Category: PE, VC & Alternatives

Spartan Capital: Society Pass (Nasdaq: SOPA) – Southeast Asia eCommerce Super-App With Billion Dollar Potential

Spartan Capital Securities LLC (Spartan Capital) issues Equity Research Report on Society Pass Inc. (Nasdaq: SOPA) (SoPa).

Click Here https://bit.ly/3Bmg3l4 (on Society Pass website) or Here https://bit.ly/3vfGzc2 (with Spartan Capital Securities account) to view the full Spartan Capital Equity Research Report.

Summary Points:

  • Society Pass aspires to be the next major Southeast Asia (“SEA”) super-app. Comparable success stories such as Lazada, GoTo and Grab have all been accorded multi-billion valuations.
  • Spartan Capital forecasts SoPa to generate $7.2 million in revenue in 2022, $29.3 million in 2024, up 308% and $59.8 million in 2024, up 104%. Spartan Capital forecasts EBITDA loss narrowing from $10 million in 2022 to just $5.6 million in 2024, then turning positive in 2025.
  • Spartan Capital likens SoPa to what Masayoshi Son has done with SoftBank, headquartered out of Japan, although with an exclusive focus on e-commerce and SEA.
  • SoPa operates in five SEA countries (Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, and Thailand), all are vibrant open economies, recovering from Covid lockdowns and now seeing dynamic growth. SEA consumers are younger and more tech-savvy than counterparts in the US.
  • SoPa owns 8 portfolio companies in food/beverage (F&B), luxury goods, telecoms, digital media, travel and merchant software sectors and ties them together with its Society Points loyalty program. The eight business units are:
  • Leflair – a Vietnam luxury goods flash sale e-commerce company akin to Groupon.
  • NusaTrip – an Indonesia travel website company serving the region akin to Expedia.
  • Thoughtful Media Group – a Bangkok-based social commerce firm serving US and Asian brands.
  • Gorilla Networks – a Singapore blockchain-enabled MVNO serving the mobile/travel markets.
  • Mangan – Philippines largest local restaurant food delivery company akin to GrubHub/DoorDash.
  • Handycart – a Hanoi, Vietnam restaurant delivery company poised to enter Saigon.
  • Pushkart – a Philippines supermarket delivery company akin to Instacart.
  • #HOTTAB – a Vietnam restaurant and hotel terminal/back-end software management platform.

  • Society Points and SoPa’s 8 subsidiaries offer multiple ways for consumers to earn loyalty points and to redeem such loyalty points for things of value.
  • Operating under a matrix management structure, SoPa is led by entrepreneurial Founder, Chairman and CEO, Dennis Nguyen, and a strong team of C-suite executives, business unit CEOs and country managers.
  • Over half of SoPa’s executives are female.

About Society Pass
As a loyalty and data marketing ecosystem in Singapore, Vietnam, Philippines, and Thailand and with offices located in Singapore, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Manila, Angeles and Bangkok, SoPa is an acquisition-focused e-commerce holding company operating 7 interconnected verticals (loyalty, merchant software, lifestyle, F&B, telecoms, digital media, and travel), which seamlessly connects millions of consumers and thousands of merchants across multiple product and service categories throughout SEA.

SoPa’s business model focuses on analysing user data through its Society Pass loyalty platform and circulation of its universal loyalty points or Society Points. The Society Pass loyalty platform drives customer acquisition and retention for merchants. Since its inception, SoPa has amassed over 2.1 million registered consumers and over 6,700 registered merchants/brands onto its platform. It has invested 2+ years building proprietary IT architecture with cutting edge components to effectively scale and support its consumers, merchants, and acquisitions.

Society Pass leverages technology to tailor a more personalised experience for customers in the purchase journey and to transform the entire retail value chain in Southeast Asia. SoPa operates #HOTTAB Biz and #HOTTAB POS – a Vietnam-based POS, CRM and analytics technology solutions provider for small and medium-sized enterprises, Leflair.com, Vietnam’s leading lifestyle e-commerce platform, Pushkart.ph, a popular grocery delivery company in Philippines, Handycart.vn, a leading online restaurant delivery service based in Vietnam, Gorilla Networks, a Singapore-based, web3-enabled mobile blockchain network operator, Thoughtful Media Group, a Bangkok-based, a social commerce-focused, premium digital video multi-platform network, and Mangan, a leading local restaurant food delivery company in Philippines. For more information, please check out: http://thesocietypass.com/.

Media Contacts:
PRecious Communications
sopa@preciouscomms.com

OctaFX announces visual rebranding, adopts space-inspired design system

11 years of providing brokerage services marks an important milestone for OctaFX. For the first time, the broker decided to hold a visual rebranding.

