Hechen Bio Enters Commercialization Era with Agile Manufacturing Platform Launch and Dual Financing Rounds Within Six Months

It is reported that the agile mass production platform of Hefei Hechen Bioworkx Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Hechen Bioworkx”) has recently been completed, marking the company’s official entry into its first year of commercialization.

Hechen Bioworkx was established in May 2022 as a company thatSynthetic Biology + Cutting-Edge Delivery Technologies: “Dual-Engine” Drive, dedicated to buildingA Globally Leading Integrated Bio-Manufacturing Enterprise for Biosynthetic Functional Active Ingredients and Application Solutions. The company’s core founding team hails from leading domestic and international industrial enterprises and academic institutions, including Unilever, DuPont, Yili Group, Coca-Cola, and Tianjin University of Science and Technology. With an average of nearly two decades of deep expertise in the industrial sector, the team possesses a global perspective, interdisciplinary backgrounds, and composite industry experience. Their capabilities span the entire value chain, encompassing strain engineering, fermentation, extraction, advanced delivery technologies, formulation, and channel management.

In 2022, Hechen Bioworkx completed two rounds of financing in less than six months.In September, the angel round was exclusively invested by Huai Ge Capital; in December, the angel+ round was jointly invested by Hong Bo Capital and Guoyuan Innovation, with existing shareholder Huai Ge Capital continuing to increase its investment.For garnering favor from multiple investors in a short period,Qi Keren, founder of Hongbo Capital, stated, “We are highly optimistic about Hechen Bioworkx’s team composition and industry experience, its ‘dual-engine’ biosmart manufacturing system, and even more so about the golden decade of future development in the synthetic biology industry.”

China’s 14th Five-Year Plan has sounded the clarion call for a comprehensive entry into the era of the “bioeconomy.” The plan proposes advancing technological innovation in synthetic biology, achieving breakthroughs in key technologies such as computational design of microbial strains for biomanufacturing, high-throughput screening, high-efficiency expression, and precise regulation, and systematically promoting applications in new drug development, disease treatment, agricultural production, substance synthesis, environmental protection, energy processes, and new material development. According to McKinsey data, the market size of synthetic biology and biomanufacturing is projected to reach hundreds of billions of US dollars by 2025, with 60% of global material production potentially achievable through biomanufacturing methods in the future.

Major global economies, including the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Japan, have already directed attention and resources toward synthetic biology, making it a focal point for the new wave of global R&D and commercial development. In September 2022, the United States signed an executive order to encourage domestic biotechnology production and research, aiming to enhance U.S. biomanufacturing capabilities, lower prices, and “strengthen supply chain security,” with specific emphasis on “reducing dependence on China.”

As a synthetic biology enterprise, Hechen Bioworkx has positioned itself in the development of strain technologies and their industrial applications since its inception, committed to building“Dual-Engine” Biosmart Manufacturing System, providing customers with integrated technical solutions. Vertically targeting the frontiers of biotechnology, we continuously strengthen our core technologies; horizontally focusing on market and customer needs, we accelerate the practical application of our technologies. After one year of development, the company has continuously enriched its core technological barriers and has now completed the establishment of three major platforms: chassis cell development, delivery technology R&D, and agile mass production, coveringFrom “Strain Design – Scale-up Production – Application R&D”: A Complete Industrial Chain, systematically clearing the path for industrial commercialization and establishing a well-structured product development framework.

SynBio ADS (SynBio Agile Development System) for Chassis Cell Agile Development: Design, construct, and optimize chassis cells for various rare amino acids, their derivatives, and flavonoid compounds to rapidly establish synthetic pathways and industrialization technologies for target products.

HEAID (Highly Effective Active Ingredients Delivery) Delivery Technology R&D Platform: Focusing on customer pain points and end-consumer needs, we develop cutting-edge delivery technologies to address challenges related to the stability, absorbability, compatibility, color, flavor, and bioavailability of functional active ingredients during application, thereby empowering customers to accelerate product innovation, iteration, and upgrades.

