Bio-materials high-performance modification and application innovation company "Yinghua Chenrui" raises tens of millions of RMB in angel funding, led by Linear Capital

36Kr has learned that Yinghua Chenrui recently raised tens of millions of RMB in an angel round led by Linear Capital, with Bluepha following on, and Mingde Capital serving as exclusive financial advisor.

Founded in August 2022, Yinghua Chenrui focuses on high-performance modification and application innovation of biomaterials. Its R&D team currently accounts for over 60% of staff. Founder Dr. Zhou Zhen previously served as Asia-Pacific channel general manager at Saint-Gobain, a Fortune 500 company, where he oversaw R&D, product, and sales, accumulating substantial industry and commercial experience. The co-founder team has also built expertise in scientific research and business development. The company has additionally established a senior advisory team comprising university scholars and industry experts.

Biomaterials have crossed the threshold of raw material mass production and are now sweeping across numerous end-application markets, challenging bulk petroleum-based materials. Taking PLA as an example: since commercial production began in 2001, global capacity has surpassed 900,000 tons. Driven by policies such as plastic restriction mandates, PLA has been widely adopted in packaging, tableware, and biomedical applications.

"In recent years, with breakthroughs in biomaterial technology, continuously declining production costs, and the growing adoption of low-carbon circular consumption concepts, the biomaterials industry has entered a golden period of development. The entire industry is shifting from being constrained by raw material supply to pursuing scaled commercial applications," analyzed Yinghua Chenrui founder Zhou Zhen.

In this process, high-performance modification of biomaterials plays a crucial role. Through modification technologies, the mechanical properties, physicochemical characteristics, biocompatibility, and biodegradability of biomaterials can be improved to meet specific application requirements. For instance:

Through high-performance modification of PLA's fluidity, flexibility, and interlayer bonding strength, PLA demonstrates better operability and performance in desktop 3D printing applications, making it a primary 3D printing material.

Through toughening modification of PLA + PHA composite materials, they can serve as 100% bio-based packaging materials widely used in cosmetics and food sectors. Through compatibilization modification of the PLA-PHA phase interface, the modified composites combine the excellent properties of both PLA and PHA, enabling applications as a new generation of bio-based fibers.

Zeng Yingzhe, partner at lead investor Linear Capital, stated: "As single-component materials, bio-based materials such as PLA and PHA struggle to meet performance requirements, severely limiting downstream application scenarios for novel plastics. PLA, currently the lowest-cost bio-based plastic with the most capacity planned, still has downstream demand that hasn't fully opened up due to its performance limitations. Through Yinghua Chenrui's accumulated unique modification techniques such as multi-step continuous reactive compatibilization, material crystallinity and melt strength can be enhanced, substantially opening up downstream market applications to meet requirements in fibers, nonwovens, extrusion coating, high-speed 3D printing, and other fields."

Based on the team's understanding of the biomaterials industry chain and its reserves in high-performance modification technology, Yinghua Chenrui has laid out multiple product pipelines including 3D printing additives, bio-based fibers, and biodegradable paper extrusion coating. Some 3D printing and injection molding modification products have already passed sample performance testing with industry-leading customers and entered batch pilot production.

Zhou Zhen believes that "with accumulated expertise in performance mechanisms of various biomaterials and high-performance modification technology development, and through collaboration with upstream and downstream partners across the biomaterials industry chain, Yinghua Chenrui is confident in achieving commercial deployment across multiple product pipeline application scenarios."

Strategic investor Bluepha, which participated in this round, is also one of Yinghua Chenrui's business partners. As a leading enterprise in PHA raw material R&D and production, Bluepha has raised over 2 billion RMB in total funding, and its first-phase 5,000-ton PHA production line has officially commenced operation. Currently, as a novel natural material, PHA commercialization is just beginning globally, and high-performance modification will strongly promote PHA commercialization—particularly after PHA-PLA blend modification, which can expand into many new application areas.

Hu Mingyi, partner at Mingde Capital, stated: "Biomaterials are now at a critical juncture where macro policy guidance is shifting toward micro-level industrial implementation. Successful R&D and mass production of upstream raw materials is the first step; opening more downstream application scenarios post-mass-production requires coordinated effort across the entire industry chain. Biomaterial modification, connecting R&D, production, and commercialization, is a critical technical link urgently needing resolution. The Yinghua Chenrui team possesses deep technical reserves, commercial resources, and international vision, and we look forward to contributing to the accelerated development of China's biomaterials industry."

About Linear Capital

Linear Capital is an early-stage investment firm focused on "frontier technology + industry"—that is, frontier technologies represented by data intelligence, digital new infrastructure, next-generation robotics, and technological transformation in traditional sectors (such as biomedicine, materials, and energy), applied across vertical industries to substantially improve industrial efficiency, empower solutions to pain points, and complete industrial upgrading—achieving excess returns in commercial value through substantial increases in industrial value. The firm currently manages ten funds with total AUM of approximately $2 billion.

Our investment stage focuses primarily on leading angel through Series A rounds, with typical check sizes of $3–8 million or RMB equivalent.

To date, we have made early-stage investments in over 120 founding teams including Horizon Robotics, Kujiale, Sensors Data, Tezign, Rokid, Guandata, Agile Robots, and others. The combined valuation of Linear's portfolio companies is approximately $20 billion.

In the near term, Linear Capital is working to become the premier "Data Intelligence Technology Fund," and in the long term, to gradually build itself into the most influential "Frontier Technology Application Fund."