Over more than a decade, OctaFX has managed to accomplish numerous achievements. Today, clients from over 150 countries have opened more than 12 million trading accounts with the broker. To become even closer to its clients, OctaFX decided to adopt a fresh new look: with refined colours, space-inspired elements, and a new logo.

The concept
The main concept behind the rebranding reflects the broker’s mission: OctaFX exists to ensure everyone can achieve their investment goals.

“We picture goals as stars in the broad universe of finance. Each one represents a unique combination of needs and desires of a particular person. The journey towards the investment goal isn’t always easy – there are many obstacles on the way. To overcome them, traders need an optimal set of both analytical and financial instruments, as well as a reliable partner. We are here to provide them with everything necessary to make effective trading decisions and achieve their investment goals. All the elements of our new design system convey this message in a simple, yet illustrative way,” the OctaFX press office commented.

The logo
The two orbits forming OctaFX’s new logo reflect the all-encompassing support it provides for traders on the journey towards their goals. The orbits cross each other to create the word ‘fx’ that highlights an important part of the company name.

The elements
The elements constituting the new visual identity are all built around centre-oriented forces and objects, such as orbits and rays, reflecting the broker’s continued focus on the investment goals of its clients.

The colours
The colour palette of deep blues and intense oranges gives vibrancy to the new brand design, emphasising the confidence, dynamism, and readiness to change.

The transformation
The financial world is changing rapidly. New challenges emerge every day, and OctaFX is ready to evolve and transform in response, all to meet and exceed the expectations of its clients. The new branding was created to express that.

About OctaFX
OctaFX is a global broker providing online trading services worldwide since 2011. It offers everything one needs to reach their investment goals, providing top-notch conditions utilised already by clients from over 150 countries worldwide. The company is involved in a comprehensive network of charity and humanitarian initiatives, including improvement of educational infrastructure, short-notice relief projects, supporting local communities and small to medium enterprises. On a side note, OctaFX has also won more than 45 awards since its foundation, including the 2021 ‘Best Forex Broker Asia’ award from Global Banking & Finance Review and 2021 ‘Best ECN Broker’ award by World Finance. www.octafx.com

Legend Capital Portfolio Company: The Global-Leading AI Medical Imaging Company Lunit Goes Public Successfully

On July 21st, 2022, Lunit, a leading global AI-based cancer solutions provider invested by Legend Capital, was successfully listed on the KOSDAQ market.

Founded in 2013, Lunit successfully established itself as the world’s top-notch artificial intelligence technology solution provider, mainly focusing on developing medical software to assist physicians in the realm of tumor diagnosis and treatment. Lunit’s flagship products are Lunit INSIGHT and Lunit SCOPE. Lunit INSIGHT is an AI-powered image screening solution, that detects and classifies chest abnormalities and breast cancer. Lunit SCOPE is an AI biomarker for immunotherapy, providing therapy response information that can critically affect treatment outcomes for cancer patients.

Legend Capital led Lunit’s series B investment round in June 2018 and continued to support Lunit’s global business expansion via three additional follow-on investments in 2019 and 2021. For the past 4 years, Lunit not only has produced world-leading AI medical solutions but also gained its commercial value achieving rapid topline growth. Lunit’s annual revenue grew by over 460% in 2021 since its initial product commercialization in 2019. As of now, Lunit’s image diagnostic products have been certified by 42 countries/regions, including FDA, CE, and KFDA. The company will keep expanding into the global market through cooperation with international giants like GE Healthcare, Fujifilm, and Philips, etc. Legend Capital will continue to assist Lunit in finding untapped business opportunities in China by building up branding and introducing rich portfolio resources for cooperation.

Brandon Suh, CEO of Lunit, said: “Lunit’s target market for cancer detection and diagnosis is worth 110 billion US dollars (of which the United States accounts for ~USD 45bn and the rest USD 65bn). Lunit’s AI medical image analysis technology has significant advantages over traditional technology, and our accurate and efficient solutions have been appreciated by global medical institutions. Lunit’s ongoing global expansion can be attributed to the support from our existing partners, Legend Capital has been one of Lunit’s key partners in helping us grow our China business by introducing reliable local partners. Legend Capital has been and will continue to be Lunit’s strategic global partner going forward.”

