Shanghai's 153 Professor-Founded Startups Attract Staggering 6.8 Billion Yuan Despite Potential Lack of Investment in Professors

The wave of professor-led entrepreneurship is receding. Investors now place greater emphasis on industrialization experience, team composition, technological innovation, and determination to start a business.

Recently, several investors have stated that they will no longer invest in startup projects led by professors. On the contrary, data released in the "2024 Shanghai Science and Technology Achievement Transformation White Paper" shows that in 2024, 153 companies were founded independently by Shanghai researchers, and the total financing attracted by relevant enterprises exceeded 6.8 billion yuan. It's not just Shanghai researchers; a large number of companies founded by researchers across the country are also accelerating their financing and developing steadily. The investment enthusiasm has cooled down, but the transformation of scientific research achievements continues to thrive. Under such a contradictory situation, what kind of trend will startups led by professors present? Why are investors "backing off" from professor - led startups? What kind of scientific research transformation projects can gain investors' recognition and successfully cross the "valley of death" in entrepreneurship? < h2 > The founding team, the first factor investors focus on < / h2 > The value of the saying "Investing is investing in people" is still increasing. The core reason some investors state for not investing in professor - led startups is that the professors they invested in failed in entrepreneurship due to personal factors: some professors wavered midway through the startup process and chose to return to universities to focus on academic research; some started businesses part - time, regarding teaching as their main occupation and being absent during critical periods of enterprise development such as financing and negotiation, thus delaying the project progress; some focused solely on technological innovation, ignoring the marketization logic and the actual industrial competition, making it difficult to meet the requirements for commercial implementation. However, this is not an inherent problem of the professor or researcher group. In 2021, investors flocked to universities to "scout for professors" and encouraged them to start businesses. Many projects were established under passive promotion. In this situation, the failure of startup projects is closely related to the original intention of "forced entrepreneurship." Moreover, entrepreneurship is originally a high - risk venture with a very low success rate, and only a very small number of enterprises can truly cross the "valley of death" in entrepreneurship. Although many researchers have failed in entrepreneurship, there are still a large number of medical enterprises founded by researchers in the market that have continuously completed financing and performed outstandingly. According to incomplete statistics from Arterial Network, in 2025 alone, more than a dozen medical enterprises founded by Shanghai researchers (professors) completed financing: companies such as Atek, Boquan Biotech, Xueji Biotech, Boda Medical, Niantong Intelligence, and Tianjia Biotech all completed a new round of financing in 2025. < img data - img - size - val="" src="https://img.36krcdn.com/hsossms/20251112/v2_1865fef1a611414da229926d5d7066dd@000000_oswg83930oswg839oswg1293_img_000?x - oss - process=image/format,jpg/interlace,1" > (Incomplete statistics from Arterial Network on startup projects of researchers who completed financing) Similar to the common problems among professors who failed in entrepreneurship, the founders and core teams of these enterprises founded by professors that have obtained financing also present distinct common characteristics. First, founders with entrepreneurial experience or experience in scientific research achievement transformation are more likely to gain investors' recognition. For example, Dr. Zhu Fangfang, the founder of Xueji Biotech, once worked at the well - known venture capital institution WI Harper Group, responsible for investments in the medical and health field. She not only invested in many early - stage startup companies but also was in charge of their post - investment management. Dr. Zhu Fangfang said, "Through this window, I closely observed the success and failure of many startup companies and learned industrialization experience from them." In 2020, Dr. Zhu Fangfang was employed as an associate professor at the School of Biomedical Engineering of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and founded Xueji Biotech in 2021. It is the third company in the world and the first in China in the field of platelet regeneration cell therapy, dedicated to generating platelets through in vitro induction of stem cells, which may trigger the second transfusion revolution. Guided by Dr. Zhu Fangfang's industrialization experience, Xueji Biotech has laid out in multiple diseases and fields such as blood transfusion, oncology, platelet diseases, sports medicine, medical aesthetics, and anti - aging. With foreseeable market opportunities, technological maturity, and future growth performance, the financing of Xueji Biotech came "naturally": from 2021 to 2025, it completed five rounds of financing, backed by star investment institutions such as Yuanhe Holdings, CMBC International, Northern Light Venture Capital, CDH Investments, and Sequoia China. As of now, the New Drug Clinical Trial Application (IND) of Xueji Biotech's "Megakaryocyte Injection" has been approved by the China CDE and the US FDA, and its global first platelet - related cell new drug XJ - MK - 002 and the global first platelet injection cell new drug XJ - PLT - 001 have both been granted two orphan drug designations by the FDA. Among them, XJ - MK - 002 has completed the first administration. It's not just Dr. Zhu Fangfang. Dr. Yang Xiaobao, the founder of Biaoxin Biotech, and Dr. Xu Fei, the founder of Jikang Biotech, also had industrialization experience before starting their businesses. For example, Dr. Yang Xiaobao accumulated five years of marketization experience at