On 23 April 2026, the tenth Everything Grows conference, hosted by the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the China Democratic National Construction Association, the Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce and the China Investment Development Promotion Association, opened in Hangzhou. At the event, the Hangzhou Venture Capital Association, together with Weilian and Bank of Hangzhou, released the 2026 Hangzhou Unicorn and Quasi-Unicorn Enterprise List.
On the strength of its technology and steady growth, Westlake Pharmaceuticals was again named a Hangzhou quasi-unicorn.
The sector mix of this year’s quasi-unicorns mirrors Hangzhou’s industrial layout: life sciences leads with 28.57%, next-generation information technology follows with 18.89%, and AI and embodied intelligence takes third place with 12.11%. Together the three sectors account for about 60% of the list, and are a core engine of the city’s new productive forces.
As Hangzhou’s industrial ecosystem matures, the profile of listed companies has shifted markedly — from a consumer-led list in 2018 to one led by hard technology in 2026.
Westlake Pharmaceuticals is a technology transfer company of Westlake University and Westlake Laboratory. Since its founding in 2020 it has focused on original drug discovery.
The company integrates artificial intelligence with multiple disciplines of pharmaceutical research to upgrade the discovery paradigm and address the industry’s long timelines and high cost. Its in-house AI drug discovery platform, WAND (Westlake AI for Novel Drug), is used across the internal pipeline and has measurably improved team efficiency.
The company currently focuses on oncology and antiviral therapies. Its first original drug has completed clinical trials, and the rest of the pipeline is progressing.
The list has tracked and supported the growth of Hangzhou companies: between 2018 and 2026 unicorns grew from 26 to 48, quasi-unicorns from 105 to 413, and 38 listed companies have emerged since the list was first published.
This is the fourth consecutive year that Westlake Pharmaceuticals has appeared on the list. The company will continue to focus on original drug discovery and contribute to Hangzhou’s life-science industry.