A project manager holds a road show during the 2021 OVC entrepreneurship and investment convention. [Photo/WeChat account of Optics Valley of China]

The equity financing of sci-tech companies in the East Lake High-tech Development Zone (also known as Optics Valley of China, or OVC) has gained strong momentum since 2021, with total funds collected reaching 17.8 billion yuan ($2.8 billion), a year-on-year increase of 187 percent.

Wuhan Hzymes Biotechnology Co, for example, is devoted to the research, production, and application of specialenzymes, seeking to break the technological monopoly of overseas biotech companies in this area.

Since it was founded in 2015, the firm has developed more than 300 types of specialenzymes, which has contributed to the nucleic testing process and has been recognized by the capital market.

Xie Yuan, general manager of Hzymes Biotech, said that they have deployed a series of platform-based technologies, which is partly why investors see great potential in them. Xie also highlighted the role of the OVC government, which has created a preferential business environment and brought in many investors and business partners.

Over the past year, the financing cases of non-listed companies based in OVC were mainly in the optoelectronic information and biomedicine fields. Over 37 companies have collected over 100 million yuan each, and 13 firms initiated over two rounds of financing activities. The combined 143 financing cases have attracted over 330 investors.