On 24 April 2024 the eighth Everything Grows conference — guided by the Central Committee of the China Democratic National Construction Association and the China Association for Science and Technology, and organised by the Zhejiang committee of the association together with the China Investment Development Promotion Association — opened at the Hangzhou International Expo Centre. The 2024 Hangzhou unicorn and quasi-unicorn lists were released there: as of April 2024 the city had 43 unicorns (valued at USD 1 billion or more) and 382 quasi-unicorns (USD 100 million or more). Westlake Pharmaceuticals appeared on the quasi-unicorn list in both 2023 and 2024, reflecting its research strength and growth potential.
The two lists are the focus of each conference and a bellwether for Hangzhou’s innovation ecosystem. By sector, healthcare leads the quasi-unicorn list with 117 companies, six more than last year.
Kaibing Zhou, vice chairman of the China Investment Development Promotion Association and rotating chairman of the Hangzhou Venture Capital Association, noted that biopharmaceutical and advanced manufacturing companies together account for about 50% of the list — a different picture of a city known for e-commerce. He added that many founders now come from universities, hold their own intellectual property and have genuine innovation capability, which brings a new character to the founder community and wins investor recognition.
Westlake Pharmaceuticals, a technology transfer company of Westlake University, has grown quickly with Hangzhou’s policy support since 2020. It is exploring the frontier of original drug discovery with staged results: its first original drug, Mprosevir®, has completed clinical trials, at a pace well beyond industry norms.
Between 2018 and 2024 Hangzhou’s unicorns grew from 26 to 43 (10.9% average annual growth) and quasi-unicorns from 105 to 382 (44%). As one of China’s most dynamic innovation cities, Hangzhou has kept a steady upward pace.