Hope Medicine completed US$56 million in Series B financing, strengthening capabilities of global innovation

Recently, the global innovative drug R&D company Hope Medicine Inc. announced the completion of a Series B financing US$56 million. This round of financing was jointly led by Qiming Venture Partners and Grand Flight Investment. HighLight Capital (HLC) co-invested with Sinovation Ventures. The Series A investor，Trust Bridge Partners，continued to subscribe. HaoYue Capital acted as the exclusive financial advisor for this round of financing.

HopeMed is a global science-driven innovative biopharmaceutical company with R&D bases and offices in Nanjing, Shanghai, and Beijing, China. The company was founded by Professor Rui-Ping Xiao, the dean of the College of Future Technology of Peking University, and an associate editor of New England Journal of Medicine. HopeMed has always followed the founding philosophy of In China, For Global, and has built an international multi-disciplinary team dedicated to global unmet medical needs with first-in-class medicines.

HopeMed focuses on the three major disease areas of women's health, endocrine, and cardiovascular diseases, and aims at the unmet medical needs, through an independent R&D as well as license-in models, to further establish and enrich our research and development pipelines.

Previously, HopeMed has signed a world-wide exclusive license agreement with Bayer AG on the development and commercialization of a human antibody (HMI-115) targeting the prolactin (PRL) receptor for the treatment of male and female pattern hair loss, endometriosis and other chronic diseases with dysregulated PRL signaling. Under the terms of the license agreement, Hope Medicine will develop and globally commercialize the novel PRL receptor antibody based on intellectual property from Bayer. At present, HMI-115 has completed phase I clinical trials in the European Union, with positive safety results. The global multi-center phase II clinical trials for androgenic alopecia and endometriosis will soon be launched.

'We have built a world-class professional team and strong global intellectual property rights to develop the best pharmaceuticals for the global market. China's innovative pharmaceutical research and development have now entered an exciting new era of 'dare to do, can do, and must do'. The diseases in women health, endocrinology, and cardiovascular fields are our primary battlefields. We will not forget our original purpose and strive for first-in-class medicines with disruptive innovation to benefit patients worldwide. Here we would like to express our sincere thanks to our new and old investors for their precious recognition and trust in HopeMed. This round of financing will provide strong support for the company's upcoming MRCT international phase II clinical studies and commercial product development.' Said Rui-Ping Xiao, Founder, and CEO of HopeMed.

Amy Tang, a venture partner with Qiming Venture Partners, said, "China's innovative drug R&D sector is maturing. As a science-driven innovative drug R&D company, Hope Medicine has formed solid cooperations with world-class scientific research and development platform, such as IMM. The company develops first-in-class drugs to target unmet clinical needs and push forward with this goal. We are honored to cooperate with the visionary company, which is also effective at execution. Qiming hopes to explore the huge R&D potential of Hope Medicine and help their pipeline to go to market as soon as possible, to benefit the patients."

Mr. Jun Yang, Managing Partner of Grand Flight Investment said that they are very optimistic about the development of China's biomedical industry and are convinced that China's domestic grown innovative pharmaceutical companies can achieve more First-in-Class innovations. The HopeMed team led by Professor Xiao has a global vision and experience and is committed to the research and development of First-in-Class innovative medicines based on a deep understanding of translational medicine. HopeMed's HMI-115 antibody has shown very significant effects in the natural NHP model, and human clinical trials have also shown positive safety results. Grand Flight is very optimistic about its follow-up clinical advancement and the expansion of more indications. HopeMed's innovative pipelines in other disease fields also enrich the company's future product layout.

'After ten years of accumulation, the research and development of innovative pharmaceuticals in China has entered the spring of rapid development. We are very excited about the development of China's medical and healthcare industry in recent years and its long-term prospects, and we are willing to accompany the growth of truly original pharmaceutical companies. HopeMed is a First-in-Class pharmaceutical research and development practice based in China and aiming at the world. Trust Bridge Partners is honored to be the founding investor and partner of HopeMed. This investment is in line with our vision to develop and provide international standard medical products for the Chinese and global markets.' Said Mr. Feng Ge, the Managing Partner of Trust Bridge Partners.

