Spatomics Secures Tens of Millions in Angel Funding to Build Indigenous Single-Cell Spatial Multi-Omics Platform

VCBeat recently learned that in July 2023, Suzhou Yuanxing Intelligent Manufacturing Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Yuanxing Intelligent Manufacturing”) announced the completion of its angel-round financing amounting to tens of millions of yuan, led by Xianfeng Qiyun and participated in by Shangshi Capital and Chang’an Private Capital. The proceeds from this round will support the R&D, production, and commercialization of the company’s terminal products. Headquartered in Suzhou Industrial Park, Yuanxing Intelligent Manufacturing is committed to creating an internationally leading, domestically pioneering, end-to-end general solution for single-cell spatial multi-omics with independent intellectual property rights, aiming to meet the extensive market demands in scientific research, translational medicine, pharmaceutical R&D, and precision diagnosis and treatment of clinical oncology.

In recent years, detection technologies in the life sciences have advanced from the macroscopic level to the single-cell level. Spatial multi-omics represents the next technological iteration following single-cell technologies. By providing precise spatial coordinates and quantitative information on cells and their biomarkers, it enables researchers and clinicians to gain new dimensions of understanding into complex biological processes and disease physiology. In 2020, this technology was named Method of the Year by Nature Methods. In 2022, spatial multi-omics was again listed among the seven most noteworthy technologies of the year by Nature. On the industrial front, major life science corporations and startups are actively positioning themselves in this field, including IVD giant Roche Diagnostics, leading single-cell analysis company 10x Genomics, and Harvard-affiliated startup Vizgen. Cumulative mergers, acquisitions, and financing in this sector over the past two years have exceeded $1 billion. According to market assessments by JPMorgan Chase, the global potential market size for spatial omics exceeds $15 billion. The spatial omics sector in China is still in its nascent stage, harboring substantial commercial opportunities.

Spatial omics primarily utilizes tissue sections, which are the gold standard for immunological research and tumor pathological diagnosis and treatment. Traditional detection methods can only assay one to two markers at a time with limited precision, offering restricted guidance for research and clinical diagnosis. In recent years, although innovative spatial omics tools have rapidly evolved, significantly expanding the capacity for marker detection in tissue section samples, several critical pain points persist within the field. These include the lack of high-quality, high-throughput automated solutions; the high cost of instruments and consumables; the inability to simultaneously optimize key performance metrics such as multiplexity and sensitivity; the difficulty in performing simultaneous multi-omics measurements; and the instability in measuring formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples, which are the most common specimens in practical applications. Due to exceptionally high technical barriers, currently only a few upstream companies in Europe and the United States offer partial solutions to these industry challenges. Domestic manufacturers in China are still largely at the stage of OEM production or imitating Western products, with original technology providers being extremely scarce.

Yuanxing Intelligent Manufacturing is dedicated to building a core tool platform for innovative single-cell spatial multi-omics with global competitiveness and independent intellectual property rights, committed to addressing multiple technological gaps both domestically and internationally, and empowering various applications in translational medicine, innovative drug research, and clinical scenarios.Yuanxing Intelligent Manufacturing, leveraging its wholly owned intellectual property and globally leading technologies, has achieved multi-dimensional breakthroughs in engineering design and reagent development. The principle prototype independently developed by its R&D team is currently the only fully automated, end-to-end, high-performance single-cell spatial multi-omics instrument worldwide that integrates tissue section pretreatment, antigen retrieval, staining, imaging, and image preprocessing. It features subcellular resolution, simultaneous high-sensitivity detection of 100+ proteins and RNA, and high-throughput capability. This system is combined with its exclusive, patented CFP reagents.^TMThe technology achieves full compatibility with existing commercially available antibody and nucleic acid probes, enabling users to rapidly upgrade their systems at low cost while delivering the world’s best sensitivity and fastest detection speed for FFPE samples. These key technological capabilities, which significantly outperform competitors in engineering design and reagent performance, provide Yuanxing Zhizao with a unique advantage as it enters the translational research and clinical diagnostics markets.