pharmaceutical companies such as GlaxoSmithKline Shanghai R & D Center and Shanghai Dongyue Pharmaceutical; Dr. Xu Fei participated in founding the GPCR macromolecule pharmaceutical company Ruiyi Biotech in 2011. Relying on the industrial experience and resource accumulation of the founders over the years, Biaoxin Biotech has continuously completed three rounds of financing; although Jikang Biotech has not obtained financing, it has reached a pre - clinical pipeline strategic cooperation agreement with the US listed company BioAge: BioAge has obtained the exclusive option to license Jikang Biotech's novel APJ agonist antibody, and Jikang Biotech has received upfront payments and R & D funds, and is eligible for option exercise fees and further development, regulatory, and sales milestone payments and royalty fees. Industry analyst Zhang Yang said, "Compared with scientific research entrepreneurs without industrial experience, these entrepreneurs have a deeper understanding of the market and commercialization and are more flexible in dealing with difficulties. This is also one of the important reasons why these founders are more recognized by investors." Second, a founding team jointly formed by top scientists and senior industry professionals is more likely to attract investors' attention. For example, the core teams of enterprises such as Boquan Biotech, Dage Biotech, Shaonao Technology, Kunyuan Biotech, Zhengxu Biotech, and Zhuanma Biotech, which have completed multiple rounds of financing, are all configured in this way. < img data - img - size - val="" src="https://img.36krcdn.com/hsossms/20251112/v2_a10d1ba173114d038078fe7524c241d4@000000_oswg219831oswg1021oswg781_img_000?x - oss - process=image/format,jpg/interlace,1" > (The founding team situation of some enterprises founded by professors) Among them, Professor Chen Jia, the founder of Zhengxu Biotech, is a professor at ShanghaiTech University and the director of the Gene Editing Center. He focuses on research in the fields of base editing, DNA repair mechanism, and cancer biology, and many of his research results have been published in internationally renowned academic journals such as Nature Biotechnology and Nature Cell Biology. Although he is the founder, Professor Chen Jia mainly focuses on laboratory research, and the company management is entrusted to a professional team. The management team of Zhengxu Biotech includes industry veterans such as Dr. Mu Xiaodun and Dr. Li Bin. As the CEO of Zhengxu Biotech, Dr. Mu Xiaodun has served as a senior executive in well - known pharmaceutical companies such as WuXi Biologics, Merck & Co. (USA), and Pfizer (USA), with nearly 20 years of industrial experience; Dr. Li Bin has worked in multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Roche, Pfizer, Abbott, AbbVie, and Eli Lilly, with more than 30 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, covering areas such as drug R & D, business development, and venture capital. Driven by the founder's technological breakthroughs and the professional team, Zhengxu Biotech has completed three rounds of financing and has sufficient funds; its business development is also extremely smooth: its first pipeline, CS - 101, has enabled many β - thalassemia patients to get rid of blood transfusion dependence and is in the IND clinical trial stage; the first patient treated with the base editing drug CS - 121 injection has completed the administration and been discharged from the hospital smoothly. This is the world's first case of treating hyperlipidemia patients through targeted base editing of the APOC3 gene. In the investment field, the combination of "scientist + senior industry professional + capital" is considered the top configuration and is more favored by investment institutions. This is the experience summarized by investors over the years: not every scientist is suitable for entrepreneurship. Scientists mainly engage in creative work, while industry professionals pay more attention to the practicality of innovative technology transformation and can help scientists analyze the market, complete clinical challenges, integrate resources, and operate the enterprise. Previously, a management team without a pharmaceutical industry background was established based on a professor's scientific research results, dedicated to the "original innovation" of new drugs for Alzheimer's disease. However, perhaps due to insufficient understanding of the particularity of the pharmaceutical industry, the progress of its pipelines was relatively slow, and the multi - pipeline layout required a large amount of capital to promote. The enterprise failed to obtain investment from investment institutions. As the cash flow dried up, the company gradually fell into a state of inactivity. This negative example also proves the value of senior industry professionals. It should be noted that in China, it is not easy to form a combination of "scientist + senior industry professional." The main reason is that entrepreneurial partners are scarce resources, and most of these talents already hold high positions and receive high salaries in the industry. It is extremely difficult to persuade them to endure the hardships of entrepreneurship again. In addition, it also involves a series of tests such as project attractiveness, equity distribution, and team structure. Third, top scientists with extremely strong innovation capabilities and globally original scientific research results are also more likely to be favored by investment institutions. For example, enterprises such as Atek, Boquan Biotech, and Xunyao Biotech have obtained multiple rounds of financing based on their globally original results. Taking Atek as an example, it is a globally original new - generation protein degradation new drug R & D innovation platform. Its core technology comes from the protein autophagy degradation technology (ATTEC) published by Fudan University in the main issue of "Nature" in 2019, which was rated as one of the top ten papers in the world that year by the magazine. Benefiting from its globally original technology, Atek reached a cooperation with a global pharmaceutical giant at its inception. Its product pipeline for neurodegenerative