Setting Off in Spring: 7 Early-Stage Companies Raise Over 800 Million | FreeS Family Funding News · Vol 14
Looking forward to working with more outstanding founders.
"FreeS Family Funding News" is a regular column where we share funding updates from FreeS Fund portfolio companies. In addition to new investments, we also cover follow-on rounds for companies we've previously backed. Together, we witness each step of the journey from 0 to 1, 1 to 10, and 10 to 100.
Quick highlights from this issue:
- Consumer & TMT: Methuselah (玛士撒拉) raised tens of millions of RMB in a Series A round, with FreeS Fund as the sole investor; Glowe, a FreeS Series A portfolio company, raised tens of millions of RMB in a Series A+ round led by FreeS Fund.
- Hard & Soft Tech: Zhangtao Technology (掌淘科技) raised tens of millions of RMB in a Pre-A round, with FreeS Fund as the sole investor; Tekan Technology (特看科技) raised tens of millions of RMB in an angel round led by FreeS Fund; Xinyi Information Technology (芯翼信息), a FreeS angel-round portfolio company, completed a 300 million RMB Series C round.
- Biopharma: Bluepha, a FreeS angel-round portfolio company, completed a Series B4 round of over 400 million RMB; Hesheng Technology (合生科技), a FreeS Pre-A portfolio company, completed a Series A round with continued investment from FreeS Fund.
(This summary covers publicly disclosed funding news from the beginning of the year through March, sorted by announcement date.)
Methuselah (Shanghai) Biotech Co., Ltd. ("Methuselah"), a company focused on developing medical nutrition foods, has completed a Series A round of tens of millions of RMB, with FreeS Fund as the sole investor.
/ From the Investors /
As China's population ages, the largest baby boom cohort in history is entering the high-incidence age range for metabolic chronic diseases and cancer. Using medical nutrition for more effective prevention and management of these long-cycle diseases will become a widespread need. Additionally, public awareness of nutrition has strengthened since the pandemic. We believe that health food brands grounded in medical nutrition will see a broader incremental market.
As one of the earliest brands in the industry to focus on medical nutrition, Methuselah has developed a comprehensive product line spanning foods for special medical purposes (FSMP), low-GI foods, and energy-controlled weight management products — a combination that is extremely rare in the industry. CEO Tang and the team have deep roots in this sector. We firmly believe in Methuselah's potential to become a leading medical nutrition brand, and we look forward to the team's future exploration at the intersection of healthcare and food.
Innovation in consumer goods, whether in categories or products, has entered a stage that resonates with China's current industrial development — one where technological innovation and brands with professional credentials matter. We've seen this with the rise of domestic skincare brand Winona and various fast-growing professional sports brands at home and abroad. We hope and believe that Methuselah can become a brand representing professionalism and technological innovation on the massive food track.
/ Company Profile /
Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Shanghai Zhangjiang International Medical Park, Methuselah aims to pioneer the development of China's FSMP industry. "Methuselah" was the grandfather of Noah (who built the ark) and, according to Western classics, the longest-lived person in history at 969 years old. The significance of this name is self-evident. The company currently offers four product lines: First, FSMP products including Youkangli and Youyili; second, nutrition-fortified foods, primarily the Yusu series for surgical patients and those with specific diseases; third, DGI foods for diabetic patients, such as DGI biscuits, meal replacement bars, black oat flakes, konjac strips, and fiber tea; and fourth, energy-controlled foods including biscuits, noodles, and meal replacement porridge for weight loss and weight-conscious consumers. The product formats span seven types: powder, liquid, biscuits, food bars, noodles, baked goods, and konjac products.
(See full coverage: [36Kr] Focused on developing medical nutrition foods, "Methuselah" raises tens of millions of RMB in Series A from FreeS Fund)
▲ Image source: Tekan Technology
Quanzhou Tekan Technology Co., Ltd. ("Tekan Technology") has completed an angel round of tens of millions of RMB, led by FreeS Fund with Jiancheng Capital participating.
/ From the Investors /
Video is a medium that humans are deeply familiar with and accustomed to. Looking at the current state of global content social media, advertising, and e-commerce industries, an increasing amount of content is being driven by short videos and live streaming. "Video First" is becoming a new trend, and China is at the forefront globally. Tekan Technology's core team previously worked at Alibaba's content platform as seasoned product and R&D experts who understand both e-commerce and content, with deep product accumulation and high technical density. We believe that with the support of next-generation intelligent technologies like generative AI, Tekan Technology will not only serve domestic short video and live streaming merchants, but also has the opportunity to be among the first to bring China's latest product, technology, and business model innovations to the world, serving industries across the board.
/ Company Profile /
Tekan Technology was founded in June 2022. Founder and CEO Wu Chunsong (alias: Lecheng) is a former senior product expert at Alibaba, where he led the Alibaba Intelligent Design Lab and built the AI design platform "Luban." He later headed Taobao's content tools business and incubated the merchant short video tool "Qinpai" App. Co-founder and CTO Chen Binghui is a former senior technical expert at Alibaba, where he served as technical lead for UC Browser's kernel and for video production and playback technology in Taobao's content platform. The core team has years of experience in generative AI and B2B video/live streaming tools, combined with deep expertise in e-commerce. The team is building a SaaS content tool for global e-commerce merchants, and has already launched Tabcut.com, an overseas e-commerce data analytics and AI video generation tool, and "Zhubobao," a digital human live streaming tool.
