Chuangjian Medical Secures Over RMB 200 Million in Series B Funding Led by L Catterton and CLSA Capital to Accelerate Global Expansion

On September 16, Jiangsu Trautec Medical Technology Co., Ltd. (Trautec) successfully signed its Series B financing agreement. The round raised over RMB 200 million, jointly led by L Catterton’s first RMB fund—the largest global investor focused on the full consumer lifecycle—and CITIC CLSA Capital, the global US-dollar private equity investment platform under CITIC Securities. Chuangdongfang Investment and Mingfeng Capital participated as follow-on investors. The proceeds will primarily be used to advance industrialization, develop innovative technologies, and expand into overseas markets.

Previously, TRAUTEC completed a nearly RMB 200 million Series A financing round in July 2022, led by Shiseido’s Ziyue Fund, with participation from Huafang Capital, CDH Baifu, and Huali Pharmaceutical. Within just over a year, the company secured two consecutive rounds of financing, gaining favor from renowned domestic and international investment funds.

TRAUTEC is an innovation-driven, full-chain synthetic biology platform enterprise. It operates a biosynthesis platform and a medical device translation platform, focusing on the research, development, production, and sales of novel biomaterials, innovative functional proteins, nucleic acid therapeutics, food ingredients, and new medical devices.

Over the past two years, TRAUTEC has achieved breakthrough progress in the research and development of recombinant collagen technology, green manufacturing, and product commercialization. The company holds five authorized patents for core sequences of recombinant collagen, and six datasets on the protein structures of related recombinant collagen functional domains have been included in the US Protein Data Bank (PDB). TRAUTEC has successively participated in key national R&D programs under the 13th and 14th Five-Year Plans, as well as multiple provincial and municipal R&D projects, establishing itself as a leader in China’s recombinant collagen industry.

The company applies cutting-edge synthetic biology technologies to provide green, sustainable, and innovative raw material products for the medical, beauty, personal care, and nutrition markets through high-end biomanufacturing. To date, it has served more than 30 listed companies.

Qian Song, CEO of TRAUTEC, stated, “We are deeply grateful for the steadfast recognition and thoughtful support from our investors, and we look forward to establishing in-depth partnerships with partners possessing international backgrounds. Having successfully completed two consecutive rounds of financing, TRAUTEC has garnered favor from industrial stakeholders, luxury brand funds, and renowned market investment institutions. We have also received business support from partners at these investment firms, aggregating abundant industry resources, all of which serve as a significant source of encouragement. With a global vision, TRAUTEC will continue to leverage its leading technologies to strengthen its R&D capabilities in synthetic biology, develop and reserve novel biomaterials, establish overseas sales networks, and advance the internationalization of Chinese synthetic biomaterials.”

This round of financing injects new momentum into TRAUTEC’s efforts to refine its industrial chain layout. The company will fully leverage the resource advantages of its investors, seize current development opportunities, enhance its market competitiveness in innovation and industrialization, and continue to deepen its strategic presence in the synthetic biology sector.

L CattertonChen Yue, Managing Partner at Asia Fund Management, stated that“China’s beauty and personal care market is in a phase of rapid growth. TRAUTEC has not only recognized consumers’ growing desire for aesthetic enhancement and their high expectations for product efficacy, but also leveraged its strong R&D foundation and acute business acumen to achieve a leading position in the commercialization landscape of the synthetic biology industry. Over the past three”0Over the years, LVCapital has accumulated extensive investment experience and industry resources in the global beauty and personal care market. We look forward to facilitating commercial partnerships between the company and world-class skincare brands and channel partners, thereby helping to advance overseas business expansion and enhance brand momentum.”

CITICHu Baifeng, Head of Leon Capital, stated:“Synthetic biology represents a new mode of production, with research and industrial development advancing rapidly in recent years. As a leading platform-based synthetic biology enterprise in China, TRAUTEC has successfully resolved the long-standing industry challenges surrounding the large-scale and standardized production of recombinant collagen, advancing China’s”Consumer HealthcareThe market is becoming increasingly standardized. It is hoped that the TRAUTEC team will further leverage its accumulated expertise and advantages in the field of innovative biomaterials to accelerateDevelopment of Class III medical device products, leading the development of China's recombinant collagen industry chain.”