All founding team members of Yuanxing Intelligent Manufacturing possess over 10 years of experience at top-tier enterprises, with more than half holding doctoral degrees.Dr. Rui Zheng, the company’s founder and CEO, previously led the development of the Ion Chef, the world’s first fully automated next-generation sequencing library preparation instrument, at life sciences giant Thermo Fisher Scientific.^TM, the world's only fully automated end-to-end sequencer Ion Genxus^TM、The World's Best-Selling Digital PCR Instrument: QuantStudio^TM, led the development of the world’s first fully automated single-cell proteomics analyzer, IsoLight, at IsoPlexis, a leading company in the single-cell field^TMand its second-generation product, IsoSpark^TM, led the development of Duomic, the world’s only ultra-high-throughput single-cell multi-omics tool platform, as the primary inventor^TMand the world's first fully automated ultra-high-coverage proteomics platform, CodePlex^TMcommercialization.The products he developed have generated over $1 billion in total revenue, helping IsoPlexis achieve key commercialization milestones and successfully launch to the market. Following the merger of IsoPlexis and Berkeley Lights into PhenomeX, he also spearheaded the development planning for the company’s next-generation products.The company’s co-founder, Professor Guo Jia, is a principal inventor of the chemical methods for second-generation gene sequencing., with annual revenue exceeding $4 billion after the commercialization of the related patents.

The company exclusively owns the spatially cleavable fluorescent probe technology (CFP™), which holds top-tier international patents. This technology represents the most sensitive, best-compatible, and lowest-cost solution in the field of ultra-high-plex spatial omics. Other core team members hail from leading life sciences companies such as Thermo Fisher Scientific, Siemens Healthineers, Roche Diagnostics, PerkinElmer, and Bio-Techne, possessing world-class capabilities in original technology product development and market promotion. In the future, the company will implement practical applications of its tool platform, providing global market support for basic and translational research, clinical diagnosis and treatment, and new drug development, thereby establishing a domestically produced core tool for the era of digitalized and intelligent biological information.

Dr. Rui Zheng, Founder and CEOStatement: SourceStar Intelligent Manufacturing is currently focused on providing rapid, low-cost detection solutions for automated, high-sensitivity multiplex multi-omics analysis of FFPE samples. The prototype instruments and microfluidic chips independently developed by our team have comprehensively surpassed international counterparts in all key performance and cost parameters related to automation and reagents. Notably, our solution is currently the only one globally capable of high-throughput clinical application for FFPE samples in ultra-high-plex proteomic detection. Our platform perfectly meets the urgent demand for high-plex multi-omics testing in current translational medical research and clinical pathological diagnosis. Furthermore, the large volume of reproducible data generated aligns closely with current trends in artificial intelligence and precision medicine. We have already initiated preliminary commercial collaborations with leading international spatial omics CRO companies and top-tier reagent manufacturers, and we are confident in the future prospects of our products.

Dr. Wang Yunhai, Managing Partner of Xianfeng QiyunStatement: We continue to closely monitor the opportunities for revolutionizing the biomedical industry driven by innovations in foundational tools for life sciences. The field of spatial omics has developed rapidly in Europe and the United States over the past few years, emerging as one of the most highly watched tracks among innovative omics tools. It is expected to reach a critical inflection point in the coming years, marking the transition from the research market to the clinical market. In China, the spatial omics sector is still in its nascent stage, with a scarcity of upstream technologies and independent intellectual property rights across the industrial chain. Dr. Zheng Rui’s team at Yuanxing Intelligent Manufacturing has mastered upstream foundational technologies and possesses a complete set of independent intellectual property rights. Their CFP-based^TMThe technology’s proprietary reagents and unique engineering design are expected to overcome multiple bottlenecks of existing products on the market, accelerating the clinical translation and large-scale application of spatial multi-omics products. Xianfeng Qiyun has been deeply involved in the incubation of Yuanxing Zhizao and the formation of its founding team. The company’s core team members all come from leading multinational life sciences corporations. We look forward to this highly international, multidisciplinary, experienced, and pragmatic team leading the development and transformation of the spatial multi-omics field in China and even globally in the future.