(See full coverage: [36Kr Exclusive] With tens of millions in angel funding, "Tekan Technology" builds an AI + data-powered video production SaaS platform)
Zhangtao Network Technology (Jiangsu) Co., Ltd. ("Zhangtao Technology") has raised tens of millions of RMB in a Pre-A round, with FreeS Fund as the sole investor.
/ From the Investors /
One necessary condition for China's transformation from a manufacturing giant to a manufacturing powerhouse is enabling the broad blue-collar workforce to advance into the middle class, pushing the income distribution structure further toward an "olive shape" and avoiding the talent mobility trap of a "dual labor market." Ultimately, this establishes a "new demographic dividend" centered on skilled talent. This is also the core reason behind the government's continuous rollout of vocational education policies in recent years. Seizing this opportunity in the blue-collar services sector, Zhangtao Technology has gone deep into vocational skills schools, choosing internship management — a rigid demand — as the entry point to connect skilled talent with enterprises. Zhangtao Technology has built an internship management platform with leading market share among domestic vocational skills schools, demonstrating strong customer acquisition and operational capabilities, as well as unique advantages and potential in blue-collar recruitment. We are optimistic about Zhangtao Technology's future development and look forward to its "Gongxueyun · Moguding" platform growing into a leading brand for internship management, recruitment services, and talent development in the blue-collar employment space.
/ Company Profile /
Zhangtao Technology was founded in Shanghai in 2015. That year saw a wave of startups in blue-collar recruitment SaaS, but at the time, blue-collar job seekers mainly relied on offline agencies and personal referrals. Online job-seeking habits had not yet developed, and most platforms faced commercialization difficulties. In 2017, the company quickly pivoted, using "vocational school internship management" as its entry point to launch the "Gongxueyun" platform, providing vocational schools with internship management and employment services to help improve administrative standards, teaching quality, and employment rates. CEO Zou Ling previously founded the business social networking site "Ruolin" and the youth-oriented entertainment social app "Youjia." Zou notes that the core pain point for blue-collar job seekers is the proliferation of false information and opaque offline agencies — scams targeting newly graduated blue-collar workers are frequently in the news, creating demand for a high-credibility, high-quality platform.
(See full coverage: [36Kr Guangdong] "Gongxueyun · Moguding" raises tens of millions in Pre-A funding, opening the blue-collar talent services market through vocational school internship management)
Bluepha recently completed its Series B4 round, raising over 400 million RMB. The equity round was led by Zhongping Capital with Jiangsu Huanghai Financial Holding Group participating; Mind Capital served as the exclusive financial advisor. Additionally, SPD Silicon Valley Bank, China Merchants Bank, and ICBC provided Bluepha with a combined credit line of 500 million RMB. This means that following its Series B3 round in early 2022, Bluepha has added nearly 1 billion RMB to its capital reserves.
/ From the Investors /
Congratulations to Bluepha on completing its Series B4 round led by multiple well-known investment institutions. Bluepha was a FreeS angel-round investment, and FreeS Fund has participated in seven consecutive rounds because we are bullish on the synthetic biology track, on the greener, healthier, and more functionally powerful products enabled by biotechnology, and on product-oriented companies with platform capabilities like Bluepha. After six years of hard work, Bluepha has grown into a leader in China's synthetic biology sector. In 2023, Bluepha achieved a major breakthrough in advancing "From Lab to Fab" ahead of schedule. The Bluepha™ PHA Phase I plant successfully commenced trial production, and the PHA pipeline officially entered commercialization. Always entrepreneurial, continuously evolving. On the right but difficult path of synthetic biology, FreeS will continue to support and accompany Bluepha's growth.
/ Company Profile /
Bluepha is a high-tech enterprise that uses synthetic biology to drive molecular and material innovation. The company is dedicated to designing, developing, manufacturing, and selling novel bio-based molecules and materials, helping B2B customers across consumer goods, food, healthcare, agriculture, and industrial sectors differentiate themselves in their industries. Bluepha also provides synthetic biology technology solutions, empowering partners up and down the value chain.
Against the macro backdrop of national "carbon neutrality" and "bio-economy" initiatives, Bluepha completed pilot-scale production in 2020 and decided to build its own PHA manufacturing plant. In 2021, it simultaneously refined its mass production process package and raised substantial funding. In 2022, it devoted itself fully to plant construction and trial production. In 2023, it fully launched product commercialization — its timing in sync with industry trends, with precise control over the pace of enterprise development.
(See full coverage: [36Kr] Crossing synthetic biology's "valley of death," Bluepha secures nearly 1 billion RMB in new funding | 36Kr Exclusive Interview)
Online psychological counseling service platform "Glowe" ("Glowe Louge") has completed a Series A+ round of tens of millions of RMB, led by FreeS Fund.
