OVC is a major contributor to GDP growth in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province. [Photo/WeChat account of Optics Valley of China]

The Science and Technology Department of Hubei Province recently released the provincial new creature enterprise list for 2022. Among the 512 companies on the list, nearly one third are based in the East Lake High-tech Development Zone (also known as Optics Valley of China, or OVC).

The list for this year includes one moose enterprise, two unicorn corporations, five potential unicorn companies, and 504 gazelle firms.

The number of new creature enterprises based in OVC accounts for 60 percent of that in Wuhan. ABclonal Technology Co – a dynamic and rapidly-growing provider of high-quality biology research reagents, tools, and custom services based in OVC – has been selected as a provincial unicorn corporation, and another five firms in the valley have won the title of potential unicorn companies.

ABclonal became a provincial gazelle firm in 2021, and since then government departments have offered considerable support in talent recruitment, R&D, platform construction, technology commercialization, and high-tech company identification. The company has developed 16,000 antibody products, and has obtained nearly 2 billion yuan ($275.6 million) in equity financing.

About one third of the gazelle firms are also from the valley, the majority of which are thriving due to emerging business models or technologies.