CATUG Biotechnology Secures Nearly RMB 100 Million in New Financing to Accelerate Global CRDMO Capabilities for Nucleic Acid Therapeutics

Recently, Catug Biotechnology (CATUG Biotechnology) announced the completion of a new round of financing amounting to nearly RMB 100 million. This round was led by Efung Capital and Zhiyi Investment, with participation from Oriza Holdings and Suzhou Industrial Park Science and Technology Innovation Fund.

Catug, founded in 2021, has been dedicated to the field of advanced therapies since its inception, focusing on innovative CRDMO services for nucleic acid drugs. Amidst a complex market environment characterized by the pandemic and industry cycles, the company has received strong support from multiple investors and rapidly ascended to the first tier of CDMOs in the nucleic acid therapy sector within three years. The funds from this round will be used to expand Catug’s overseas operations and upgrade its end-to-end CRDMO service capabilities, thereby solidifying the company’s core competitiveness in the nucleic acid drug technology landscape.

Dr. Wang Xiao, Co-founder and CEO of CatugStatement: We express our gratitude to both new and existing shareholders and partners for their support and recognition of Catug, which have strengthened our confidence, enabled us to pursue steady growth amidst market cycles, and motivated us to forge ahead with determination. This financing will further solidify Catug’s first-mover technological advantage in the nucleic acid therapeutics sector, providing sustained momentum for expanding our overseas operations and delivering customized services across various fields of advanced therapies. Leveraging its innovative application capabilities in DNA and RNA technologies, Catug will continue to empower clients and the industry in frontier areas such as infectious disease vaccines, universal/personalized cancer vaccines, gene therapy, gene editing, in vivo and ex vivo cell therapy, and animal vaccines. By empowering life through technology, we aim to accelerate the availability of innovative therapies to a broader patient population through new quality productive forces.

Mr. Zhu Pai, CEO of Efung CapitalStatement: We are highly optimistic about Catug’s technical strength and growth potential in the research, development, and manufacturing of innovative therapies, particularly its leading position in the end-to-end GMP production of plasmid-mRNA-LNP formulations. With the successful clinical application of commercial nucleic acid vaccines and therapeutics, the advantages and potential of nucleic acid technology have been fully validated, and the market size is expected to experience explosive growth in the future. Catug’s technological reserves and project experience in this frontier field will yield long-term developmental benefits, accelerating the market launch of innovative drugs and addressing unmet therapeutic needs.

Mr. Zhao Fu, Founder and CEO of Zhiyi InvestmentStatement: As a long-standing shareholder of Catug, Zhiyi Investment will continue to support and empower Catug in strengthening its position on the international stage as a CRDMO for nucleic acid drugs within the CGT (mRNA, Cell and Gene Therapy) sector. Committed to becoming a one-stop service platform covering the entire industry chain for advanced therapies in global gene and cell therapy drugs and nucleic acid drugs, Catug has positioned its process technology and quality systems for the global market since its inception. Currently, Catug’s technical prowess is widely regarded by the international industry as a “dark horse” in the field of nucleic acid drug manufacturing. We firmly believe that Catug will further consolidate its leading position in the CRDMO industry, grow into an industry leader, play a more significant role in the booming wave of nucleic acid medicine, and benefit patients worldwide through technological innovation.

Catug is an innovative technology company focused on the development and application of new technologies in biopharmaceuticals. It is committed to providing one-stop, full-chain CRDMO services for global nucleic acid therapies and gene therapy, covering drug R&D, quality research, clinical applications, and industrialization. The company has operational bases in China, the United States, and Switzerland, with R&D centers and GMP industrialization bases located in Suzhou and Wuhan. Catug’s core team members hail from top international and domestic biotechnology companies, as well as renowned universities and research institutions both in China and abroad, bringing extensive industrial technical and management expertise in the fields of gene therapy and nucleic acid therapy. Leveraging four core technical service platforms—high-quality large-scale plasmid process development and production, end-to-end process development and production for mRNA synthesis and delivery, nucleic acid analytical methods, and quality research—Catug aims to build a leading process technology platform and become a benchmark in the next generation of innovative biotechnology industries.