/ From the Investors /
The Glowe team is one of the few in the psychological counseling track with a computer science background. Through AI applications — such as AI supervision, GPT competency assessment, and AI consultation scoring — they are improving supply-side (consultant-side) efficiency and addressing industry pain points to develop a productized, standardized psychological counseling service. These improvements will ultimately enhance the consumer consultation experience, increase customer stickiness, and boost repurchase rates.
/ Company Profile /
Glowe is an online psychological counseling project targeting urban young people, primarily serving those with mild to moderate depression and anxiety. Grounded in evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and interpersonal therapy (IPT), it has developed standardized consultation frameworks and tools to provide visitors with a standardized psychological counseling experience.
Currently, based on GPT-3 from OpenAI, Glowe has piloted features including generating treatment memos and assessment reports. Through systematic information and front-end user feedback, the company has established a mature debugging mechanism.
Meanwhile, the standardized service system also provides relatively high-quality data for model training. These models will also help improve consultant competency, enabling platform consultants to deliver higher-quality, more professional services.
(See full coverage: [36Kr] "Glowe" completes tens of millions in Series A+ funding, with AIGC empowering psychological counseling)
Xinyi Information Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. ("Xinyi Information"), a provider of cellular IoT intelligent terminal system SoC chips, has completed a 300 million RMB Series C round. The round was led by China Internet Investment Fund, with Shanghai Pudong Intelligent Manufacturing Industry Fund, JunShan Capital, Haitong Innovation, Hanqian Investment, and other institutions participating.
/ From the Investors /
Congratulations to Xinyi Information, a provider of cellular IoT intelligent terminal system SoC chips, on completing its Series C round. Since the angel round, we have witnessed Xinyi Information's deep cultivation of the cellular IoT chip field and its growth into a national "little giant" specialized and innovative enterprise.
Founder Dr. Xiao Jianhong is a quintessential academic and technical powerhouse. When he started the company, he targeted the NB-IoT segment of the IoT market. By the time he brought his NB-IoT chip to market, numerous competitors had already reached customers. Fortunately, the founder is a veteran with over a decade of experience in communications chips. After several years of effort, Xinyi Information not only captured the NB-IoT beachhead but also leveraged years of technical accumulation to advance into Cat.1 and RedCap markets — segments that are "hotter" and, of course, more lucrative.
Xinyi Information adheres to a dual strategy of cellular IoT communication SoCs and industry scenario SoCs. In 2022, Xinyi Information developed the world's first SoC chip dedicated to the public utilities industry, for use in metering and smoke detection scenarios. We look forward to Xinyi Information making greater strides in advancing the Internet of Everything.
/ Company Profile /
Founded in 2017, Xinyi Information is dedicated to providing advanced cellular IoT intelligent terminal system SoC chip solutions for the era of the Internet of Everything. The company has deeply cultivated the cellular IoT chip field, with more than ten products in development, including cellular IoT communication SoCs and industry scenario SoCs, successfully building the industry's most comprehensive cellular IoT chip portfolio.
To date, the company has accumulated over 100 granted and pending patents, led a national key R&D program project under the Ministry of Science and Technology, and been recognized as a national "little giant" specialized and innovative enterprise by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The company will continue to adhere to technological innovation and independent R&D, using a product portfolio of extreme cost-performance to advance the Internet of Everything and drive the upgrade of China's digital economy and social development.
(See full coverage: [Xinshiye] With chips as wings, boosting IoT: Xinyi Information completes 300 million RMB Series C round)
Wuhan Hesheng Technology Co., Ltd. ("Hesheng Technology") announced the completion of its Series A round, led by Mengniu Venture Capital with Baiying Huicai Fund and existing shareholder FreeS Fund participating.
/ From the Investors /
Professor Liu Tiangang's team at Hesheng Technology has deep roots in the natural products field. The team has accumulated extensive industrial chassis microbial resources, built multiple platforms for efficient mining of biosynthetic gene clusters, achieved the world's highest yields for several natural products, and continuously generates new molecules with special biological functions.
Professor Liu has a profound understanding of product transformation and commercialization in microbial medicine and bio-manufacturing — he can truly be called a "living dictionary" of China's bio-synthesis industry. Since FreeS participated in the previous round, we have seen the team demonstrate strong execution capabilities, gradually closing the loop from chassis to mining platform to molecules to products to commercialization. FreeS is optimistic about Hesheng Technology's future and continues to invest, looking forward to the team making significant strides in the natural products field.
/ Company Profile /
Founded in November 2021, Hesheng Technology has built efficient polyketide and terpenoid synthesis platforms. Its R&D team once analyzed 39 gene clusters in a short time, recombined them into 208 mutant strains in an Aspergillus oryzae chassis, and built a compound library containing 185 terpenoid products, enhancing the throughput of existing natural product mining. Currently, Hesheng Technology has developed natural products for multiple applications, several of which have completed industrial-scale fermentation production.
(See full coverage: [Synbio Shenbo] Natural product synthetic biology company "Hesheng Technology" completes Series A funding)
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