Agile Biofabrication (ABFAB) Mass Production Platform: The company employs modular and digital design principles and has independently built two ton-scale production lines, enabling rapid mass production of various products from fermentation to separation and purification.

Among these, the chassis cell agile development platform SynBio ADS and the delivery technology R&D platform HEAID serve as the focal points of Hechen Bioworkx’s “dual-engine” development strategy, led respectively by CSO Professor Xie Xixian and CTO Dr. Zhou Weizheng.

Professor Xie Xixian has long been engaged in scientific research and industrialization in the field of synthetic biology. He has developed a series of high-value-added amino acid products and is one of the earliest scientists in China to conduct strain development for ectoine and ergothioneine. Having collaborated with numerous listed companies and industry leaders in China, he has successfully commercialized more than 20 technological achievements, with a cumulative annual production capacity exceeding 30,000 tons, generating substantial economic benefits. Professor Xie is a synthetic biology scientist with extensive experience in technology transfer and commercialization.

Dr. Wei Zheng Zhou is an expert in the formulation and application of functional active ingredients, having previously served as Head of China for Unilever’s Strategic Science Research Department and Senior R&D Director at Yili Group.Awarded the 2008 Unilever Global Top Ten Outstanding Patents Award, recipient of the Yili Group Innovation Special Award in 2020, with nearly two decades of industrial experience in the development and product application of cutting-edge delivery technologies for active ingredients, ranking among the industry’s leading experts.

Hechen Bioworkx has established a high-efficiency platform for strain construction and screening by leveraging Professor Xiexian Xie’s years of accumulated expertise, employing an integrated approach that combines rational metabolic engineering with irrational evolutionary engineering. The company’s technical roadmap organically integrates the advantages of rational design and irrational selection methods, enabling the rapid development of high-performance engineered strains characterized by high genetic stability and significant potential for industrial-scale application. It is reported that multiple product strains developed by the company have achieved industry-leading performance in key fermentation metrics, including acid yield, sugar-to-acid conversion rate, and volumetric productivity.

Meanwhile, Hechen Bioworkx has developed highly efficient fermentation and downstream purification processes, which facilitate the production of high-yield target products and superior-quality fermentation broth. These advancements significantly reduce the complexity of the product extraction stage, improve both extraction yield and product quality, and substantially lower production costs, offering greater competitiveness and economic viability compared to existing manufacturing processes.

The newly completed agile mass-production platform, a ton-scale production line independently built and funded by the company, marks its imminent entry into the mass-production phase, enabling it to provide domestic and international customers with high-quality active ingredients and sustainable application solutions.

In terms of products, Hechen Bioworkx focuses on the production of raw materials and application solutions for rare amino acids, their derivatives, and natural flavonoid compounds. The company primarily serves multiple sectors, including beauty and personal care, food and health, sustainable agriculture, and bio-based materials. It is strategically building a “5 + 6 + N” product pipeline, comprising five high-value-added active ingredients, six bulk products, and multiple reserve products. Key offerings include ectoine, ergothioneine, sialic acid, phloretin, and biosurfactants.

In addition to raw material products, the company focuses on customer pain points and end-consumer needs, centering on the efficient delivery of active ingredients. It develops customized functional active ingredients, efficacy-combined formulations, and product application solutions for clients, helping them enhance their differentiated competitive advantages. Currently, Hechen Bioworkx has secured sales orders and established cooperative intentions with multiple domestic and international cosmetics companies, health food companies, and fine chemical companies.

In 2022, Hechen Bioworkx jointly established the “TUST–Hechen Bioworkx Institute of Biological Innovation” with Tianjin University of Science and Technology. Leveraging modern biotechnologies such as synthetic biology, the institute focuses on the design of biosynthetic pathways and the construction of functional microbial cells, creating an innovation platform that integrates research on key generic technologies, product engineering, and the translation of industry-academia-research achievements. Furthermore, the company maintains close collaborations with renowned universities and research institutions, including Shanghai Jiao Tong University, East China University of Science and Technology, and Tianjin Institute of Pharmaceutical Research, to accelerate the industrialization of high-quality scientific achievements and talent development, thereby achieving deep integration of industry, academia, research, and application.