Chengdu Zenitar Biomedical Technology, a Chinese late clinical-stage biotech company, has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) on the main board of the Hong Kong stock exchange after the completion of its Series C funding round at 600 million yuan ($86.1 million).
Temasek’s wholly-owned asset management firm True Light Capital and Qiming Venture Partners jointly led the Series C round, Zenitar announced in a WeChat post earlier this week.
Tencent Investment, Lanchi Ventures, C&D Emerging Industry Equity Investment, and Shanghai Sci-Tech Innovation Centre Capital participated, along with existing shareholders including 5Y Capital, Huajin Capital, Guosheng Capital, and Sichuan Science and Technology Innovation Investment Group, according to the post.
Chengdu-based Zenitar plans to invest the new financing primarily in the clinical development of two of its most advanced product candidates, expansion of its R&D pipeline, and upgrade of its tech platforms, said the company.
The completion of its Series C round came right before Zenitar officially filed for a Hong Kong IPO on January 13, with Jefferies and CICC acting as the co-sponsors.
Founded in 2019 and led by Dr Lijuan Chen, Zenitar is a late clinical-stage biotech company that integrates structural biology, artificial intelligence (AI), and clinically relevant disease models to develop highly differentiated small-molecule therapies with first-in-class or best-in-class potential.
With a pipeline of eight proprietary assets, the company aims to address substantial unmet medical needs across hematology/oncology, central nervous system (CNS), and immunology & inflammatory diseases. Its pipeline includes two core products that have entered the Phase 3 registrational clinical-trial stage, including flonoltinib maleate (FM) for the treatment of myelofibrosis, and purinostat mesylate (PM) for the treatment of relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, according to its prospectus.
Zenitar is pursuing the Hong Kong IPO under the city’s listing rules that allow high-potential biotech and specialised tech companies to go public even before they generate revenue.
As it invested heavily in the pre-clinical and clinical development of drug candidates, Zenitar saw its losses widen to cross 119 million yuan ($17.1 million) in the first nine months of 2025, almost doubling from a loss of 61.5 million yuan in the same period a year ago, according to its prospectus.
For the first nine months of 2024 and 2025, it recorded R&D expenses of 61.9 million yuan and 70.3 million yuan ($10.1 million), respectively.
Going forward, Zenitar said in the prospectus that it may seek collaborative opportunities on the clinical development and commercialisation of its drug candidates to better capture global market opportunities through “out-licensing, co-development, co-commercialisation or other strategic collaborations”.
