Shenzhen NewDEL Biotech Co., Ltd. ("NewDEL Biotech"）recently announced the completion of tens of millions of yuan in Pre-A round financing. The Pre-A round financing was led by Bangqin Capital, with follow-up investments from Qirong Venture Capital (Qirong VC), Guocheng Dejun, and continued investment from the angel round investor Tongchuang Weiye. In July last year, NewDEL Biotech completed the angel round financing led by Tongchuang Weiye, with follow-up investment from Qihai Chuangfu. The main purpose of this financing is to accelerate the construction of the DEL 3.0 (DEL+AI) technology platform and the development of new drug pipelines, to meet the large number of unmet clinical needs in the field of tumor immunity and other areas, and to achieve the vision of "empowering new drug development with characteristic technology, making affordable and good drugs for the people".

Shenzhen NewDEL Biotech Co., Ltd. ("NewDEL Biotech"）was established in April 2021 and is the first biotechnology company incubated by the Guangdong Small Molecule Drug Innovation Center. Leveraging the independently developed DEL 3.0 technology platform and unique live cell screening technology, NewDEL Biotech focuses on innovative drug discovery, research and development, and industrialization targeting unmet clinical needs, striving to become a leading international biotechnology company with distinct characteristics.

The most critical technical link in the innovative drug industry chain is new drug discovery, with approximately one-third of the new drug development costs allocated to drug discovery and preclinical stages, taking about five to six years. New drug development is characterized by high investment, high risk, and long cycle. From discovering new molecular entities to the market launch of innovative drugs, a large number of compounds need to be synthesized and tested, and new technical tools become the key factors changing the current status of new drug development.

DNA Encoded Library (DEL) technology is a novel high-throughput drug screening technology that combines the advantages of combinatorial chemistry and high-throughput screening technology to efficiently identify small molecules with high affinity for target proteins, significantly improving the probability of successful drug development, reducing development costs, and shortening development cycles. The DEL 2.0 technology developed by NewDEL Biotech can be applied to cell-based screening. Compared with the previous generation of technology's biochemical models, the screening of DEL 2.0 technology does not require the expression and purification of target proteins and is closer to the real in vivo environment, expanding the range of target points available for screening and increasing the success rate of new drug screening.

With the accumulation of pharmaceutical R&D data and the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, the application of AI in new drug discovery is increasing, and its advantages are becoming more prominent. NewDEL Biotech's DEL 3.0 technology platform effectively combines DEL and AI, achieving complementarity. It can solve the problem of low-quality construction of DNA-encoded databases and address the challenge of AI technology lacking high-quality big data, thus establishing AI models that can be rapidly updated and iterated, significantly accelerating the new drug development process. Conceptual validation work of the DEL 3.0 platform has been completed, and the results have been formed into papers accepted by high-level SCI journals.

In just over a year since its establishment, NewDEL Biotech has jointly developed a new generation of targeted anti-tumor drugs with Professor Ding's team from Jinan University. It has also collaborated with Lide Pharmaceuticals and Nanjing Jingzhun to develop new drugs targeting novel targets for the development of tumor immunotherapy drugs. DEL 3.0 has screened and is to be screened for approximately 40 target points, accumulating an extremely rich pipeline, with some project data showing promising results and broad commercial prospects.

He Xun, founder and chairman of NewDEL Biotech, said, "We are grateful for the support and trust of this round of investors, Bangqin Capital, Qirong VC, Guocheng Dejun, and the existing shareholder Tongchuang Weiye, in NewDEL Biotech. This is a full recognition of NewDEL Biotech's DEL 3.0 technology platform and pipeline layout. DEL+AI is very likely to become the mainstream screening method in the field of small molecule drug discovery. The company will continue to improve the DEL 3.0 technology platform, explore DEL+PROTAC, DEL+allosteric site drug development, and other new combinations of DEL+X application scenarios, advance the pipeline under research, actively cooperate with top domestic and foreign pharmaceutical companies and institutions for long-term cooperation, use differentiated technology to build a globally leading innovative drug enterprise. With the support of this financing, we will continue to expand the R&D team, deepen the exploration of DEL 3.0 technology, layout and advance project pipelines, and achieve new milestones."

Dr. Liu Mingyu, founding partner of Bangqin Capital, said, "Bangqin Capital has been continuously focusing on the breakthroughs brought by new technologies in the field of new drug development. NewDEL Biotech is the first project led by Bangqin Capital in the field of innovative drugs. Over the past year and a half, the Bangqin project team has deeply understood the development layout of the entire industry through multiple visits and exchanges, and believes that NewDEL Biotech's business model is unique in the industry. It not only has a technical tool for new drug screening but also a platform for continuously generating original small molecule new drugs. Through the dual-track driving mode of independent research and development and joint development, it has broader development space and potential than traditional biotechnology companies."

