Puyi Bio Raises Nearly RMB 100 Million in Series A Funding to Accelerate Mass Production of Next-Gen Biological Nanopore Gene Sequencing Products

VCBeat has learned that Beijing Polyseq Biotech Co., Ltd. (“Polyseq Biotech”) recently announced the completion of its nearly RMB 100 million Series A financing round. The round was led by Wondfo Bio, with participation from Guangzhou Sanmei Investment Management Center L.P. and Beijing Shangshi Investment Management Ltd., while existing investors IDG Capital and Tsinghua Innovation Ventures continued to increase their support. The funds raised will be primarily used for the continuous optimization of proprietary nanopore proteins and supporting sequencing reagents, accelerating the mass production, market launch, and commercial application of its series of medium-to-high-throughput nanopore gene sequencers based on silicon semiconductor sequencing chips.

Polyseq Biotech, established in 2021, specializes in the development of next-generation sequencers and supporting reagents and consumables based on biological nanopore technology for nucleic acids and other biopolymers. Committed to driving China’s sequencing industry from its source, Polyseq Biotech aims to reduce sequencing costs, facilitate the widespread adoption of sequencing technologies across medical institutions at all levels, transform disease diagnosis and treatment paradigms, safeguard public health and well-being, and meet the urgent demands of precision medicine in the era of big data.

Researcher Huang Yihua, Chairman of Polyseq Biotech, and Researcher Lou Jizhong, Chief Scientist, have successively led the Ministry of Science and Technology’s National Key R&D Program in the field of nanopore sequencing. Currently, Polyseq Biotech has mastered multiple nanopore proteins with commercialization potential, laying the foundation for developing a nanopore gene sequencing system in China with independent intellectual property rights.

VCBeat has learned that Polyseq Biotech is currently accelerating the mass production and commercial deployment of its nanopore sequencer based on silicon semiconductor sequencing chips. Silicon semiconductor sequencing chips feature low noise, high density, high integration, and a mature supply chain. Only nanopore sequencers built on silicon chips can fully leverage the inherent advantages of nanopore sequencing technology, including high accuracy, high throughput, portability, and low cost. The image shows Polyseq Biotech’s first-generation silicon semiconductor sequencing chip wafer (8-inch).

Figure: Polyseq Biotech’s First-Generation Silicon-Based Semiconductor Sequencing Chip Wafer (8-inch)

Wondfo Biotech stated that nanopore sequencing technology, also known as fourth-generation sequencing, is highly promising to become one of the mainstream sequencing technologies. With continuous upgrades in sequencing technology, the accuracy of sequencing results has been steadily improving. Combined with its inherent advantages of high throughput, long read lengths, low cost, and fast speed, it is poised to bring new breakthroughs in clinical application scenarios such as tumor diagnosis and early screening, diagnosis of genetic and rare diseases, and cell and gene therapy, particularly in terms of read length, speed, and epigenetics. Currently, core patents for nanopore sequencing worldwide are primarily held by the United States, the United Kingdom, and China, while the commercialization process of nanopore sequencers in China is still in a catch-up phase.Facing the potential risk of foreign restrictions on nanopore sequencing equipment, supporting chips, and reagents, Polyseq Biotech has undertaken the mission of achieving independent and controllable domestic production of fourth-generation sequencers. The company has developed nanopore gene sequencers available for internal testing, along with supporting sequencing chips and kits. It has established both hardware and software platforms for nanopore sequencers, realizing a complete sequencing workflow from library preparation and on-machine sequencing to signal decoding.In this investment in Polyseq Biotech, Wondfo conducted blind tests using self-built sample sets, fully verifying key indicators such as speed, throughput, and accuracy, thereby affirming the product’s performance and the team’s capabilities. Moving forward, both parties will collaborate closely, leveraging their respective resource advantages to fully realize synergies in intellectual property, talent teams, and technical platforms. This partnership aims to accelerate the commercialization and autonomous controllability of domestic nanopore sequencers, providing a powerful sequencing platform for scientific research and offering rapid, in-depth, and highly accessible diagnostic solutions for clinical practice.

