NeoScene Bio Completes Nearly RMB 200 Million Series A+ Financing to Accelerate Development of TCR-T Therapies for Solid Tumors

VCBeat learned that recently, Neowise Biotechnology, Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Neowise Biotechnology"), a global leading company focused on solid tumor TCR-T cell therapy, has completed a nearly 200 million yuan A+ round of financing. The investors in this round of financing include well-known medical and health professional funds such as Oriza Seed Capital, Yuan Yi Capital, GEM Co., Ltd., Tonggao Capital, Zonxin Capital, and Lingjun Venture Capital. The existing shareholder TF Capital continued to increase its investment, and Hoyer Capital served as the exclusive financial advisor for this round of financing.

Neowise Biotechnology, founded in 2020 and headquartered in Suzhou, is a global leader dedicated to discovering natural tumor antigen-specific TCRs and developing TCR-T cell therapy drugs for solid tumors. Dr. Peng Songming, the founder, is a top scientist in the field of cell therapy. As a co-founder, he established PACT Pharma in the United States together with a Nobel laureate and several pioneers in the cell therapy field. He has long been active at the forefront of the cell therapy industry, developing forward-thinking scientific insights into T-cell biology, immunology, genomics, and more. The core executive team of Neowise Biotechnology has worked for many years in well-known pharmaceutical companies both in China and abroad. They possess extensive management and operational experience across the entire chain, including bioinformatics prediction and analysis, neoantigen target discovery, TCR sequence discovery and validation, TCR-T production processes and CMC development, translational medicine, and clinical development.

Neowise Biotechnology Innovatively Builds an Industry-Leading TCR Discovery Platform through a Bioinformatics Prediction and Experimental Validation Feedback Iteration Approach, Enabling Rapid and Efficient Discovery of Neoantigen Targets and Natural High-Affinity TCR Pairing Data. Currently, Neowise Biotechnology has Established the World’s Largest Antigen-TCR Library and Successfully Transformed its First-Mover Advantage into a Patent Barrier. The TCR sequences discovered by this platform significantly outperform similar products from top global pharmaceutical companies in terms of affinity, cytotoxicity, and safety. This round of financing will accelerate the expansion of its existing product pipeline and swiftly advance towards clinical stages.

Globally, adoptive cell therapy has demonstrated superior disease remission rates and survival benefits compared to chemotherapy and traditional immunotherapy, becoming a hotspot in biopharmaceutical innovation. In recent years, TCR (T cell receptor)-based cell therapies have gradually begun to reveal their unique appeal after years of technological accumulation, particularly in the treatment of advanced malignant solid tumors. The TCR recognition signal is the primary signal for T cell activation in immune surveillance, and TCR can recognize a broader range of intracellular antigens than CAR, leading to the activation of tumor-specific T cells—a crucial step in cellular immune responses against tumors, especially solid tumors. Currently, TCR-T therapies targeting tumor-associated antigens such as MAGE-A4 and NY-ESO-1 have achieved significant efficacy in clinical trials. However, the expandable indications for TCR-T drugs targeting these antigens are relatively limited. A key bottleneck in the TCR-T cell therapy industry is how to discover rare high-affinity and safe natural TCR sequences that target neoantigens generated by tumor driver gene mutations, which cover a broader population of indications.

Because of this, biotech companies focusing on "novel antigen target discovery" and "natural TCR" have been creating increasingly significant waves in the international capital market over the past two years. In March 2022, Affini-T completed a $175 million Series A financing round, expanding the potential application areas of cell therapy to lung cancer, colorectal cancer, and pancreatic cancer; in January 2023, AstraZeneca announced a $320 million acquisition of Neogene, a preclinical TCR-T research and development company, marking its entry into the TCR-T cell therapy sector.

Neowise Biotechnology stays ahead of the industry trend in the discovery of neoantigen-targeting natural TCRs. Its robust discovery platform has accumulated thousands of neoantigen target-natural TCR data pairs, not only removing the final barrier in the TCR-T field and enabling cell therapy to deliver better treatment outcomes for a broader population, but also empowering various drug modalities with high-quality paired data, bringing hope to cancer patients.

