ICE Bioscience Secures Nearly RMB 100 Million in Series B+ Financing to Advance Target-Driven Integrated CRO Platform for Drug Discovery

VCBeat has learned that Beijing ICE Bioscience Inc. (“ICE Bioscience”) recently announced the completion of its nearly RMB 100 million Series B+ financing round.

This round of financing was led byAlwin InvestmentLead investor,Langma Peak VenturesCo-investment, Existing ShareholdersCICC Qide Fund under CICC Capital, ADDORandYuanjin Venture CapitalContinue to increase shareholdings.Bairong CapitalServed as the exclusive financial advisor for this round of financing. The successful completion of this financing round fully demonstrates the high recognition from both capital markets and the industry of ICE Bioscience’s innovative capabilities and market value.

ICE Bioscience Inc., established in 2010, is dedicated to providing an integrated biological service platform for innovative drug development, spanning from target discovery and validation, lead compound screening and optimization, to the preclinical candidate molecule stage. With expertise in biological and pharmacological research technologies across therapeutic areas such as oncology, immunology, cardiovascular diseases, and central nervous system disorders, ICE Bioscience positions itself as a pioneering “CRO+” innovator. Attentive to the needs of novel drug R&D enterprises for speed, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness, ICE Bioscience leverages its professional technical capabilities and efficient communication to help clients enhance the efficiency of their new drug development processes.

The technology platforms established by ICE Bioscience include:

• Target-Based Drug Screening Platform:Established screening cell lines and validation methods for over 100 ion channels, more than 150 GPCRs, over 1,000 kinase and enzymatic targets, and more than 40 nuclear receptors, covering the majority of druggable targets.

• In Vitro and In Vivo Efficacy Screening and Evaluation Platform:Including tumor immunology, cardiovascular, and central nervous system pharmacodynamic evaluations based on cell, tissue, or animal models.

• Early-Stage Druggability Screening and Evaluation Platform:Including early ADME and PK studies, as well as early drug off-target effect screening (hERG, safety panel, kinase profiling, etc.).

The company has recently launched the following productized services:

• In Vitro Tumor Cell Screening Platform:The company has established thousands of tumor cell lines, gene-edited cell lines, primary cell lines, and drug-resistant cell lines. These models cover a wide range of cancer types and involve diverse tissue origins, enabling cell-selective screening for drug candidates and incorporating clinically significant resistance mutations. Additionally, the company offers customized solutions tailored to client requirements.

• ICE Bioscience Target Protein Platform:Leveraging ICE Bioscience’s expertise and capabilities in assay development and validation, the company has established a portfolio of hundreds of high-end, functionally validated active drug target protein products.

Li Yingji, Founder and General Manager of ICE BioscienceHe stated, “We extend our gratitude to both new and existing shareholders for their recognition of ICE Bioscience and their support in ensuring the successful completion of this financing round. As a target-driven drug discovery biology platform, ICE Bioscience is committed to achieving breakthroughs and innovations in novel targets, new assays, and emerging technologies, with the aim of empowering new drug development through innovative biotechnologies. In the current landscape, innovation in China’s new drug R&D is becoming increasingly robust, target distribution is growing more diversified, and the demand for biological technical support is rising. Leveraging its cutting-edge target library, advanced technology platforms, and the team’s deep understanding of druggability and indications, ICE Bioscience delivers tangible value to innovative pharmaceutical R&D enterprises. We look forward to this financing accelerating the advancement of ICE Bioscience’s integrated capabilities in the field of new drug discovery.””

Alwin InvestmentIt stated: “After years of development, ICE Bioscience has evolved from an early-stage research service company specializing in ion channels into an integrated, target-driven drug discovery biology platform. Against the backdrop of the transition of domestic novel drugs from ‘me-too’ to ‘First-in-class,’ the drug discovery sector is embracing significant opportunities for growth amid structural adjustments in China’s new drug R&D and CRO industries. We also look forward to ICE Bioscience seizing this opportunity, striving with determination, and growing into a representative enterprise in the field of drug discovery CROs.””

Dr. Huang Xu, Managing Director of CICC Capitalstated: “ICE Bioscience has successfully completed three consecutive rounds of financing within approximately one year, fully demonstrating the capital market’s recognition of the company. Since our initial investment, the company has maintained rapid growth, continuously expanding its platform technologies in the detection and analysis of challenging drug targets, and has gained recognition from numerous benchmark clients. We remain optimistic that, under the leadership of its core team, the company will provide sustained support for the research and development of original innovative drugs in China!””