Guangzhou Sanmei Investment Management Center L.P. stated: "After decades of development and technological iteration in the gene sequencing industry, domestic manufacturers have continuously broken through patent and technical barriers, emerging prominently within new technological frameworks. Sanmei Investment is optimistic about the outstanding advantages of the fourth-generation biological nanopore sequencing technology platform, including long read lengths, direct sequencing, real-time acquisition of sequence information, and low equipment costs. We believe that fourth-generation biological sequencing technology will bring broader and more imaginative prospects to the industry. Furthermore, we highly recognize Polyseq Biotech’s technical reserves and continuous iterative capabilities in the biological nanopore sequencing system, and we eagerly anticipate the widespread application of Polyseq Biotech’s commercial products in clinical, scientific research, and industrial scenarios. Sanmei Investment is honored to partner with Polyseq Biotech to jointly promote the application and development of high-end precision instruments in the biomedical industry."

IDG Capital stated that the global gene sequencing market is currently approaching $20 billion, while China’s gene sequencing market has exceeded RMB 20 billion. The industry remains in a phase of rapid development, holding immense future market potential. Nanopore gene sequencing, as the fourth-generation sequencing technology, is seeing its market share steadily increase alongside continuous improvements in technological maturity. However, there remains a risk of supply chain bottlenecks for related gene sequencing instruments, supporting chips, and reagents. IDG Capital’s optimism toward Polyseq Biotech stems from the company’s foundation in over a decade of cutting-edge research by its founding team. Polyseq Biotech has achieved international leading standards in multiple aspects of nanopore sequencing technology, enabling it to break through foreign patent barriers. IDG Capital continues to support Polyseq Biotech and is committed to jointly accelerating the finalization and commercial application of its nanopore sequencer products.

Tsinghua Innovation Ventures stated: As a bioinformatics interpretation tool within the wave of the biotechnology revolution, gene sequencing technology has long been developing toward higher precision, lower cost, greater efficiency, and portability. As a new-generation direct-reading solution for DNA, RNA, and proteins, nanopore sequencing technology is poised to address existing challenges associated with Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) in areas such as epigenetic modification analysis, interpretation of repetitive DNA sequences, and quantitative detection, thereby serving as a significant complementary tool to NGS. Within just one and a half years of its establishment, Polyseq Biotech has achieved blind-test sequencing accuracy at a leading level in China, with its sequencing results gaining recognition from multiple industry institutions, demonstrating the team’s substantial technical reserves and efficient execution capabilities. As the angel-round investor in Polyseq Biotech, we are optimistic that the company will break through foreign patent barriers and develop a domestically produced fourth-generation sequencer with independent intellectual property rights and performance comparable to top-tier international instruments.

Shangshi Capital stated: In January of this year, Nature Methods named long-read sequencing technology as its Method of the Year for 2022. As a mature representative of long-read sequencing, nanopore sequencing is the gene sequencing technology with the greatest potential for commercialization. The Polyseq team has many years of experience in developing nanopore proteins and precision instruments, holds core independent intellectual property rights, and has made rapid progress in industrialization. Through this investment in Polyseq Biotech, Shangshi Capital aims to leverage its extensive industry resources to help the company develop more quickly and effectively, open up new directions in biological research, accelerate the market introduction of nanopore sequencing technology, and ultimately benefit human health.

Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech Co., Ltd. (Stock Code: 300482), established in 1992, is a national high-tech enterprise with government fund backing, dedicated to the integrated research and development, manufacturing, and sales of rapid in vitro diagnostic (IVD) products. It is one of the leading POCT (Point-of-Care Testing) companies in China. Over years of development, Wondfo Biotech has built nine major technology platforms: colloidal gold immunochromatography, immunofluorescence, electrochemistry, dry chemistry, chemiluminescence, molecular diagnostics, pathological diagnostics, instrument technology, and biological raw materials. Leveraging these platforms, the company has developed a comprehensive product portfolio covering cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, inflammation, oncology, infectious diseases, drug abuse testing, and eugenics. Its products are widely applied in clinical laboratory testing, emergency and critical care, chronic disease management, primary healthcare, epidemic monitoring, disaster relief, on-site law enforcement, and personal home health management. Wondfo Biotech currently operates R&D centers in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, as well as in the United States and Japan. Its R&D investment intensity and team capabilities rank among the industry leaders. As one of the first Chinese IVD reagent manufacturers to pass on-site audits by the U.S. FDA, Wondfo’s products are exported to more than 140 countries and regions worldwide.

Sanmei Investment is a specialized boutique investment firm focused on the healthcare and medical sector. Its fund management team primarily hails from top-tier domestic investment banks, investment institutions, and listed healthcare companies, boasting extensive, in-depth experience in the broader healthcare industry and a track record of multiple successful investments. The investment team possesses comprehensive capabilities across the entire industry value chain, striving to become an exceptional investment institution with profound value-addition capabilities through specialized and focused operations.

IDG Capital is a globally leading private equity investment firm. With nearly 30 years of development, the firm has accumulated over RMB 150 billion in assets under management. For many years, IDG Capital has maintained a strong focus on the healthcare sector. In the past five years alone, it has invested in approximately 70 healthcare projects, strategically positioning itself in key sub-sectors such as biopharmaceuticals, medical devices and diagnostics, and artificial intelligence, while also seizing opportunities arising from policy-driven innovations in healthcare delivery. In the biopharmaceutical space, IDG Capital has not only invested in new drug R&D companies such as Kelun-Biotech, Edigene, and Shengsi Biopharma, but also in upstream and downstream players across the industry chain, including BioAI, ZenGrid Biosciences, Southern Model Organisms, and Noxell. In the field of medical devices and diagnostics, IDG Capital has backed projects such as Yuanxin Technology, Huihe Medical, and ClearMed. In the artificial intelligence sector, it has invested in Changmugu and Bingzhoushi. By closely monitoring opportunities stemming from national medical insurance policy adjustments and healthcare service reforms, IDG Capital has identified star projects such as Weimai Health and Sipei Health Technology.

Tsinghua Innovation Ventures is a specialized investment institution for the industrialization of scientific and technological achievements, established under the Beijing Tsinghua Industrial R&D Institute (hereinafter referred to as “Tsinghua Industrial R&D Institute”). Leveraging nearly two decades of expertise accumulated by Tsinghua Industrial R&D Institute in the transfer and industrialization of scientific and technological achievements, Tsinghua Innovation Ventures promotes the commercialization of major breakthroughs from universities and research institutes through market-oriented approaches and professional management. To date, Tsinghua Innovation Ventures has invested in more than 80 projects, including SinoHytec (688339), a leader in the hydrogen energy sector; Tinavi Medical Technologies (688277), the first listed company specializing in medical robotics; Hwatsing Technology (688120) and Huazhuo Jingke (A20224), leading enterprises in integrated circuit equipment; and PINS Medical, a unicorn company in China’s neuromodulation field.

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 span from seed round to Series B, with a strategic focus on digital healthcare and wellness, consumption upgrades, the Internet of Things (IoT), and enterprise services. Continuously monitoring emerging industrial opportunities, the firm has invested in over 60 projects, including Qushui Technology (8H), Tangzhi Diabetes, Kuashuer Needle-free Injectors, Doctor Hui, Qingying Medicine, Charging Network, Ruiwei, Teddy Bear Mobile, Huijie, Huyang Network, Chunmi Technology, Leishi Technology, Hardstyle Fitness, Zhongqing Technology, and Yinman Technology, 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 entrepreneurial endeavors.