SHENZHEN, China, Sept. 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Sangel Capital ("Sangel" or the "Company"), a leading biotech and healthcare venture capital company based in China, has announced that Liu Mulong, Founding Partner with the Company, has been awarded as one of China's top early-stage investors of 2021 by the acclaimed ChinaVenture Awards. The accolade recognizes the Company's position as a leader in the venture capital community, whose forward-looking investment strategy and expertise in life sciences set a strong foundation for a series of highly-promising fledgling healthcare projects to grow into ground-breaking solutions.

"Our uniquely differentiated investment strategy has enabled us to find diamonds in the rough. We are one of a small number of local institutions in China with a solid track record of discovering and investing in early-stage bio-medicine, medical technology and medical device companies. The last 12 years have seen us investing in some of the most transformative, helping them to advance and deliver their disruptive medical breakthroughs to address unmet medical challenges," said Liu.

One of Sangel's most noteworthy recent successes include its leading investment in the seed funding round of Ascentawits Pharmaceuticals, a company focused on the development of anti-tumor drugs. As early as 2016, Sangel identified the company's unique technical strengths and long-term development potential underpinned by the founder Dr. Duan Jianxin's 20-year research experience in the tumor microenvironment and his potent product strategy.

"Sangel values innovation and the drug's affordability," Liu added. "Different from macromolecules, the new small molecule drug developed by Ascentawits based on the AKR1C3-enzyme-activated prodrug platform will greatly improve patient accessibility."

"Sangel is not an IPO chaser, but rather a persevering cultivator that plows and weeds the seeds. We believe an IPO is no longer the only criteria for successful investments in Biotech, particularly, after the second half of 2021, when a large number of preclinical Biotechs experienced a fall in their share price just after listing. Sangel burrows to the core to understand the true factors that drive future growth and empower those breakthrough projects that not only demonstrate their ability to achieve commercialization but also the possibility to retain their business value over the long-term," said Liu.

Yinyi Biotech is a good example. In 2017, Sangel predicted that Yinyi Biotech's drug-eluting balloon (DEB) was disruptive innovation at the forefront of medical research with the ability to capture the new market before they were launched. Benefiting from China's volume-based procurement scheme and "winner takes all" rules, according to Frost and Sullivan, sales of the company's Bingo® coronary drug delivery system were largely booming and ranked the top-selling product of its kind in China in 2021, successfully breaking the monopoly of other imported options. "Only the real market realization ability can support continuous positive stock price performance post-IPO," added Liu. 

With long-termism embedded in its investment philosophy, Sangel has harnessed its industry know-how and market insights to help unleash the potential of numerous biotech companies which have emerged to be market winners. As the biotech sector is reaching a new inflection point, Sangel Capital is well-positioned to navigate through market uncertainties and translate high-potential early-stage innovations into next-generation medical solutions that can eventually create better returns for investors. 

About Sangel Capital

Established in 2010, headquartered in Shenzhen with offices in Beijing, Suzhou, and Chicago, Sangel Capital is one of the first healthcare-focused venture capital firms in China that focuses on investing in innovative emerging-market enterprises in the life sciences sector. Led by a broad range of expertise, including entrepreneurs, scientists, industrial professionals and advisors, Sangel is now managing a series of RMB and USD funds, with an investment approach to discover well-researched, innovative projects with a focus on market potential, capacity for original innovation and core technological assets. Sangel's investment over 70 portfolios includes Huaheng Biotech (688639.SH), Sirnaomics Ltd (2257.HK), 3D-Medicines, InnerMed, Yinyi Biotech, Ascentawits Pharmaceuticals and Magpie Pharmaceuticals.

Contact: sangel@sangelvc.com