Dr. Peng Songming, the founder of the companyExpressed gratitude to both new and existing shareholders for their trust and support, as well as the team for their hard work and dedication. Over the past year, Neowise Biotechnology has overcome the biggest barrier in the TCR-T industry—rapidly obtaining safe and effective natural TCR sequences—and has built a world-leading target antigen-natural TCR library, filling a gap in this field both domestically and internationally. Looking forward to helping more patients with advanced solid tumors in the upcoming clinical trials, striving for more possibilities for every life.

Mr. Zhao Qun, Partner of Yuanhe OriginRepresentatives stated that Yuanhe Origin is very optimistic about the potential of TCR-T therapy in addressing broader and more challenging clinical needs for solid tumors. Since its establishment in 2020, Neowise Biotechnology has been highly focused on the core pain points within the TCR-T industry, successfully overcoming bottlenecks in high-throughput and high-sensitivity discovery of targets and high-affinity natural TCRs. Based on the profound insights of founder Dr. Peng Songming, who has deeply cultivated the frontier field of TCR discovery for many years, along with strong cohesion and high execution within the team, Neowise Biotechnology has rapidly built a highly competitive industry barrier. With extensive full-process experience in TCR-T, the company efficiently advanced its pipeline into the clinical stage. We continue to be optimistic about the company's explosive growth potential and future prospects in the solid tumor treatment field. We look forward to Yuanhe Origin providing support for Neowise Biotechnology’s future development, achieving win-win cooperation.

Ms. Tang Yi, Managing Director of YuanYi CapitalNeowise Biotechnology, with its unique BT+IT platform, unleashes the infinite potential between computation and biology, significantly enhancing the quality and efficiency of TCR discovery, and breaking through key industry bottlenecks. YuanYi values the company's establishment of a globally leading target-TCR database, which holds immense platform and data asset value. The core team possesses rare TCR-T product development and clinical operation experience in both China and the U.S., empowering them to lead the company in rapidly developing within this early-stage, high-growth track, offering more possibilities for patients with solid tumors.

Professor Xu Kaifa, Chairman of GEM GroupIt is reported that Neowise Biotechnology has an innovative team with the mission of serving the life and health of all humanity. In just over a year, with the spirit of perseverance and innovation, they have broken through key industry technologies and built the world's only target antigen-natural TCR library, achieving world-class innovative results, which will bring the gospel of life to more patients with solid tumors! We have high expectations for the future development prospects and value of Neowise Biotechnology, and we will firmly support the continuous innovation of the Neowise Biotechnology team and the clinical application of their innovative achievements.

Mr. Song Jie, Partner of Tonggao CapitalWe are delighted to have the opportunity to collaborate with Neowise Biotechnology and participate in the field of solid tumor immunotherapy. By leveraging its proprietary antigen-T cell receptor discovery platform, the company has built a large database of antigen-TCR pairs covering multiple targets, breaking through industry bottlenecks. With high execution efficiency and solid research work, we believe that under the leadership of Dr. Peng and the collective efforts of the team, Neowise Biotechnology will continue to achieve breakthrough progress.

Mr. Dai Jinsong, Partner of Zhongxin CapitalIn recent years, the development of immune cell therapy technology has advanced rapidly. CAR-T therapy has already demonstrated astonishing efficacy in hematological tumors, while TCR-T therapy, which can specifically recognize intracellular tumor antigens, holds even greater promise to break through the bottleneck of hematological tumors and shine in the field of solid tumors. How to quickly, accurately, and effectively provide patients with cell therapy drugs has been a major pain point困扰 for the TCR-T industry. Neowise Biotechnology, as a representative company深耕 in this field for many years, possesses an international perspective and extensive hands-on experience. The company has analyzed numerous patient samples using its self-developed high-throughput target antigen-TCR screening technology, discovering thousands of TCRs that can specifically recognize tumor neoantigens, and established the world's leading tumor target-natural TCR pairing database. Based on this database, the Neowise team can rapidly select TCRs that specifically recognize a patient’s tumor targets, edit, expand, and functionally validate the patient's own T cells, and finally achieve the therapeutic goal by reinfusing highly specific T cells. We highly recognize the breakthrough contributions made by the Neowise Biotechnology team in this field and look forward to working together with them to witness the successful application of TCR-T therapy in solid tumors.

