Yinjia Bio Completes Nearly RMB 100 Million Series A Financing to Accelerate Expansion of Synthetic Biology Platform for Core Protein Ingredients

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) learned第一时间 that on January 8, 2023, YINJIA BIOSCIENCES, a leading protein technology platform company in China, announced the completion of a nearly 100-million-yuan A round of financing, led by China Merchant Bank International Capital Management (Shenzhen) Ltd., with participation from Suzhou Xinhesheng Investment Fund.

YINJIA BIOSCIENCES, founded just two years ago, has completed three rounds of external financing, accumulating hundreds of millions of yuan. In earlier rounds of financing, YINJIA BIOSCIENCES also brought in top investment institutions from the medical field, such as CDH Investments, Gao Rong Capital, and Fosun R-Capital.

It is reported that the current round of financing of YINJIA BIOSCIENCES will provide sufficient assurance for the company to further enhance its product exports and strengthen cooperation with global enterprises. In addition, YINJIA BIOSCIENCES, while continuing to solidify its unique protein optimization platform, is also enhancing its capabilities based on microbial genetic engineering and protein engineering, accelerating the construction of a new synthetic biology technology platform, and injecting new options and vitality into the development of various innovative high-end proteins.

Since its establishment two years ago, YINJIA BIOSCIENCES has focused on high-barrier core protein raw materials and has actively developed companion diagnostic products to support innovative therapies that have matured in recent years. To date, the company has successfully developed more than 50 high-end proteins, covering cutting-edge fields such as cell therapy, mRNA vaccines, closed-loop RNA, new drug development, molecular diagnostics, and companion diagnostics for cancer therapeutics. Some of these developments are the first of their kind in China, including calcineurin (PP2B), adenylyl cyclase, specialized proteins for non-viral vectors in cell therapy, and novel antibodies for liver and gastric cancer companion diagnostics. Additionally, a range of raw materials comparable to imported products, such as sequencing-grade recombinant trypsin, diagnostic quality control materials, and protein cytokines, have received high recognition from customers.

VCBeat has also learned that since its establishment, YINJIA BIOSCIENCES has placed high importance on external cooperation to jointly build an industrial ecosystem. In the past year, YINJIA BIOSCIENCES has established research and development collaborations with over 30 globally leading life science enterprises and scientific research institutes, including the Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Immunology, Shanghai Pharmaceutical Connaught, Zhiyu Biotech, and Quanxinquanyi, to promote the launch of a series of innovative products with greater efficiency.

Dr. Wu Yifei, founder and CEO of YINJIA BIOSCIENCES, stated: "2022 has been a challenging period akin to a capital winter, and we are extremely grateful for the recognition and trust from China Merchant Bank International Capital Management (Shenzhen) Ltd. and Xinhuo Guoqing Fund. YINJIA BIOSCIENCES has always adhered to its original mission of becoming the 'protein craftsman' serving the global life sciences sector and other fields. We will continue to develop high-quality, hard-to-imitate, highly stable, and cost-effective premium protein raw materials that can rival top international brands, thereby supporting the industry's rapid growth. At the same time, we fully recognize that the R&D and production of core raw materials involve multiple disciplines, complex processes, high barriers, and a wide variety of categories. This is where interdisciplinary fields intersect and innovation originates, necessitating broader cooperation mechanisms and joint efforts across the entire industrial chain. The successful completion of this new round of financing will accelerate our progress in refining the depth and breadth of our comprehensive protein platform and establishing a new platform in synthetic biology, enabling us to move faster and more steadily. In the future, YINJIA BIOSCIENCES will continue to enhance the efficiency of developing and optimizing multi-category premium proteins and meet the needs of scaled industrial production."