Lu Gang of Chuang Dongfang Investment stated that collagen is poised to become a major blockbuster product in the future of consumer healthcare, with industry trends already taking shape. Leveraging its proprietary technology platform, TRAUTEC has taken the lead in achieving mass production within the industry and has successively developed multiple new collagen variants, demonstrating forward-looking industry insight and profound technical expertise. Chuang Dongfang also highly recognizes the executive team led by Qian Song, expecting the team to drive the company’s continued rapid growth and steer the direction of the industry. Furthermore, Chuang Dongfang will actively facilitate industrial resource connections for TRAUTEC to support its development.

Dr. Wang Xinliang, Partner at Mingfeng Capital, stated:“TRAUTEC has been a company we have closely monitored and tracked for over three years, and we are delighted to have the opportunity to partner with it for mutual growth. Mingfeng Capital remains focused on the applications of innovative biomaterials, represented by recombinant collagen, in both medical and consumer sectors, while also paying close attention to product commercialization driven by innovative technologies such as synthetic biology. As a key pillar of our consumer healthcare ecosystem, TRAUTEC demonstrates significant long-term value through its innovation and stable production capabilities at the raw material stage, as well as its end-to-end integration capacity from raw materials to finished products. We look forward to seeing TRAUTEC bring innovative Chinese products to the global market and grow into a renowned international enterprise.”

L Catterton (Chinese name: Luwei Kaiteng) was founded in 1989 and is the world’s largest private equity investment management firm focused exclusively on the consumer sector. It operates nine investment platforms across five continents, including its flagship buyout fund, growth fund, Latin America fund, Europe fund, Asia fund, RMB fund, and real estate fund. The firm currently manages approximately $34 billion in assets under management (AUM), equivalent to about RMB 250 billion. With over three decades of deep engagement in the global consumer market, L Catterton has completed nearly 300 investments across various consumer sectors worldwide, leveraging its industry-leading cross-regional expertise and multidimensional insights. Its key focus areas include food and beverage, general health and wellness, pets, new retail, beauty and personal care, cross-border expansion, healthcare services, and consumer technology.

CLSA Capital was established in 1995 and serves as the sole, wholly-owned US dollar private equity investment platform of CITIC Securities. As a pioneer in private equity in Asia, CLSA Capital has accumulated 28 years of industry experience, serving over 200 global institutional investors, including pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, funds of funds, charitable foundations, endowment funds, family offices, and other professional investors. Headquartered in Hong Kong, CLSA Capital maintains branch offices in Beijing, Shenzhen, Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul, London, and Mumbai. CLSA Capital is a member of CLSA, Asia’s leading capital markets and investment group. The parent company of CLSA is CITIC Securities (SSE: 600030, HKEX: 6030).

Launched by CLSA Capital, its flagship China-focused US dollar private equity fund leverages CITIC Securities’ strong local advantages and primary market resources in China to provide global clients with one-stop access to the Chinese primary market. The fund invests in strategic emerging industries, primarily intelligent manufacturing, new energy, healthcare, and TMT, creating superior investment returns for global investors through a rigorous selection of high-quality projects.

Shenzhen Chuangdongfang Investment Co., Ltd. was established in August 2007 as a professional institution specializing in equity investments in small and medium-sized science and technology innovation enterprises. Chuangdongfang has received recognition and capital contributions from national ministries (such as the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Science and Technology), local government guidance funds, and other institutional investors. The total scale of various investment funds under its management exceeds RMB 25 billion, with over 300 cumulative investment projects, more than one-third of which have exited through IPOs, the New Third Board, mergers and acquisitions, and other methods. Chuangdongfang primarily invests in fields driven by underlying technological innovations or innovative applications, including new manufacturing (hard technology, new materials), big IT (AI, big data), big health (biotechnology), and big consumption (tech consumer goods). On May 30, 2022, it was honored as one of the “Top 20 Best Chinese Investment Institutions of 2021” by Zero2IPO Research. On December 23, 2022, it was recognized as one of the “Top 50 Venture Capital Firms in China for 2022” by Zero2IPO Group. For nearly 12 years, Chuangdongfang has consistently ranked among the top 20 Chinese investment institutions.

Chuang Dongfang Investment places particular emphasis on investments in the healthcare sector, with a strategic focus on both “consumer healthcare” and “innovative healthcare.” It is actively building a comprehensive healthcare ecosystem to empower its portfolio companies and looks forward to collaborating with more outstanding entrepreneurial partners to share in mutual growth.

Mingfeng Capital is a professional private equity investment firm focused on the healthcare and wellness sector. Established in 2015, it is a qualified private fund manager registered with the Asset Management Association of China (AMAC), with assets under management nearing RMB 1 billion. Mingfeng Capital has consistently concentrated its investments on the consumer healthcare segment.