Ms. Tao Shanshan, Head of the First Investment Department of Leading Venture CapitalNeowise Biotechnology, benefiting from its self-developed high-throughput antigen-TCR screening platform, can quickly identify suitable targets for solid tumor treatment and provide precise cell therapy. Compared with other products in the same field, it has the advantages of a larger number of targets, wider indications, and fewer side effects. Leading Venture Capital highly appreciates the innovative spirit of the project founder and team and is optimistic about the future of the project platform. Meanwhile, the cooperation with Neowise Biotechnology further enhances the biopharmaceutical industry ecosystem of Suzhou Industrial Park and boosts regional innovation capabilities. In the future, Leading Venture Capital will continue to integrate resources from all parties to jointly support the rapid development of Neowise Biotechnology.

Mr. Li Yishi, Senior Partner of Haoyue CapitalWe are honored to assist Neowise Biotechnology in completing this round of financing. In recent years, TCR-based specific recognition technology is bringing vigorous vitality to tumor immunotherapy. TCR can recognize various membrane and intracellular proteins, including tumor-specific targets, thereby unlocking targets that other cell therapies cannot reach. Neowise Biotechnology has successfully established paired data with broad population coverage and high clinical value through its unique high-throughput target antigen-TCR screening and discovery platform, empowering cell therapy to achieve greater value across a wider range of solid tumor patient populations. We believe that, with the support of capital, Neowise Biotechnology will continue to lead the development of the new generation of TCR-T drugs, continuously achieving innovative breakthroughs. We are confident in continuing to support Neowise Biotechnology's subsequent financing and accompanying our client in their rapid growth.

Neowise Biotechnology, Co., Ltd. was founded in 2020 by several returned overseas Ph.D.s with extensive academic and industry experience. It is an innovative company focused on developing TCR-T immunocyte therapeutic drugs for solid tumors, as well as researching clinical treatment technologies and their translation.

Neowise Biotechnology, relying on years of professional expertise and technological innovation, has developed an ultra-high sensitivity target-TCR discovery and validation platform. This breakthrough addresses the bottleneck in TCR-T industry development and establishes the world’s leading database of target-TCR specificity pairings, significantly expanding treatment targets and options for patients with solid tumors. Based on this database, Neowise Biotechnology can rapidly and efficiently screen TCR sequences suitable for treating patients' solid tumors. Subsequently, the company edits, expands, and functionally characterizes the patients’ T cells, then infuses T cells capable of highly specific recognition of tumor antigens, thereby achieving the goal of killing cancer cells and treating tumors.

The company hopes to use the above core technologies to make the development of TCR-like drugs for solid tumors shift from "finding a needle in a haystack" to being "methodical," striving for more possibilities for every life.

Yuanhe Origination is an early-stage equity investment platform under Yuanhe Holdings, operating in a market-oriented and professional manner. It focuses on investment opportunities in technology and healthcare sectors, targeting startups and early-growth companies. The total scale of the funds exceeds 5 billion RMB, including both VC funds and angel funds for specific regions.

Oriza Ventures' investment style focuses on early-stage, prefers technology, and adheres to commitments, enjoying a good reputation among technology-driven early startups. It has currently invested in over 200 high-quality companies, including Ascentage Pharma, CStone Pharmaceuticals, JW Therapeutics, Berry Genomics, Biocytogen, Singleron Biotechnologies, Jiangsu Beiren, Tianzhun Technology, Cambricon, CloudWalk Technology, WeRide, and more.

Yuan Yi Capital was founded in 2016 as an early-stage venture capital fund focused on the digital medical technology sector. Currently, the total scale of its managed RMB and USD funds exceeds 3 billion RMB.

Yuan Yi focuses on investment opportunities in the early and growth stages of digital healthcare, making forward-looking investments in three major infrastructure areas: efficient reach, innovative payment solutions, and efficiency improvements in digital healthcare. Yuan Yi Capital has invested in medical devices and equipment with core technologies and innovative business models, precision diagnostics, mobile healthcare and services, and health insurance technology companies. In recent years, key investments include Shukun Technology, a leader in AI medical imaging; Magna Health, a pioneer in innovative healthcare payment solutions; SoonSolid Technology, a dental 3D printing equipment company; Bedin Medical, a B2B distribution platform for medical devices; and Leono Medical, a specialist in interventional devices for ENT (ear, nose, and throat) treatments.