Wang Yuping, Co-Founder of Langmafeng Venture Capitalstated: “Our investment in ICE Bioscience was driven by its innovative R&D capabilities. Through years of accumulation and development, the company has established a new technological platform. Beijing Lang Ma Feng VC LTD. has always focused on identifying and cultivating unicorn companies. We are confident that ICE Bioscience will become an industry unicorn in the near future. We will continue to support the growth of ICE Bioscience as we have always done.””

ADDORIt stated: “Currently, China’s biopharmaceutical industry is facing significant phased development pressures, which have also impacted the CRO sector. However, ICE Bioscience’s long-established innovative ‘CRO+’ service model has demonstrated strong competitiveness, enabling the company to maintain a high growth rate. ADDOR has expressed strong recognition of the team’s performance and development roadmap following its initial investment, and has made additional investments in this round to support the construction of the company’s integrated drug R&D service platform.””

Wan Jin, Founding Partner of Yuanjin Venture CapitalYuanjin Venture Capital stated, “It is an honor for Yuanjin Venture Capital to participate in ICE Bioscience during this phase of substantial accumulation and rapid development. Our decision to increase our investment in this round reflects our long-term confidence in the company’s core competitiveness in empowering new drug R&D, as well as our commitment to the value of providing long-term support to entrepreneurs.”

Alwin Capital, established in 2015, is a specialized investment fund focused on the frontiers of life sciences. Its founding team has two decades of deep experience in China’s pharmaceutical industry, combining industrial and financial expertise with extensive investment research capabilities. In recent years, grounded in rigorous research and guided by scientific disciplines, Alwin Capital has systematically deployed capital across the forefront of life sciences in China, leveraging a robust investment research framework and mature portfolio management. The firm has nurtured several leading companies in cutting-edge areas such as gene editing, nucleic acid therapeutics, cell therapy, and molecular diagnostics. Additionally, with keen investment judgment, it has backed multiple star projects at the intersection of innovative technology and life sciences.

CICC Capital Management Limited (“CICC Capital”) is the private equity fund operation platform of China International Capital Corporation Limited (“CICC”), managing CICC’s onshore and offshore private equity fund businesses. It has developed into one of China’s leading private investment management institutions. Currently, the funds managed by CICC Capital cover RMB corporate equity investment funds, funds of funds (FOFs), infrastructure funds, and USD corporate equity investment funds.

Langmafeng Venture Capital was established on July 19, 2010. Its primary investment focus is on technology-driven startups, with specific investments spanning healthcare, new materials, high-end manufacturing, TMT, and other sectors. The firm covers all investment rounds from angel to Pre-IPO stages. Langmafeng is committed to discovering and investing in 100 high-quality world-class companies, advocating for “empowerment-based investment.”

ADDOR was established through a mixed-ownership reform within the Jiangsu High-Tech Investment Group, a well-established and renowned venture capital institution. Ranking among the industry leaders in terms of industry research capabilities, assets under management, and investment specialization, ADDOR is one of the most influential venture capital firms in China. ADDOR advocates for full-industry-chain investment, with fund products covering enterprises at the angel, start-up, growth, and mature stages. Its investment sectors include clean technology, healthcare, new materials, advanced manufacturing, consumer services, cultural industries, and TMT (Technology, Media, and Telecom). Through its “Jianghai Plan” and “Star-Studded Network Plan,” ADDOR jointly promotes investments nationwide and across Jiangsu Province. The firm has set up management companies or regional offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Shandong, Zhejiang, Fujian, Anhui, as well as in Southern, Central, and Northern Jiangsu and other developed cities and districts within Jiangsu Province, providing professional and tailored capital market services to innovative and entrepreneurial enterprises. Over the past three years, ADDOR has consecutively won awards such as “Annual Chinese Venture Capital Firm,” “Best Chinese Venture Capital Firm,” “Most Competitive Venture Capital Firm,” “Excellent Achievement Award for Outstanding Venture Capital Firms,” and “Top 10 Best Venture Capital Firms” in prestigious rankings published by Zero2IPO Research, CVSource, Securities Times, the China Venture Capital Association, and Forbes, firmly maintaining its position in the first tier of domestic venture capital institutions.

Shanghai Yuanjin Herun Private Equity Fund Management Co., Ltd. (“Yuanjin Venture Capital”) was established in July 2022 as an emerging firm specializing in early-stage venture capital investments in the biopharmaceutical industry. It is committed to identifying high-growth opportunities arising from industry development and transformation, providing support and empowerment to entrepreneurs, and delivering consistently superior returns to investors. The founding team of Yuanjin Venture Capital possesses extensive industrial and investment experience in the biopharmaceutical sector and currently manages one U.S. dollar fund and one RMB fund.