Efung Capital is one of the earliest professional biomedical investment institutions in China. Its investment team comprises PhDs in biomedical sciences from top-tier universities both domestically and internationally. Focusing on global venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) investments in the biomedical sector, Efung Capital has rigorously screened and invested in high-quality enterprises both within and outside China, including Chipscreen Biosciences, Frontier Biotechnologies, Ascentage Pharma, Pumen Technology, Harbour BioMed, Obio Technology, Yihua Pharmaceuticals, 3D Medicines, ZhenShi Biology, Apexigen, Centrexion, and Elicio.With outstanding investment performance and exceptional investment research capabilities, Efung Capital has repeatedly received industry accolades, earning numerous honors such as the Top 30 Healthcare Investment Institutions of the Year (Zero2IPO), the Top 100 Chinese Venture Capital Firms (Zero2IPO), the Top 10 Best Exit Cases of the Year (China Venture), the Top 10 Best Biomedical Investment Institutions of the Year (China Venture), the Top 30 Best Venture Capital Firms in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area of the Year (China Venture), the Top 30 Best Healthcare Investment Institutions of the Year (Fund of Funds), and China’s Most Dynamic Drug Innovation Investment Institution. For consecutive years, it has been rated as one of the “Top Ten Venture Capital Firms in Shenzhen” and was featured in an exclusive interview by the world-renowned journal Nature.Efung aims to drive the industrialization of biotechnological achievements through capital. After years of accumulation, Efung has established a philosophy centered on entrepreneurs and grounded in value creation. It has built a seasoned and distinctive professional investment team and adheres to a systematic operational model integrating investment, financing, risk control, management, and service (“five-in-one”). Efung is committed to becoming a people-oriented, trustworthy, and enduringly excellent investment institution.

InnoVision Capital, established in 2016 by former senior executives from KKR’s Asia team—the world’s largest private equity firm—is a representative next-generation private equity (PE) institution in Asia. With 21 years of successful M&A and investment experience at top-tier international institutions, the team adheres to world-class investment and risk management principles, focusing on ESG and M&A investment opportunities with significant growth potential in Asia and China. InnoVision Capital manages nearly RMB 20 billion in assets, overseeing three RMB-denominated comprehensive PE funds and one USD-denominated PE fund. As a leading next-generation PE firm in Asia, InnoVision Capital combines global perspective with deep industry resources to identify M&A and investment opportunities in ESG, green and low-carbon sustainable development within the green economy (including life sciences and food security), and AI applications in related sectors. The firm focuses on industry leaders with global competitiveness and substantial growth potential. Its portfolio includes numerous enterprises with globally leading technologies, strong product capabilities, and dominant market positions both domestically and internationally. Since its inception, InnoVision Capital has successfully invested in leading companies across various sectors, including KE Holdings, JD Logistics, China Securities Co., Ltd., WuXi AppTec, Kuaishou, Inovance Technology, Wanhua Chemical, Lvkong Transmission, ESWIN Computing, 58 Group, Qingniu Software, Hongyun Rongtong, NewForesight, iCell Bioscience, Catug Biotechnology, Kedou Medical, and Tian’e Daojia. Historically, the InnoVision Capital team has led numerous successful investments and M&A transactions in the green economy and other sectors, such as United Environment Technologies (later acquired by CITIC Group), Mengniu Dairy, Modern Farming, Far East Horizon, Ping An Insurance, Belle International, CICC, Jinpan Technology, iSoftStone, and COFCO Jiajiakang.

Since its establishment in 2001, Oriza Holdings has focused on the field of equity investment, with assets under management exceeding RMB 100 billion, making it one of China’s leading equity investment firms. Since its inception, the firm has prioritized investment opportunities in emerging industries such as integrated circuits, biopharmaceuticals, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology applications, cloud computing, and big data, adhering to its commitment to supporting the real economy and promoting industrial transformation and upgrading. To date, it has made direct investments in over 1,400 projects, and its fund-of-funds has invested in 174 sub-funds.

The Suzhou Industrial Park Science and Technology Innovation Fund was jointly established with the Finance and Audit Bureau of Suzhou Industrial Park as the Limited Partner (LP) and Lingjun Venture Capital as the General Partner (GP). With a total size of RMB 1.5 billion for its first phase, the fund focuses on key strategic emerging industries such as biopharmaceuticals, nanotechnology applications, and artificial intelligence. By adopting a combination of direct investment and grant-linked investment, it supports technology-based and innovative enterprises within the park in achieving greater scale, quality, and strength. Established in December 2012, Lingjun Venture Capital, the GP of the Suzhou Industrial Park Science and Technology Innovation Fund, is wholly owned by the Suzhou Industrial Park Enterprise Development Service Center. It is currently the largest policy-oriented angel investment institution in Suzhou Industrial Park, playing an active role in supporting the park’s efforts to attract high-end talent, accelerate enterprise growth, and foster a technological innovation ecosystem.