Yuxinshuo Biotech Secures Nearly RMB 10 Million in Angel Funding to Advance AI-Driven Protein Design Platform

VCBeat has learned that Yuxinshuo Biology, a company specializing in protein design, has completed an angel-round financing of nearly RMB 10 million. The investor in this round is Unity Venture Capital. The funds raised will be primarily used to validate the company’s protein design algorithms, build a computational platform, and develop continuous evolution technology.

This provider of a novel AI-driven evolutionary protein design method boasts a founding team entirely from the University of Oxford, with expertise spanning interdisciplinary fields including biology, chemistry, simulation, and computer science.

Mr. Hu Yilang, Co-founder and CEOEarned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Department of Computational Chemistry at the University of Oxford, with sustained expertise in interdisciplinary fields spanning chemistry, simulation, and bioinformatics; possesses comprehensive experience in the next-generation sequencing (NGS) workflow and is proficient in structure generation algorithms.Mr. Xia Jin, Co-Founder and COOAlso holds both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Oxford, with extensive experience in AIDD product design, drug R&D, and market research;Ms. Wang Chenyang, Co-Founder and CTOHolds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Engineering from the University of Oxford, and a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Cornell University. Possesses extensive experience in small-molecule design, protein design algorithm development, computer vision, recommendation systems, and generative algorithms.

It is worth mentioning that,Yu Xinshuo also received technical support from a professor at the Center for Synthetic Biology, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tsinghua University.This professor has long been dedicated to synthetic biology research, holding a leading position in China in the fields of continuous directed evolution and genetic circuits, with profound insights into the application of protein design in synthetic biology. In the design and validation of genetic circuits, the cutting-edge research of the professor’s team complements the engineering and commercialization capabilities of the founding team, and both parties have reached a consensus on technical implementation pathways. Their deep collaboration is expected to incubate more innovative achievements in this field in the future.

Proteins involve both sequence and spatial structure, with diverse and complex application scenarios; therefore, protein design technology naturally faces extremely high technical barriers.

Yuxinshuo’s work primarily focuses on spatially based AIGC algorithms. In protein design, the team integrates sequence information, structural information, and structure–function correlation data for modeling and design.In terms of algorithm R&D, the team focuses on developing entirely new application scenarios such as biosensors. By building proprietary datasets and AI-accelerated simulation algorithms,Yu XinshuoDedicated to maximizing the accuracy of protein design.

Designing high-precision biosensors is an extremely challenging task. Although AlphaFold has resolved the protein folding problem by successfully establishing the sequence-to-structure mapping, protein design requires engineering functionality based on both structure and sequence.To address diverse protein function optimization challenges, Yuxinshuo has developed a multimodal protein-function prediction model and continuously iterates its protein generation algorithms to achieve multi-objective protein design.

On the other hand, the company leverages the “natural evolution” characteristics of biological systems by applying protein components obtained through AI design algorithms to the construction of genetic circuits, thereby enabling microorganisms to undergo mutation and evolution in a fully automated manner.Through the effective integration of biosensors and continuous directed evolution, Yu Xinshuo utilized gene circuit approaches to achieve 10³-10⁵X-fold acceleration of evolution.

Currently, most domestic protein design startups focus solely on algorithmic optimization. In the field of protein design, relying merely on algorithmic models and traditional biological methods is far from sufficient to meet current business demands, making it difficult to achieve simultaneous breakthroughs in both product diversity and industrial-scale implementation.In contrast, Yuxinshuo has demonstrated unique competitive advantages and rapid industrial implementation capabilities in the field of protein design by simultaneously optimizing algorithmic models and biotechnologies to surpass the limitations of traditional methods.

Domain New TalkThe team achieved continuous, real-time detection of target molecules within microbial cells by designing biosensors, and leveraged a proprietary novel strain design pathway to surpass current limits on evolutionary potential, thereby unlocking greater strain performance.

In terms of platforms, the company has established a computing platform and a high-throughput experimental platform. Specifically, the computing platform enables protein property prediction, structure design, dynamics simulation, and data mining, while the experimental platform is primarily responsible for high-throughput experimental validation and continuous directed evolution of biological systems. By integrating these two platforms, a fully closed-loop workflow is achieved, encompassing steps such as target component selection, template design and modification, experimental validation of results, and gene circuit application.

Yuxinshuo positions its technology in the research and development of natural products and synthetic biology, aiming to effectively validate application scenarios for protein design and synthetic biology in the short term. By achieving more efficient strain optimization and protein design technologies, it seeks to establish stable upstream and downstream partnerships with more companies in the industry.

In the future, Yu Xinshuo will continuously refine its protein design capabilities, strive to build more novel application scenarios for protein design, and deliver more breakthrough achievements in the life sciences industry.

Unity Ventures, established in 2011, has consistently focused on structural investment opportunities driven by technological transformation, remaining one of the few early-stage tech VCs in China that have stayed active, leading, and continuously evolving. Unity Ventures aims to be a value discoverer with future insights, helping nascent sparks grow into great enterprises of the era. We excel at identifying opportunities at the interdisciplinary intersections of “Computing+” and in cross-sector integration fields, with our strategic layout capabilities in hard technology, enterprise services, new energy, new materials, and biotechnology continually validated.