Single-Cell Biotech Firm StarsBiotech Secures Strategic Investment Led by Moutai Innovation Fund

Recently, eCyte, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as “eCyte”) announced the completion of a strategic financing round, introducing Moutai Sci-Tech Innovation (Beijing) Investment Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership) (hereinafter referred to as “Moutai Fund”) as a strategic investor.This round of financing will further deepen eCyte’s industrial collaborations in the baijiu brewing sector, accelerate the deployment of its “Raman-omics” technology and related product series in industrial applications, prioritize the development of eCyte’s globally leading single-cell Raman analysis–sorting–sequencing–culturing solutions, and further strengthen international brand building and global market expansion.

eCyte has been deeply engaged in the biotechnology sector for many years, focusing on the field of single-cell analysis and sorting. The company is dedicated to characterizing single-cell metabolic phenotypic information using its innovative “Raman-omics” technology, detecting the “heterogeneity” of cellular metabolic functions, and providing a correlated “panoramic” perspective at single-cell resolution for multi-omics research (including genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics).

The innovative concept of the “Ramanome” was first proposed by the Single-Cell Center team founded by Dr. Xu Jian (Director of the Single-Cell Center, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences) and Dr. Ma Bo (Deputy Director of the Single-Cell Center), co-founders of eCyte.

Raman-omics is a broadly applicable, non-invasive, high spatiotemporal resolution single-cell metabolic phenotyping platform, designed to address the core bottlenecks in detecting and utilizing the metabolic functions of living single cells within biological systems: (1) label-free, non-destructive, and rapid identification; (2) real-time, comprehensive characterization; and (3) high-throughput, high-precision sorting. A series of original achievements demonstrate that Raman-omics can quantitatively translate intracellular molecular spectra into information on substrate metabolism, product synthesis, stress resistance, environmental responses, networks of compound interconversion, intercellular metabolic interactions, and cell types, reflecting the real-time status of cells.

Leveraging its proprietary “Ramanome” technology, eCyte has independently developed a series of single-cell Raman analysis and sorting instruments. These include FlowRACS®, the world’s first high-throughput flow Raman cell sorter (supported by the 2022 National Key R&D Program project on “Basic Scientific Research Conditions and Development of Major Scientific Instruments and Equipment”); RACS-Seq®, the industry’s only single-cell Raman optical tweezers sorter capable of simultaneously capturing both the “phenotype” (metabolic phenome) and “genotype” (whole genome) at single-cell resolution; and EasySort Compact, a single-cell microdroplet sorter enabling “what-you-see-is-what-you-get” sorting under bright-field and fluorescence microscopy. Additionally, eCyte offers compatible microfluidic chip consumables, establishing a novel platform for “function-targeted live single-cell analysis and sorting” to provide users with “high-precision, high-efficiency, and high-quality” single-cell analysis and sorting solutions.

This original Raman-omics equipment platform eliminates the need for fluorescent labeling and preserves cell viability, thereby enabling direct integration with live-cell resource mining. Furthermore, its broad-spectrum applicability to various human, animal, plant, and microbial cells truly realizes “on-demand detection and selection of cellular metabolic functions.”

In the realm of cellular resource mining, eCyte’s instrumental products have broken through the limitations of the traditional “culture-first, screen-later” research paradigm, pioneering an innovative “screen-first, culture-later” strategy that eliminates the need for fluorescent probe labeling. This approach significantly enhances the detection and cultivation efficiency of target cells with specific metabolic functions, providing a novel instrumental tool for major industrial needs such as microbial resource mining from environmental samples via culture-free, in situ metabolic function-based methods, industrial strain breeding, and large-scale mutant library screening in synthetic biology.

Meanwhile, leveraging the advantages of Raman spectroscopy, including label-free detection, rich metabolic information, rapid analysis, high throughput, and low cost,eCyte’s products enable real-time, single-cell-resolution monitoring of metabolic functions during traditional fermentation processes, thereby facilitating refined process management and accelerating the precision, automation, and intelligent transformation of industrial fermentation.Raman datasets are poised to become a new form of big data for the biomanufacturing and synthetic biology industries.

Leveraging the powerful capabilities of its Raman cytometry instrument series, eCyte is actively expanding the application of its technologies and products across multiple key industries. The company’s next-generation solutions for microbial metabolic process detection and cell sorting currently cover several target sectors, including baijiu brewing, food, preservatives, probiotics, and fermentation.As the lead entity for the application development and demonstration project, Kweichow Moutai Co., Ltd. participated in the 2022 National Key R&D Program project on “Basic Scientific Research Conditions and Development of Major Scientific Instruments and Equipment,” hosted by eCyte. Together, they advanced the application of single-cell Raman spectroscopy in solid-state fermentation processes, injecting scientific and technological innovation into traditional brewing techniques.

Co-founder Ma Bo, Ph.D.“We are deeply grateful for the trust placed in us by Moutai Fund and for the long-term support of our existing investors. This round of strategic financing is built upon the long-standing, in-depth collaborative relationships we have established with our industry partners. Leveraging over a decade of interdisciplinary research accumulation, eCyte has progressively expanded into industrial applications such as detection of microbiome metabolic processes, single-cell screening and quality control of probiotics, and identification and sorting of single-cell metabolic phenotypes in humans, animals, and plants, thereby delivering customized, personalized comprehensive solutions to our partners.”eCyte will continue to strengthen its efforts in systemic solutions, functional application scenarios, and fully automated industrial instruments. Focusing on the fields of bio-manufacturing, synthetic biology, microbiome detection, biopharmaceuticals, and cell therapy, eCyte will collaborate with industry leaders to establish and promote advanced technical standards based on principle and equipment innovation, thereby accelerating the comprehensive transition from scientific research to industrial application.”