Sperikon completes nearly RMB 100 million series A financing, SKL Capital acts as exclusive financial advisor

Recently, Sperikon, a company focused on the development of upstream reagents and CRDMO services in the cell and gene therapy (CGT) field, has completed a nearly RMB 100 million Series A financing round. This financing round was led by Jinchen Fund, a subsidiary of Luzhou Development Holding Group, followed by Zero2IPO Industry Investment, and with continued investment from existing shareholder Empower Investment. SKL Capital acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Sperikon in this transaction.

The proceeds from this financing round will assist Sperikon in expanding its GMP production base in Luzhou, establishing a subsidiary in the Yangtze River Delta, further enhancing the research and development of new products, and accelerating the rapid global market promotion of multiple products.

Founded in 2023, Sperikon is a high-tech enterprise specializing in the development of upstream reagents and CRDMO services in the CGT field. The company has pioneered an end-to-end business model integrating "reagents, processes, and services." Leveraging its proprietary SP-EasyM personalized cell culture system development platform, it has taken the lead in launching nearly 100 products, including chemically defined serum substitutes and GMP-grade MSC culture media. The founding team hails from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking University, and other renowned domestic biomedical research institutions. Over 70% of the technical team hold master's degrees or higher, possessing interdisciplinary backgrounds in cell biology, AI algorithms, and industrialization.

The market size of upstream biomedical reagents in China has been growing annually. Although molecular and protein reagents currently hold the largest domestic market share, they face intense competition. CGT is one of the fastest-growing segments in the global biomedical field. According to Grand View Research, the global cell therapy market is expected to grow from USD 4.74 billion in 2023 to USD 20.07 billion by 2030, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.66%. Cell biology reagents are not only used in basic research exploring fundamental life activities such as cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, and migration, but are also indispensable tools in hot research and industrialization areas such as exosomes, stem cells, and cell therapy, making them likely to become the fastest-growing segment in the future. 

The market size of cell biology reagents in China grew from RMB 1.12 billion in 2015 to RMB 2.96 billion in 2020, with a CAGR of 21.6%. From 2020 to 2025, the CAGR for cell biology reagents is projected to be 16.5%, reaching a market size of RMB 6.37 billion by 2025. Currently, the market share is predominantly held by foreign brands (such as Thermo Fisher, Danaher, Corning, Lonza, and Sartorius), with no domestic company of scale emerging in China.

Sperikon's product line covers various stages of cell biology in academia and industry, enabling a wide range of applications including scientific research, medical aesthetics, vaccine/antibody development, synthetic biology, in vitro diagnostics (IVD), and contract research and manufacturing organizations (CXO). The company's proprietary SP-EasyM personalized cell culture system development platform, through formula design and process optimization, effectively reduces the development time of individual products by 50-70% compared to traditional methods, enabling de novo design and personalized customization, accommodating a wide range of cell types, and achieving cost reduction and efficiency improvement. The company successfully integrates "data, process, and regulatory compliance" in a three-pronged approach, effectively addressing industry challenges such as formula complexity, wide concentration ranges, high batch-to-batch consistency requirements, and regulatory compliance. The company has already launched cell culture products and processes for various cell types, including chemically defined MSC, NK, organoid, and iPSC culture systems.

The company's headquarters and GMP production base (with a single batch scale of nearly 2,000 liters for liquid cell culture reagents) are located in Luzhou City, Sichuan Province. It has also established a research and development service base in Deyang, and its subsidiary in Huai'an, Jiangsu Province, is soon to be operational. Nuohong Huikang's products have been introduced to well-known listed companies, hospitals, universities, leading technology companies in specific niche areas, and have been sold to overseas regions such as Singapore. Going forward, Nuohong Huikang will continue to drive innovation, expand production and sales, and strive to become a leading upstream reagent research and development and service company in the CGT field.