“We like to invest in companies that have a global vision, world-leading technology, and global expansion capabilities. We were very impressed with Lunit’s ambition to go global at our initial investment,” said Joon-Sung Park, Managing Director of Legend Capital. “With the world’s top-notch AI medical imaging technology, Lunit INSIGHT can significantly improve abnormalities detection and early-diagnosis rate, remarkably enhancing the efficiency of cancer diagnosis and treatment. Lunit has built a professional team with technology experts and medical professionals. The six co-founders are all graduates of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), the nation’s first public, research-oriented science and engineering institution. With a commitment to empowering the medical industry by AI technology, Lunit has also hired 12 full-time doctors with an in-depth understanding of medical service. It has provided AI healthcare services to approximately 600 medical institutions in over 40 countries, and has signed an exclusive business contract with Guardant Health, the world’s largest liquid biopsy diagnostic company, to collaborate on cancer drug development.”

At present, “Lunit INSIGHT CXR Triage” and “Lunit INSIGHT MMG” have been certified by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by the end of 2021, and Lunit will continue to expand the global market by obtaining Medical Device Single Audit Program (MDSAP) certification in the US, Canada, Japan, Australia and Brazil, etc. Legend Capital has invested heavily in companies that integrate technology and the medical industry and has kept betting on AI medical sectors. In addition to Lunit, Legend Capital has also invested in AI medical companies such as Xbiome, an AI microbiome drug development company; StoneWise, an AI drug R&D platform; Deepwise, an AI medical imaging company; BioMap, a biocomputing platform; Deep Informatics ++, an AI medical pathology diagnosis company; and Unimed, an AI brain diagnosis and treatment platform.

About Legend Capital
Founded in 2001, Legend Capital is a leading VC&PE investor focusing on the early-stage and growth-stage opportunities in China, with offices across Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Seoul, Korea.

It currently manages USD and RMB funds of over US$10 billion in commitments and has invested in around 600 companies, covering technology, healthcare, consumer, enterprise service and intelligent manufacturing sectors. Rooted in China, Legend Capital participated in the rise of many world-leading companies through solid investment coverage and systematic post-investment value-add. Over the years, Legend Capital has also become a widely recognized name in bridging key resources in China and overseas through cross-border activities, and a valuable partner to Chinese and overseas investors.

Legend Capital values long-term sustainable investment and incorporates ESG into its long-term development strategy. As a UNPRI signatory since November 2019, Legend Capital is among the first group of top VC/PE firms in China to join the initiative.

For more information, please visit www.legendcapital.com.cn/index_en.aspx and follow us on LinkedIn @Legend Capital ( https://www.linkedin.com/company/legend-capital ).

Society Pass (SoPa) Marks First Foray into Thailand by Acquiring Bangkok-Headquartered Thoughtful Media Group, Southeast Asia’s Leading Digital Video Multi-Platform Network and Social Commerce Platform

  • SoPa acquires first company in Thailand and continues network expansion of its digital ecosystem throughout Southeast Asia (“SEA”)
  • Thoughtful Media’s social commerce-focused Multi-Platform Network (“MPN”) in Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines and the US amplifies SoPa’s loyalty offering
  • Thoughtful Media recorded revenues of US$5.8 million in 2021, forecasts significant revenue growth in 2022 and beyond
  • Thoughtful Media’s data-rich MPN has uploaded over 675,000 videos with over 80 billion video views since 2010, and the current network of 263 YouTube Channels has onboarded over 85 million subscribers
  • SoPa sees significant cross-marketing and revenue generation synergies between Thoughtful Media and rest of SoPa ecosystem

Society Pass Incorporated (SoPa or Society Pass) (Nasdaq: SOPA), Southeast Asia’s leading data-driven loyalty platform, today announces the acquisition of Thoughtful Media Group (Thoughtful Media), a social commerce-focused, premium digital video MPN headquartered in Thailand with an operating presence in the US, Vietnam, and Philippines. The acquisition of Thoughtful Media marks SoPa’s first foray into Thailand and adds to SoPa’s growing ecosystem of technology-enabled companies located in the SEA countries of Vietnam, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

Originally founded in 2010, Thoughtful Media today creates and distributes digital advertising campaigns across its MPN in both SEA and the US. With its intimate knowledge of local markets, digital marketing technology tools and social commerce business focus, advertisers leverage Thoughtful Media’s wide influencer network throughout SEA to market and sell advertising inventory exclusively with specific placement and effect. As a result, Thoughtful Media’s content creator partners earn a larger share of advertising revenues from international consumer brands. And according to Accenture, the social commerce market is poised to grow to US$1.2 trillion by 2025 at a CAGR of 26%.

Thoughtful Media recorded revenues of US$5.8 million in 2021. Since its founding, Thoughtful Media’s data-rich MPN has uploaded over 675,000 videos with over 80 billion video views. The current network of 263 YouTube channels has onboarded over 85 million subscribers with an average monthly viewership of over 600 million views.