Mr. Richard Yang, Partner of Sinovation Ventures commented that HopeMed is founded on the remarkable achievements in advanced translational medicine accumulating years of domain know-how led by Professor Xiao. The company develops competitive pipelines in multiple therapeutic areas with the world's leading research and experiment platforms. Sinovation Ventures is honored to work with Professor Xiao's team, and is highly confident that HopeMed will create great commercial value and social impact.

Mr. Liu Hao, Founder and CEO of HaoYue Capital, said that 'we are honored to assist HopeMed in completing this round of financing. HopeMed has a world-class R&D team, including basic research, clinical translation, and CMC manufacturing. HopeMed always focuses on unmet clinical needs and refuses to follow others. HaoYue Capital is also committed to serving the best R&D team and the most innovative biopharmaceutical company in the world. We believe that HopeMed can provide patients with products with true clinical value.'

About Qiming Venture Partners

Founded in 2006, Qiming Venture Partners is a leading China venture capital firm with offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Suzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, S.A.R., China, Seattle, Boston, and San Francisco Bay Area. Currently, Qiming Venture Partners manages nine US Dollar funds and six RMB funds with $5.9 billion assets under management. Since its establishment, Qiming has invested in outstanding companies in the TMT and healthcare industries at the early and growth stages. Since our debut, Qiming has backed over 380 fast-growing and innovative companies. Over 130 companies are already listed on NYSE, NASDAQ, HKEx, Gretai Securities Market, Shanghai Stock Exchange, and Shenzhen Stock Exchange, or achieved exit through M&A and other means. There are also over 40 portfolio companies that have achieved unicorn status.

About Grand Flight Investment

Grand Flight Investment, founded and sponsored by Far East Horizon (HK.03360), is an emerging venture capital and private equity firm in China. Its sponsor, Far East Horizon, owns more than 70 medical institutions with about 20,000 beds. It is one of the largest hospital holding groups in China. At present, Grand Flight's investment management scale exceeds RMB 5 billion, and it has led investments in many leading medical and healthcare companies including Peijia Medical, CF Pharmtech, OrigiMed, MicroPort EP MedTech, and MedBot.

About Trustbridge Partners

Founded in 2006, Trustbridge Partners ("TBP") is a leading growth-oriented private equity firm, investing globally in leading companies that redefine industries through unique products, technologies and service models. TBP is particularly focused on leveraging secular trends in demographics and technology as well as sectors where structural change is taking place. The firm provides patient, long-term capital across healthcare, education and lifestyle industry and partners with management teams building products and services that improve lives globally.

About HighLight Capital (HLC)

HighLight Capital (HLC) is a health industry focused fund. HLC is dedicated to investing in leading life science enterprises which provide innovative products and services to advance diagnosis and treatment of diseases and to promote healthy living. With extensive experience, HLC has accumulated unique insight into health-related industries and have established a strong presence across sub-sectors such as biotechnology (innovative therapeutics, CRO/CMO etc.) medical technology (medical devices, IVD etc.) and consumer health (hospital chains, personal care, etc.).  HLC portfolio includes high quality companies and HLC wholeheartedly partner with entrusted entrepreneurs to drive long term value creation and to deliver sustainable return.

About Sinovation Ventures

Dr. Kai-Fu Lee founded Sinovation Ventures in September 2009. On its mission to nurture the next wave of Chinese high-tech entrepreneurs and companies, Sinovation Ventures is a venture capital firm headquartered in Beijing and operates in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Nanjing, and Shenzhen. With a unique "TECH VC" model combining professional teams, international networks, and in-house AI technology experts. Sinovation Ventures has become one of the leading tech VC firms in China. In September 2016, Sinovation Ventures launched its Artificial Intelligence Institute led by Dr. Lee. The A.I. Institute focuses on facilitating a more open ecosystem connecting talents, industry, academic, and research stakeholders.

About HaoYue Capital

Established in Jan 2014, HaoYue Capital is a pre-eminent healthcare investment bank, which is committed to delivering innovative solutions and fresh ideas to our clients in private placement, mergers & acquisitions, and strategic and financial advisory. With our exclusive focus on biopharmaceutical, innovative medical devices, IVD & precision medicine, healthcare service, and Telehealth, we can form a 360-degree perspective across the healthcare spectrum. HaoYue is one of China's largest teams of senior investment bankers devoted exclusively to healthcare.