The person in charge of Tongchuang Weiye Investment stated, "Tongchuang Weiye focuses on cutting-edge technological innovation, investing in scientific and technological innovation enterprises that meet national strategies and breakthrough key technologies. NewDEL Biotech's R&D team has accumulated experience and has created a globally leading DEL 3.0 technology platform. Based on this platform technology, we hope to cooperate with domestic and foreign pharmaceutical companies in the future, starting from Shenzhen, to serve the global new drug industry."

Wei Jiashen, Managing Director of Qirong Venture Capital, said, "NewDEL Biotech has underlying innovative technology, independently developed and jointly developed project pipelines, a full industry chain R&D team for new drug development, and a flexible business model. These factors have strengthened Qirong Venture Capital's confidence in this investment. Qirong Venture Capital will fully leverage its investment and global network resources to provide comprehensive and warm post-investment value-added services to NewDEL Biotech and advance together."

Tan Jiacheng, Executive Affairs Partner of Guocheng Dejun, said, "Enterprise is the key subject of technological innovation, realizing high-level biotechnology self-reliance. We firmly believe that NewDEL Biotech's unique live cell screening DEL technology can truly empower the development of biotechnology in China, bring about new, revolutionary leaps, truly benefit the industry and patients, improve human health, and also play a positive leading and exemplary role in promoting technological progress in the biopharmaceutical industry and consolidating the core competitiveness of the pharmaceutical industry."

About Small Molecule Center

The Small Molecule Innovation Center of Guangdong Province was approved as a provincial-level innovation center in 2018. In June 2019, the "Shenzhen Small Molecule New Drug Innovation Center Co., Ltd." was established as the operating entity. In November 2019, it was officially launched with the endorsement of provincial leaders, making it the first biopharmaceutical innovation center in Guangdong Province, including Shenzhen. Its shareholders and alliance members include listed companies in the industry, central enterprises in the pharmaceutical industry, well-known enterprises, industry associations, new research institutes, pharmaceutical investment institutions, and professional management teams. Focusing on the major needs and common key technologies of innovative development in the biopharmaceutical industry, it is dedicated to breaking through the key common technological bottlenecks of the industry chain, promoting the transformation of achievements, and building a collaborative innovation ecosystem.

About Bangqin Capital

Founded in 2016, Bonding Capital is a rapidly growing emerging fund company that focuses on investing in enterprises in the field of life and health. In less than five years since its establishment, Bonding Capital, as a fund manager, has successfully launched nearly 10 funds and invested in nearly 20 incubated enterprises, covering medical devices, in vitro diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, and medical services. The main team members of the company come from well-known medical enterprises such as Mindray Medical, Leap Medical, Haichang Group, and Sanse Pharmaceuticals. With years of immersion in the medical industry and venture capital field, they have deep professional backgrounds and rich practical experience, possessing high technical understanding and market reading abilities. At present, the brand of Bonding Capital's private fund manager has begun to have influence, obtaining investment from the Shenzhen Angel Fund, Shenzhen Pingshan Guiding Fund, and many listed companies and well-known enterprises.

About Tongchuang Weiye

Founded on June 26, 2000, Tongchuang Weiye is one of the first professional private equity investment companies in China, with 22 years of investment management experience. It manages assets exceeding 30 billion RMB, has invested in over 500 enterprises, and successfully facilitated the listing of over 100 companies. It is a leading domestic professional investment institution with a long operating history and consistently excellent returns. Tongchuang Weiye takes the industrial chain investment as its entry point, focuses on emerging industries, maintains a steady investment strategy, deeply explores hidden champions, supports innovation and entrepreneurship, and wholeheartedly serves the real economy.

About Qirong Venture Capital

Established in 2019 in Shenzhen, China, Qi Rong Chuang Tou is an important layout of TusStar Venture's "networked, clustered" development strategy, focusing on early-stage hard technology investment. It mainly invests in but is not limited to: new-generation information technology, new materials, life and health, aerospace, robotics, intelligent equipment, and the Internet. Originating from TusStar Venture, which has managed 13 rounds of technology venture capital funds, invested in over 20 funds, and accumulated a managed fund scale of 2 billion RMB, with a high proportion of investment in angel-stage technology innovation enterprises and a second-round financing rate exceeding 70%. It has long been awarded the "first echelon" and "TOP10" awards by authoritative media such as Zero2IPO, Itjuzi, 36kr, Lieyunwang, Mother Fund Union, and Science and Technology Daily.

About Guocheng Dejun

Established in 2022 under the umbrella of Guocheng Biotechnology, Guocheng Dejun arose in response to the national development plan for the bio-economy, adhering to the concept of "supporting China's original innovative biological capabilities and technologies to create a new height for China's biomedicine leading the international level." By actively investing resources and basic technology in enterprises with disruptive innovative biological technologies and platforms in the early stage, it takes "the most efficient way to transform and apply innovative biological achievements" as the core value and development principle of the enterprise. The spirit of "sincerity, truthfulness, virtue, and trustworthiness" supports and accompanies the growth of enterprises, which is the unchanged mission and purpose of Guocheng Dejun.