Thoughtful Media’s social commerce platform amplifies the reach and engagement of SoPa’s e-commerce ecosystem and retail partners. The growing ubiquity of social media influencers on shaping purchase decisions has driven increasingly greater numbers of brands to shift advertising budgets to this dynamic outlet. SoPa aims to increase customer engagement whilst also focusing on the quality of relationships through a campaign-based approach enabled by this synergistic acquisition.

Thoughtful Media’s digital advertising tools and expertise bolsters Society Points, SoPa’s paradigm shifting loyalty platform. Through data-driven marketing campaigns, advertisers of all types utilise Society Points’ proprietary 1st party data to improve the targeting, efficacy, and efficiency of their digital marketing spend. SoPa’s product offering uniquely positions Thoughtful Media as a leading SEA retail marketing and advertising hub for international and regional consumer brands.

Dennis Nguyen, Society Pass Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer comments, “We are thrilled to have Thoughtful Media join the ever-expanding SoPa ecosystem. Thoughtful Media’s social commerce-focused business model perfectly complements our future growth strategy for Society Pass as we drive consumer eyeballs and generate revenues for riveting consumer brands throughout Southeast Asia. In addition, Society Pass is excited to complete our first Thailand acquisition and look forward to launching our SoPa loyalty platform to the 65 million consumers in Thailand”.

Dan Thorman, Thoughtful Media Chief Executive Officer explains, “Thoughtful Media is led by an experienced management team in SEA and the US. We provide media owners with content creation and technology services that build and monetise their brands’ audience on numerous social platforms. With years of on-the-ground experience and industry expertise in developing influencer talent, producing social media content, coordinating advertising campaigns, aggregating influencer data, and onboarding millions of viewers onto our data-rich MPN, we track hundreds of millions of authenticated global video views a month across key social media platforms. Partnering with Society Pass allows Thoughtful Media to unlock strategic opportunities with influencers and advertisers as well as design cross-marketing synergies for companies in the SoPa ecosystem. In doing so, we expect to drive tremendous revenue growth in 2022 and beyond”.

About Society Pass
As a loyalty and data marketing ecosystem in Singapore, Vietnam, Philippines, and Thailand and with offices located in Singapore, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Manila, and Bangkok, SoPa is an acquisition-focused e-commerce holding company operating 7 interconnected verticals (loyalty, merchant software, lifestyle, F&B, telecoms, digital media, and travel) seamlessly connecting millions of consumers and thousands of merchants across multiple product and service categories in SEA.

Society Pass business model focuses on analysing user data through its Society Pass loyalty platform and circulation of its universal loyalty points or Society Points. Since its inception, SoPa has amassed over 1.6 million registered consumers and over 5,500 registered merchants/brands on its platform. It has invested 2+ years building proprietary IT architecture with cutting edge components to effectively scale and support its consumers, merchants, and acquisitions.

Society Pass provides merchants with #HOTTAB Biz and #HOTTAB POS – a Vietnam-based POS, CRM and analytics technology solutions provider for small and medium-sized enterprises. In addition, SoPa operates Leflair.com, Vietnam’s leading lifestyle e-commerce platform, Pushkart.ph, a popular grocery delivery company in Philippines, Handycart.vn, a leading online restaurant delivery service based in Vietnam, and Gorilla Networks, a Singapore-based, web3-enabled mobile blockchain network operator. For more information, please check out: http://thesocietypass.com/.

Media Contacts:
PRecious Communications
sopa@preciouscomms.com

Co-led by Legend Capital, Huili Biotechnology Completes Series A Financing Round with Hundreds of Million RMB

Jiangsu Huili Biotechnology Co., Ltd (Huili Bio), a next-generation synthetic biology enzyme computational design platform, recently announced the completion of its Series A financing round with hundreds of million RMB. This financing round was co-led by Legend Capital and the fresh capital will be used to accelerate the construction and operation of large-scale production facilities, the R&D of new product pipelines and the expansion of the talent team.

Founded in 2018, Huili Bio is dedicated to the computational design of enzyme components at the core of synthetic biological reactions. With cutting-edge achievements, Huili Bio is one of the few bio-manufacturing companies with comprehensive capabilities in core technology, mass production on a large scale and closed-loop commercialization. It provides solutions in multiple fields such as pharmaceutical intermediates, animal protection and food. In addition to an R&D center in Tianjin, Huili Bio has also established a production base in Taizhou City, Jiangsu Province, which is under the expansion of flexible production line.

Huili Bio’s enzyme computational design platform is the first computational platform in China to realize the full-scenario design of enzymes. This platform enables the company to transform products in the pharmaceutical field, so as to achieve high efficiency from laboratory development, industrial production to commercialization, reducing costs by nearly 30% and increasing yields by almost 70% compared to traditional chemical methods, and also helps Huili Bio deploy more than 10 innovative products in various fields.