GEM Co., Ltd., a global leading green ecological manufacturer, was registered and established in Shenzhen in 2001 and listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2010. It is the proposer and leader of the industrial concept of "Limited Resources, Infinite Recycling." GEM has been honored with prestigious awards such as "Forbes China's Top 50 Most Innovative Companies in 2021," "Top 500 Chinese Enterprises by Patent Strength," "Top 500 Chinese Listed Companies by Market Value," "2020 Paulson Prize for Sustainability – Green Innovation Award," and "2018 World Economic Forum Circular Economy Award." As a top-tier enterprise in the global new energy materials industry chain, GEM stands out as an outstanding practitioner in the development of a circular economy and the promotion of green development concepts.

Tonggao Capital was founded in 2014 and has long focused on investments in the healthcare, information security, and industrial automation sectors, with multiple strategic positions along the life sciences and drug development industry chain. The founding partners of the company each have nearly two decades of experience in equity investment. The current investment portfolio includes several outstanding projects such as Bide Pharmaceutical, Colyzer Software, and Fenglei Technology. Data-driven and research-intensive, Tonggao Capital adheres to a value- and growth-oriented approach, relying on a high-caliber investment team and a professional panel of experts. It is committed to identifying technology-driven enterprises with strong growth potential and assisting them in enhancing and realizing their value through multifaceted support.

Suzhou Zhongxin Innovation Investment Management Co., Ltd. (Zhongxin Capital) was established in 2015 as a market-oriented and professional private equity investment institution, with Suzhou Zhongfang Fortune Group Holdings Co., Ltd. and Suzhou Industrial Park Asset Management Co., Ltd. as its main shareholders. Since its establishment, Zhongxin Capital has consistently focused on investment opportunities in the three major sectors of healthcare, semiconductors, and advanced manufacturing, continuously empowering regional industries and innovative enterprises. To date, it has invested in a number of high-quality companies such as CanSino (688185), Carestream Health (688607), Allist Pharmaceuticals (688578), Lepu Medicine (HK02157), SMIC Integration, InnoLight Technology (300308), UCloud (688158), Hillstone Networks (688030), and Jinhong Gas (688106).

Lingjun Venture Capital was established in December 2012, wholly owned by the SME Development Service Center of Suzhou Industrial Park. It is currently the largest policy-based angel investment institution in Suzhou Industrial Park. The funding entity in this round, the Park Science and Technology Innovation Fund, was jointly established with Lingjun Venture Capital as the GP (General Partner) and the Finance and Audit Bureau of Suzhou Industrial Park as the LP (Limited Partner). The first phase of the fund has a total scale of 1.5 billion yuan, focusing on key areas of strategic emerging industries such as biomedicine, nanotechnology applications, and artificial intelligence, supporting technology-based and innovative enterprises within the zone to grow and thrive.

TF Capital Focuses on Venture Investments in the Life Sciences Sector, Primarily Targeting Promising Early-Stage and Growth-Stage Enterprises. Through Diversified and Strategic Layouts, TF Capital Selects High-Quality Partners to Seize Opportunities Amidst the Rapid Development of China’s Life Sciences Industry. The Investment Team Brings Years of Experience and Industry Resources to Collaborate with Portfolio Companies for Accelerated Growth.

HaoYue Capital, founded in January 2014, is a leading investment bank in China that focuses on the healthcare industry. Headquartered in Shanghai, the company has regional offices in Beijing and Shenzhen. HaoYue Capital is committed to leveraging capital and research-driven insights to help outstanding enterprises in China's healthcare industry successfully access the capital markets, creating added value for its clients. The partnership team at HaoYue Capital consists of seasoned investment bankers with deep expertise in China’s healthcare sector, supported by a professional team of over 70 members. HaoYue Capital consistently tracks the dynamics and investment trends in the healthcare market, covering innovative pharmaceuticals, cutting-edge medical devices, IVD and life sciences, health services, and smart healthcare. As of 2022, HaoYue Capital completed over 300 projects with a cumulative transaction value exceeding tens of billions of US dollars; including more than 50 M&A and restructuring deals totaling over 5 billion US dollars. In 2022, HaoYue Capital executed more than 50 private equity financings, M&A integrations, and complex spin-off transactions from listed companies, with a total transaction volume amounting to billions of US dollars, maintaining its leadership across various sub-sectors of the healthcare industry.