Dr. Chen Zhenrui, Executive Director of China Merchant Bank International Capital Management (Shenzhen) Ltd., stated: "The current biopharmaceutical industry in China is entering a period of transformation. We are actively seeking investment opportunities in companies that are committed to solving the 'bottleneck' technological challenges domestically and continuously innovating independently, enabling them to compete on the international stage alongside other key players. Under the leadership of Dr. Wu Yifei, YINJIA BIOSCIENCES focuses on the development of high-end proteins. The company has a clear positioning, with production processes and quality control benchmarked against top international brands. Since its establishment, the company has successfully developed more than 50 types of high-end proteins, with products covering cutting-edge innovative fields such as cell therapy, mRNA vaccines, and new drug research and development. These are precisely what the domestic and international industrial development urgently needs. We will stand shoulder to shoulder with the company, supporting it to grow into a leader in the high-end protein field."

Dr. Peng Xiaoxiao, Investment Director of Xincheng Fund, stated: "Dr. Wu Yifei has profound expertise in the field of protein raw material development and has solved protein raw material challenges for numerous leading biopharmaceutical companies both domestically and internationally. He possesses top-tier capabilities in recombinant protein design and process development. Under Dr. Wu’s leadership, YINJIA BIOSCIENCES has rapidly built a protein development platform within two years and successfully developed dozens of high-activity, high-quality protein raw materials, demonstrating his team's efficient execution, excellent management skills, and an exceptional spirit of perseverance. We look forward to YINJIA BIOSCIENCES, under Dr. Wu's guidance, achieving independent innovation in high-end, China-produced protein raw materials, overcoming the 'bottleneck' issues in the upstream life sciences sector, and steadily expanding into other significant areas related to people’s livelihood, such as food, agriculture, and the environment."

YINJIA BIOSCIENCES, a technology-driven innovative company focusing on the application of proteins in biomedicine and other fields, has a technical team composed of senior returned overseas doctors and masters with rich industrialization experience. The team has successfully expressed and mass-produced nearly a hundred difficult proteins based on their extensive expertise. YINJIA BIOSCIENCES currently has research and development centers in Pujiang Town Science Park in Minhang District, Shanghai, and in Yizhuang Development Zone, Beijing, as well as a GMP product manufacturing center in Suzhou Industrial Park. By designing complex protein structures and functions and leveraging its unique computer simulation and high-throughput screening platforms, the company develops high-quality, hard-to-imitate, and highly stable protein raw materials that can rival international top-tier products. Since its establishment, it has developed products covering a series of niche areas including new drug R&D, diagnostics, vaccines, and cell therapy. It has also completed parallel performance comparisons with imported products and conducted inter-batch difference/stability studies. Additionally, it is making significant progress in personalized medication guidance (companion and auxiliary diagnostics) and quality control evaluation testing reagents for biological agents. As the platform continues to improve and iterate, YINJIA BIOSCIENCES' technologies and products will have even greater cross-industry scalability, providing stable and reliable products and services to more industries.

China Merchants Bank International ("CMBI") is a comprehensive financial services institution based in Hong Kong, deeply rooted in mainland China, and oriented towards the global market. As a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Merchants Bank Co., Ltd., CMBI and its subsidiaries leverage the group's synergy and linkage advantages across borders, relying on the strong strength and excellent social reputation of the parent bank, actively implement a diversified business strategy, and comprehensively cover business sectors such as corporate finance, asset management, wealth management, global markets, and structured finance. Adhering to the business philosophy of "customer-centric, creating value for customers, thereby achieving self-value growth," CMBI is committed to providing professional and high-quality integrated financial services to institutional, corporate, and individual clients globally, including Hong Kong IPO sponsorship and underwriting, listed company placements and rights issues, financial advisory, bond issuance services, asset management, direct investment, wealth management, and equity sales and trading.

Suzhou Xinhesheng Guoqing Fund, initiated by Innovent Biologics and Oriza Holdings as general partners and operated under the leadership of Innovent Biologics, is a venture capital fund managed by Suzhou Xincheng Private Equity Fund Management Co., Ltd. ("Xincheng Fund"). The fund aims to actively implement the national innovation development strategy, focus on cutting-edge development opportunities in the life health industry, leverage industrial strengths and unique advantages, and support the high-quality development of innovative enterprises. The fund primarily invests in leading companies in the fields of innovative drugs, biotechnology, and related industrial chains, with an emphasis on empowering next-generation biopharmaceuticals and breakthrough technologies to address unmet clinical needs.