Commenting on the financing, Henry JI, Executive Director of Legend Capital, said: “The synthetic biomaterials market is vast and an important area in the green and low-carbon direction. As the core component of synthetic biology, the design and transformation of enzymes will benefit more traditional biotechnology industries with low-cost and sustainable green production methods. Legend Capital has long focused on investment in the ‘IT+’ industry, and Huili Bio is a model of combining information technology and biotechnology (IT+BT). With a background in combining industry and research, Huili Bio is a company with differentiated product selection and multi-pipeline extension capabilities. The company has mastered the industry’s leading enzyme computing design technology and has rapidly achieved the scale production of high-value-added products such as pharmaceutical intermediates through the layout of the whole industry chain and has been fully recognized by the industry’s head customers. Legend Capital is glad to join hands with Huili Biotech to contribute to China’s biological ‘intelligence’.”

As an intersection of information science, life science and material science, synthetic biology and bio-based materials have been the focus of Legend Capital’s carbon-neutral technology investments. Under the background of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, Legend Capital’s investments focus on energy decarbonization, vehicle electrification/intelligence, synthetic biology, etc. Energy decarbonization includes photovoltaic, wind power and smart grid; vehicle electrification/intelligence includes lithium battery vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, battery recycling and others. Legend Capital has made investments in the field of synthetic biology by investing in outstanding companies such as Huili Bio, Zhongke Guosheng, and Tidetron Bio.

About Legend Capital
Founded in 2001, Legend Capital is a leading VC&PE investor focusing on the early-stage and growth-stage opportunities in China, with offices across Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Seoul, South Korea.

It currently manages USD and RMB funds of over US$10 billion in commitments, and has invested in around 600 companies, covering technology, healthcare, consumer, enterprise service and intelligent manufacturing sectors. Rooted in China, Legend Capital participated in the rise of many world-leading companies by solid investment coverage and systematic post-investment value-add. Over the years, Legend Capital has also become a widely recognized name in bridging key resources in China and overseas through cross-border activities, and a valuable partner to Chinese and overseas investors.

Legend Capital values long-term sustainable investment and incorporates ESG into its long-term development strategy. As a UNPRI signatory since November 2019, Legend Capital is among the first group of top VC/PE firms in China to join the initiative.

For more information, please visit www.legendcapital.com.cn/index_en.aspx and follow us on LinkedIn @Legend Capital ( https://www.linkedin.com/company/legend-capital ).

Legend Capital Increases Carbon Neutrality Investments: Portfolio Company Talent New Energy Completes A++ Financing Round with Several Hundred Million RMB

Legend Capital’s portfolio company Talent New Energy, a new Chinese powerhouse in the solid-state battery industry, recently announced the completion of its Series A++ financing round with several hundred million RMB. Legend Capital initially invested in Talent New Energy by joining the Pre-A financing round and continued to support the company’s development by following up this Series A++ financing round.

With the improved battery technology and continuous high oil prices, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles is rising. The penetration rate of new energy vehicles in China reached 25.3% in April, and according to the industry forecasts, it will increase to 35% by the end of the year. Under the global background of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, the wind power, photovoltaic and energy storage industry are also ushering in a golden era, gradually replacing the traditional fossil energy. With the technical advantages of high safety and high specific energy, it is widely believed in the industry that solid-state batteries will become the next trillion-level super track and the ultimate solution for battery technology.

Technology innovation is the core path to support the realization of carbon neutrality. With the acceleration of vehicle electrification, applications such as energy storage have opened up a new trillion-level market. Legend Capital actively explores suitable investment opportunities in more advanced lithium battery technologies. As a brand-new technology solution, new energy solid-state batteries have been deeply explored by many giants and startups in China and around the world. With nearly 20 years of international and domestic solid-state battery R&D technology accumulation, the Talent New Energy team has determined the oxide technology route and the gradual development path from mixed solid-liquid to all-solid-state lithium battery since the establishment of the company in 2018.

Legend Capital stated: “under the leadership of the founder Dr. GAO Xiang, the Talent New Energy team has been conducting R&D with the goal of industrialization, not only achieving a comprehensive breakthrough in product performance but also making Talent New Energy the leading semi-solid-state battery company in the market in terms of mass production capability. After the completion of the first investment in Talent New Energy last year, Legend Capital has continued to support the company’s development by investing in each subsequent round of Talent New Energy’s financing, helping the company become a leader in the solid-state battery industry in various aspects such as capital and industrial resources.”

