g., portable imaging, high-intensity ultrasound, point-of-care, molecular diagnostics), digital health (particularly connected devices, telemedicine, and patient-physician platforms relevant to the Chinese market), and consumer products, especially OTC products, nutritional and dietary supplements with proven efficacy and existing market presence.
The firm is indication-agnostic and prioritizes serial entrepreneurs and complete, well-rounded founding teams. It relies on local co-investors to play supervisory roles in international ventures.
If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email salescore@lifesciencenation.com.
An investment firm headquartered in China invests in both fund-of-funds and direct equity opportunities. Life sciences and healthcare represent one of its primary focus areas, though the firm maintains a multi-sector approach. Its investment sweet spot begins at the pre-A stage and extends through to pre-IPO. While the firm primarily targets opportunities within China, it is open to global companies, particularly those seeking a soft landing in China or with a strong China angle. The firm is flexible on deal structure and is open to both leading investments and co-investments.
Within the healthcare and life sciences sector, the firm is especially interested in biotech therapeutics and medtech. On the therapeutics side, it is open to a range of modalities (excluding mRNA) and indications, with particular interest in areas such as central nervous system (CNS) disorders and oncology. On the medical device side, the firm prioritizes innovative technologies, including invasive solutions, imaging platforms, and brain-computer interfaces. It does not invest in non-innovative categories such as consumables.
The firm does not maintain strict requirements regarding the background of founding teams, though it has a strong preference for companies that are interested in expanding into Shanghai or the broader Chinese market.
If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email salescore@lifesciencenation.com.
The firm is focused on therapeutics companies and does not invest in medical devices, diagnostics, or digital health. The firm is open to considering assets of very early stages, even those as early as lead optimization phase. The firm considers various modalities, including antibodies, small molecules, and cell therapy. Currently, the firm is not interested in gene therapy. Indication-wise, the firm is most interested in oncology and autoimmune diseases but has recently looked at fibrotic diseases and certain rare diseases as well.
The firm is opportunistic across all subsectors of healthcare. Within MedTech, the firm is most interested in medical devices, artificial intelligence, robotics, and mobile health. The firm is seeking post-prototype innovations that are FDA cleared or are close to receiving clearance. Within therapeutics, the firm is interested in therapeutics for large disease markets such as oncology, neurology, and metabolic diseases. The firm is open to all modalities with a special interest in immunotherapy and cell therapy.
A strategic investment firm of a large global pharmaceutical makes investments ranging from $5 million to $30 million, acting either as a sole investor or within a syndicate. The firm is open to considering therapeutic opportunities globally, but only if the company is pursuing a market opportunity in the USA and is in dialogue with the US FDA.
The firm is currently looking for new investment opportunities in enterprise software, medical devices, and the healthcare IT space. The firm will invest in 510k devices and healthcare IT companies, and it is very opportunistic in terms of indications. In the past, the firm was active in medical device companies developing dental devices, endovascular innovation devices, and women’s health devices.
A venture capital firm founded in 2005 has multiple offices throughout Asia, New York, and San Diego. The firm has closed its fifth fund in 2017 and is currently raising a sixth fund, which the firm is targeting to be the largest fund to date. The firm continues to actively seek investment opportunities across a […]
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