Shangshi CapitalStatement: We remain committed to investing in enterprises with original innovation capabilities. Yuanxing Intelligent Manufacturing is a leading company in the upstream sector of the life sciences industry. Its founder, Dr. Zheng Rui, possesses extensive end-to-end management experience, from concept to product commercialization, in the field of high-end life science instruments and consumables. Other core team members complement Dr. Zheng’s expertise in key areas such as reagent development and clinical translation of products, forming a highly cohesive team with profound insights into the industry. Spatial multi-omics tools encompass multiple disciplines, including biochemistry, opto-mechanical-electronic systems, temperature control, fluidics, and automation, resulting in high technical barriers to entry. Yuanxing’s independently developed upstream solutions for spatial multi-omics are poised to establish global differentiated advantages in terms of multi-omics integration, sensitivity, resolution, multiplexing capacity, throughput, level of automation, ease of use, compatibility and expandability, and cost-effectiveness. Through this investment in Yuanxing Intelligent Manufacturing, we aim to leverage our team’s abundant industrial resources to assist the company in achieving better and faster growth, ultimately evolving into a life science platform enterprise rooted in China with a global market presence.

Chang'an Private CapitalIt is indicated that, against the backdrop of industrial upgrading, the domestication of high-end life science instruments has become a major industry trend. As an emerging frontier within this field, spatial omics features substantial market potential and high technical barriers, with rapid growth worldwide. It is poised to evolve from its current status as a “research powerhouse” into an enabling technology for next-generation clinical precision pathology testing over the next 5–10 years. This trajectory aligns closely with industry trends toward precise clinical diagnosis and treatment, and spatial omics is also expected to serve as a tool for generating rich life science data, thereby promoting the integration of IT and BT (Information Technology and Biotechnology) in the biomedical sector. We are highly optimistic about the Yuanxing team’s unique R&D capabilities, profound engineering expertise, and first-mover technological advantages, and we aim to support its rapid emergence as a leading domestic original upstream tool platform.

Yuanxing Zhizao is an innovative company equipped with foundational technologies for high-end upstream life science platforms and an exclusive international patent portfolio. The company focuses on the commercial application of comprehensive spatial multi-omics solutions, addressing multiple market gaps both domestically and internationally. It provides global market support for applications in basic and translational research, clinical diagnosis and treatment, and new drug development, aiming to build a core domestic tool platform for the era of digitalized and intelligent life information.

Xianfeng Qiyun, founded in 2016, is an early-stage venture capital fund focused on the life sciences and healthcare sectors. We target high-potential platform opportunities and are committed to partnering with top-tier entrepreneurs, providing continuous value-added support both before and after investment. Xianfeng Qiyun manages dual-currency funds in RMB and USD, and has systematically invested in cutting-edge fields such as gene therapy, gene editing, RNA interference (RNAi), mRNA, circular RNA, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), bispecific antibodies, and surgical robots.

Shangshi Capital was established in 2014, with its headquarters in Beijing and offices in Shenzhen and Tianjin. The firm currently manages four RMB-denominated funds, with assets under management (AUM) exceeding RMB 1.5 billion. Shangshi Capital’s investment stages range from seed to Series B, with a focus on digital healthcare and wellness, consumption upgrades, the Internet of Things (IoT), and enterprise services. Continuously monitoring emerging industry opportunities, the firm has invested in over 60 projects, including Qushui Technology (8H), TangZhi Diabetes, KuaiShuEr Needle-Free Injectors, Doctor Hui, QingYing Medicine, Charging Network, RaySee, Teddy Bear Mobile, Huijie, HuYang Network, Chunmi Technology, Leishi Technology, HardPai Fitness, ZhongQing Technology, and YinMan Technology, among others, completing capital commitments to numerous domestic ventures. We are committed to thinking, exploring, and growing alongside entrepreneurs, and we look forward to contributing to exciting ventures.

Chang’an Private Capital boasts a 24-year history in equity investment, with partners deploying their own capital for ultra-long-term technology investments. Positioning itself as a “loyal investor with shared interests,” Chang’an focuses on investing in value-creating enterprises at the “0 to 1” stage that possess the potential to become industry leaders. The firm primarily covers niche sectors such as innovative drugs and medical devices, chips, automotive and aviation-related technologies, and cybersecurity. Adhering to the investment principle of “quality over quantity,” Chang’an has invested in 80 companies, 17 of which have gone public. Among these, Walvax Biotechnology set historical records on the ChiNext Board for both its IPO price and P/E ratio; while Chipscreen Biosciences became the first innovative drug company listed on the STAR Market, achieving a record-high IPO P/E ratio.