It is reported that Talent New Energy’s first semi-solid-state power battery production line in Chongqing will be put into production in October this year. Talent New Energy said that after this round of financing, the company would accelerate the integration of technological resources to set up an advanced energy materials research institute and a new energy technology industrialization joint R&D center in Beijing. The company is accelerating the mass production and commercialization of semi-solid-state lithium batteries and striving to launch the all-solid-state lithium-ion battery at the end of this year, providing advanced and reliable energy solutions to the new energy vehicle industry and electrochemical energy storage industry and providing “energy blocks” for the construction of new infrastructure for high-efficiency cross-space-time energy storage in the future human society.

Under the goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, Legend Capital’s investments focus on energy system decarbonization, vehicle electrification/intelligence and synthetic biology. Energy decarbonization includes photovoltaics, wind power, smart grids; vehicle electrification/intelligence includes lithium battery vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, battery recycling and others.

Legend Capital has long been optimistic about the electrification, intelligence, and automation of new energy vehicles. It has invested in numerous enterprises in automation equipment, lithium batteries and material in the past 10 years, many of which were went public successfully, such as Wuxi Lead Intelligent (300450.SZ), CNGR Advanced Material (300919.SZ), Putailai New Energy (603659.SH), Hymson Laser (688559.SH), Colibri Technologies (002957.SZ). Legend Capital is also one of the early investors of CATL (300750.SZ).

Breakthrough Cooperation of Legend Capital’s Cross-border Portfolio Companies: Innovent and Etana Jointly Announce the Approval of Bevagen by the BPOM

On June 14, two of Legend Capital‘s portfolio companies, Innovent Biologics, Inc. (Innovent) and PT Etana Biotechnologies Indonesia (Etana), jointly announced that the Indonesian Food and Drugs Authority (BPOM) had approved Bevagen (bevacizumab biosimilar), a recombinant humanized anti-VEGF monoclonal antibody drug for five indications including metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), metastatic triple negative breast cancer (mTNBC), advanced non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC), ovarian cancer (OC), and cervical cancer(CC). Under the approval of the BPOM, Bevagen will potentially be the first Chinese antibody drug to be marketed and locally produced in Southeast Asia.

Dr. Michael Yu, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Innovent, said, “We are pleased that under the strategic collaboration with Etana, the approval of Bevagen in Indonesia marked a meaningful step toward bringing Innovent’s innovative portfolio into the global market, benefitting patients globally. Pairing Etana’s commercial expertise in the local Indonesian market with Bevagen’s clinical profile, high-quality production and relative affordability, we are confident that Bevagen will launch to the market quickly and benefit many cancer patients.”

Nathan Tirtana, President Director of Etana, said, “Etana appreciates the support of BPOM for approving Bevagen for cancer patients in Indonesia. With this product, we believe we can provide better access to high-quality and affordable biosimilar drug to meet the need of cancer patients in Indonesia. Our next step is to implement the technology transfer and local Bevagen production in Indonesia via collaboration with Innovent.”

Legend Capital has been looking for investment and partnership opportunities in the Southeast Asian market since 2019 and ultimately invested in Etana in 2020. By leveraging the advantages of the portfolio ecosystem, Legend Capital has played an active role in promoting the strategic cooperation between Innovent and Etana.

Mr. Frank Hong, Managing Director of Legend Capital, said, “Congratulations to Innovent and Etana for the approval of the first biosimilar in Indonesia. This milestone achievement demonstrates the feasibility of expanding Chinese innovative drugs market access into the emerging markets. The emerging markets along the Belt and Road have significant demand for pharmaceutical products and unmet clinical needs, Chinese innovative therapeutics are particularly well suited to the needs of patients in developing countries given their quality and affordable prices. Legend Capital will continue to explore investment opportunities in the emerging markets and actively pioneer the path for Chinese high-end biologics’ overseas expansion, facilitating the globalization of Chinese pharmaceutical companies.”

Mr. Fei Qi, Executive Director of Legend Capital, said, “The cross-border investment and industrial collaboration in the Southeast Asian market possess unique challenges: from policy regulation, folk culture to healthcare system complexity. Etana has set up a competitive barrier of ‘Access + Manufacturing + Commercialization’ in Southeast Asia, and Legend Capital complemented Etana’s key ‘Business Development’ ability by leveraging its healthcare portfolio ecosystem. Legend Capital has provided a series of value-add services in terms of company strategy, business cooperation and subsequent financing to Etana since its investment. Etana has approached and discussed collaboration initiatives with more than 10 Chinese biopharmaceutical companies and plans to introduce more therapeutics that Indonesia currently lacks, such as cancer monoclonal antibodies, COVID vaccines, and antiviral infection drugs. Through the joint efforts of Etana and its partners, we believe that the company will be able to provide high-quality and affordable Chinese innovative drugs to Indonesia, Southeast Asia and even the Islamic world.”