diseases developed based on the ATTEC protein degradation new drug R & D technology platform has been recognized by the pharmaceutical company, demonstrating its global competitiveness in original innovation. At the same time, Atek has also reserved multiple in - house product pipelines with independent intellectual property rights in the fields of neurodegenerative diseases and oncology. Currently, Atek has advanced its globally competitive projects to the PCC (Pre - Clinical Candidate) screening stage. Its first pipeline, ATCN1001, has shown good target degradation efficiency in in vivo verification and is expected to become a breakthrough innovative therapy in the field of Parkinson's disease. Perhaps based on technological breakthroughs and clinical progress, Atek completed tens of millions of yuan in Series A financing in August 2025, jointly invested by Shanghai Industrial Investment and Sanfu Fund. The funds will be used to promote the drug development and pre - clinical research of molecular glue targeting neurodegenerative disease - causing protein degraders based on the ATTEC technology. Fourth, professor entrepreneurs with the courage to go all out are more likely to impress investors. In the past, many investors suffered losses because professors lacked the intention to start a business: some professors started businesses with the mentality of "if it doesn't succeed, I'll go back to school and continue to be a professor." However, entrepreneurs with a way out are often more likely to give up when facing difficulties and setbacks. Learning from past experiences, investors now expect professors who take the initiative to start businesses and have a genuine intention to do so. Boda Medical, which recently obtained financing, is a typical example. In 2022, Xu Kailiang founded Boda Medical based on the technology transfer achievements of Fudan University, focusing on core technologies such as ultrafast ultrasound imaging and super - resolution ultrasound imaging. At the beginning of its establishment, Xu Kailiang gave countless roadshows and met with a large number of investors, and the feedback he received was that "professors won't succeed if they don't start businesses full - time." Facing such doubts, Xu Kailiang chose to bet on his academic achievements and personal assets and demonstrated his determination to start a business through terms in a gambling agreement. Perhaps impressed by Xu Kailiang's perseverance and courage, Feitu Ventures invested in Boda Medical at a valuation of nearly 100 million yuan. Boda Medical's development did not disappoint investors: under Xu Kailiang's full promotion, the first domestically developed functional ultrasound imaging system independently developed by Boda Medical was launched for sale in December 2023; it jointly developed an ultrafast ultrasound cerebrovascular imager with Huashan Hospital, a leading medical institution in the field of neurosurgery, and supported clinical research related to human brain ultrasound imaging. Perhaps due to the rapid development of Boda Medical, it obtained a new round of financing again in July 2025, invested by Gaochuang Capital under the Haijian Group. Overall, after the baptism of the previous wave of scientific research achievement transformation, investment institutions have "learned from their mistakes" and no longer blindly believe in the halo of professors. Instead, they focus more on the hard background strength and entrepreneurial mentality of the founders and founding teams. < h2 > In entrepreneurship, talent is important, and opportunities are also important < / h2 > In the capital market, in addition to the founding team, industry opportunities are also very important. Some entrepreneurs happen to encounter the trough period of the industry. Even with innovative technologies, they delay the development speed of their enterprises due to difficulties in financing; some happen to catch the wave of a rising industry, are pursued by capital, and continuously complete multiple rounds of financing, accelerating the development of their enterprises. Taking the Targeted Protein Degradation (TPD) field as an example , enterprises such as Dage Biotech, Atek, Biaoxin Biotech, Danwang Medical, Duoyu Biotech, and Ruifuxin, which have laid out in the TPD field, have all successfully obtained financing in the past two years and rapidly promoted their relevant pipelines with the support of funds. In the past, the key to developing small - molecule drugs was to find protein targets. However, there are about 19,000 kinds of proteins in the human body, and the vast majority of them are undruggable targets. According to the "Human Protein Atlas," there are currently 5,068 known disease - related proteins. Among them, about 700 protein targets are used in approved small - molecule drugs, about 1,200 are potential druggable targets, and more than 3,000 proteins are called "undruggable" targets. TPD can effectively degrade those disease - causing proteins that are difficult to target by traditional small - molecule therapies, providing a new way to develop drugs for undruggable targets. Currently, there are multiple technical strategies to achieve targeted protein degradation, among which molecular glue and PROTAC are in the leading position. Based on the innovation and bright prospects of this technology, multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Biogen, Novartis, Pfizer, BMS, Roche, Merck & Co., Eli Lilly, Sanofi, and Bayer have all laid out in this field through BD transactions or self - built pipelines. Relevant investment institutions also pay high attention to enterprises in the TPD field. Therefore, enterprises related to molecular glue and PROTAC have been frequently financing and having active BD activities in the past two years. With the influx of a large amount of capital, domestic enterprises in the TPD field have made rapid progress. For example, the molecular glue pipeline GT919 developed by Biaoxin Biotech has entered the systematic combination therapy

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Not investing in professors? 153 professor-founded startups in Shanghai have attracted a staggering 6.8 billion yuan.