Legend Capital has been firmly positioned to invest systematically in the field of innovative medicine. Adhering to the investment philosophy of “Global Vision, Chinese Insights”, Legend Capital is looking for truly internationally competitive technologies and teams to solve the unmet clinical needs; many of its portfolio companies have been listed on A-share or H-share successfully, such as Kawin Technology (688687.SH), Innovent Biologics (01801.HK), Hbm (02142.HK), Recbio Technology (2179.HK). At the same time, we also made investments in segment-leading companies such as GluBio Pharmaceutical, Ribo Life Science, PegBio, Exegenesis Bio, Lynk Pharmaceuticals and Innostellar Biotherapeutics.

Hong Kong Investment Promotion Chief visits Middle East and Europe to promote Hong Kong’s long-term business opportunities

The Director-General of Investment Promotion of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Mr Stephen Phillips, today (May 29) started his duty visit to Doha, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Kuwait in the Middle East, and Amsterdam, Lisbon and Madrid in Europe as part of the latest efforts of Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) to promote Hong Kong’s business attractions.

Mr Stephen Phillips

During the visit, Mr Phillips will meet with business leaders from various sectors including innovation and technology, financial services and family offices, fintech, business and professional services, tourism and hospitality, and transport, infrastructure and advanced manufacturing. He will also speak at three events in Abu Dhabi, Lisbon and Madrid, giving updates on Hong Kong’s latest business environment and opportunities, highlighting the city’s strategic role in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).

Mr Phillips said, “Hong Kong is an ideal location for overseas and Mainland companies, as well as entrepreneurs from around the world, as a base to set up or expand their business in Hong Kong, the GBA, China, and Asia more widely. The facts speak for themselves: in two surveys conducted last year, we saw a record number of businesses from overseas and the Mainland come to Hong Kong, as well as the largest number of start-ups in Hong Kong.”

He added, “Hong Kong offers to companies a wide range of routes to growth opportunities. I look forward to sharing with representatives of companies and entrepreneurs the up-to-date and real situation in Hong Kong, and particularly how they can use Hong Kong to seize opportunities, including those arising from the GBA.”

About InvestHK

InvestHK is the department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government responsible for attracting foreign direct investment and supporting overseas and Mainland businesses to set up or expand in Hong Kong. It provides free advice and customised services for overseas and Mainland companies. For more information, please visit www.investhk.gov.hk.

Media contact:

Mr Antoine So
Head of Public Relations
T: +852 3107 1035
E: ASo@investhk.gov.hk

Ms Eva Chan
Senior Manager, Public Relations
T: +852 3107 1071
E: EChan@investhk.gov.hk

Legend Capital’s Portfolio Company Feima Robotics Assists China’s 38th Antarctic Expedition with a Series of Civilian UAV Products

On April 26, 2022, the expedition ship Xuelong 2 for China’s 38th Antarctic expedition berthed at the Shanghai base dock. So far, China’s 38th Antarctic expedition, which lasted 174 days and traveled more than 33,000 nautical miles, has ended successfully.

Expedition Ship Xuelong 2 (Image Source: Feima Robotics)
V10 is taking off in Antarctica (Image Source: Feima Robotics)
D2000 Antarctic aerial photography operation (Image Source: Feima Robotics)
V1000 in preparation for takeoff (Image Source: Feima Robotics)
V100 in preparation for takeoff (Image Source: Feima Robotics)

For the 38th Antarctic expedition, the Polar Surveying and Mapping Engineering Center of Heilongjiang Surveying and Mapping Geographic Information Bureau, the School of Surveying and Mapping of Sun Yat-sen University, and the Third Institute of the Ministry of Natural Resources both chose drones from Feima Robotics, a civilian UAV manufacturer in China, to assist in polar aerial photogrammetry. According to media reports, the 38th Antarctic expedition successfully completed the tasks of material supply and personnel rotation at the Great Wall Station and Zhongshan Station in Antarctica and achieved many scientific research results.

Since the 33rd Antarctic expedition in 2016, the civilian UAV intelligent aerial survey remote sensing system series from Feima Robotics has successfully assisted China’s 33rd, 34th, 36th, and 38th Antarctic expedition. Different from the previous three Antarctic expeditions, Feima civilian UAV took over the honored F-series civilian UAV in the 38th expedition, and dispatched V10, D2000, V1000, V100 and other civilian models currently in mainstream service, becoming the only civilian UAV manufacturer in China that has a full range of civilian UAV products to serve polar scientific expeditions and has successfully obtained large-scale effective aerial photography results. As of the completion of the 38th Antarctic expedition in 2022, the Feima civilian UAV has completed nearly 150 total historical and effective flights over the polar regions of the South and North Pole, achieving a veritable “Feima Antarctic Era”.

Feima Robotics was founded in 2015 and is a company with more than 15 years of extensive experience in the civilian drone industry. Legend Capital is the very early-stage investor of Feima Robotics as Legend Capital led the Feima Robotics’ Series A financing round in June 2016 and has long supported the company’s development. Since the establishment of Legend Capital in 2001, it has been systematically investing in the field of science and technology, including new generation display materials, IoT, autonomous driving, AI pharmaceuticals, etc. At present, the investment portfolio has reached more than 100 companies. Legend Capital’s technology investments closely follow the national industrial planning and policy guidance and majorly focus on cutting-edge technology fields.

Soluna Raises $35M from Spring Lane Capital to Build Green Data Centers for Crypto, Machine Learning

Soluna Holdings, Inc. (“SHI” or the “Company”), (NASDAQ: SLNH), the parent company of Soluna Computing, Inc. (“SCI”), secured $35 million in project financing to develop green data centers co-located with renewable energy assets. Spring Lane Capital, a private equity firm, invested private funds in Soluna as a part of their strategy focused on hybrid project capital for sustainability solutions in the energy, food, water, waste and transportation industries. The capital will help develop three behind-the-meter (BTM) projects designed to convert wasted renewable energy into clean computing services such as bitcoin mining and artificial intelligence.

“Soluna is the only true green bitcoin company we’ve yet seen,” said Rob Day, Spring Lane Capital Partner and Co-Founder. “Going after wasted renewable energy ‘spilled power’ is a compelling solution and fixes both bitcoin’s climate problem and wind power’s grid problem.”

Michael Toporek, CEO of Soluna Holdings, Inc. said, “Consistent with our previously articulated strategy, we continue to pursue opportunities that we believe enable us to optimize our cost of capital. The Spring Lane Capital approach helps us develop a mature repeatable model that can be scaled.”

The first of the three projects, Dorothy, named in honor of African American mathematician and human computer Dorothy Vaughan, is expected to be energized later this summer and coincide with the launch of a local STEM program. The Dorothy project is a 100 MW data center with a 50 MW initial phase, connected to a Texas wind farm that produces more electricity than the grid can consume. Soluna’s data center is currently estimated to create between 25 to 50 highly skilled jobs for technicians, security and electrical staff.

The other two projects funded by the new capital will come from Soluna’s robust pipeline.

John Belizaire, CEO of Soluna Computing, Inc., said, “We are honored to have a pioneering sustainability project finance firm like Spring Lane Capital back our vision. Our model of leveraging excess clean energy to generate low-cost computing is the future of green bitcoin mining and green data centers.”

Spring Lane Capital has a successful track record helping sustainable technology companies raise capital to build flagship projects. Their ‘hybrid project capital’ approach provides project equity along with additional growth capital.

Added Day: “Soluna is driving demand for clean power by giving a floor price and improving the bottom line of the renewable power partners they work with. The ultimate result is more wind farms and solar farms that would not otherwise be built.”

At power plants like the wind farm where the Dorothy project is under construction, excess energy is wasted when the grid becomes overloaded or demand is too low. Soluna’s scalable solution allows every excess megawatt to be used for batch-oriented, computing-intensive processes, such as cryptocurrency mining and machine learning. Additionally, flexible demand consumers help stabilize the grid by preventing power overload, which can otherwise lead to blackouts and grid malfunction.

Last month, Soluna Holdings (SCI’s Computing’s parent company), sold its Albany-based MTI Instruments subsidiary for $10.75 million, expanding its focus on helping the modern grid absorb more renewable energy through flexible green data centers.

About Soluna Holdings, Inc.

Soluna Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: SLNH), which operates through its subsidiary, Soluna Computing, Inc. is the leading developer of green data centers that convert excess renewable energy into global computing resources. Soluna builds modular, scalable data centers for computing-intensive, batchable applications such as cryptocurrency mining, AI and machine learning. Soluna provides a cost-effective alternative to battery storage or transmission lines. Up to 30% of the power of renewable energy projects can go to waste. Soluna’s data centers enable clean electricity asset owners to ‘Sell. Every. Megawatt.’ For more information about Soluna, please visit solunacomputing.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Investor Relations:
Kirin Smith, President
PCG Advisory, Inc.
646.823.8656
Ksmith@pcgadvisory.com

Media contact:
Bridgette Borst Ombres, Tigercomm
(304) 546-3788
bombres@tigercomm.us