Evolyzer Secures RMB 50 Million in Series Angel Funding Led by Sequoia China and Frees Fund

VCBeat (WeChat: vcbeat) has learned that Beijing Evolyzer Technology Co., Ltd. (“Evolyzer”), a synthetic biology startup, recently completed a RMB 50 million angel financing round. The round was co-led by HongShan and FreeS Fund, with participation from Tsinghua Unigroup Venture Capital and HWealth Capital. The proceeds from this initial funding round will be primarily used for team building, laboratory construction, development of new product pipelines, and market promotion of mature products.

Yanwei Technology leverages patented technologies from Tsinghua University to advance green biomanufacturing of specialty chemicals. Serving application fields such as agriculture, oilfields, daily chemicals, and pharmaceuticals, its business portfolio includes high-stress-resistant biocatalysts, bio-template-based nano- and single-atom metal catalysts, and high-value-added specialty chemicals, with certain products reaching industry-leading technical standards. In addition to possessing comprehensive and distinctive R&D capabilities in synthetic biology and green chemical engineering, Yanwei Technology has solid professional expertise and practical experience in the engineering scale-up and commercialization of new products. Two of its product lines are already ready for mass production, and the company is conducting joint application testing with leading customers across various sectors.

Dr. Yu Huimin, Founder and Chief Scientist of Yanwei Technology, is currently a Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Tsinghua University and Deputy Director of the Key Laboratory of Industrial Biocatalysis under the Ministry of Education. She has long been engaged in research on industrial biocatalysis, synthetic biology, and bionanotechnology. Many of her achievements have reached leading technical indicators and have been successfully commercialized, generating significant social and economic benefits. Other founding team members possess diverse professional and career backgrounds, with academic and work experience at renowned institutions and industry-leading enterprises such as Tsinghua University, MIT, UC Berkeley, COFCO Group, and Schlumberger. They have extensive experience in the technology and product development of biochemical engineering, scientific research management, and the translation of research findings into practical applications, with a proven track record in the commercialization of multiple products.

Founder Professor Huimin YuAcknowledgements: The establishment of Yanwei Technology is primarily attributable to the years of support provided by Tsinghua University, the Department of Chemical Engineering, the Institute of Biochemical Engineering, the Key Laboratory of Industrial Biocatalysis (Ministry of Education), and the Tsinghua Center for Synthetic and Systems Biology. We also extend our gratitude to the graduate and undergraduate students in our laboratories for their dedicated research; their parallel contributions to both fundamental research and industrial applications have laid the scientific and technological foundation for the company’s inception.We are grateful for the continuous financial support from the National Key R&D Program, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National 973 and 863 Programs, the Beijing Nova Program, and the Tsinghua University Independent Research Program. This support has enabled us to overcome a series of technical bottlenecks in the creation, engineering, and industrialization of highly efficient and stress-resistant biocatalysts and high-performance cell factories within the field of industrial biocatalysis, ultimately leading to the founding of Yanwei Technology today.We thank our investors for their trust, which allowed us to complete financing and establish the company during challenging times. We hope that our business operations will contribute to the "Healthy China" initiative and the national strategy of strengthening the country through science and technology. We also appreciate the strong support from relevant departments and institutions—including Beijing Future Science City, Tsinghua Huakong, the Tsinghua University Technology Transfer Institute, Tsinghua x-lab, and TusStar—in facilitating the establishment, localization, and successful financing of Yanwei Technology.Finally, we thank Yanwei Technology’s distinctive founding team for jointly committing to the in-depth development and implementation of advanced biomanufacturing technologies. We are dedicated to leveraging "green power" to promote sustainable development and to making our own contributions to implementing China’s "Dual Carbon" strategy.

Dean Wang Yan, Institute of Technology Transfer, Tsinghua UniversityStatement: For many years, Professor Huimin Yu’s team has been dedicated to research on high-stress-resistant biocatalysts, highly efficient cell factories, and novel biocatalytic models geared toward industrial production practices. Yanwei Tech is an outstanding spin-off enterprise that has successfully translated these industrial biocatalysis technological achievements into practical applications. We extend our gratitude to government departments and venture capital firms for their full support, as well as to the founding team for their dedication and efforts. The Technology Transfer Office of Tsinghua University will continue to promote the translation and industrialization of the university’s high-level scientific and technological achievements, and will consistently monitor and support Yanwei Tech’s commercial progress.

Wang Biao, General Manager of Tsinghua Huakong Technology Transfer Co., Ltd.Statement: Yanwei Tech is a synthetic biology company spun out from Tsinghua University’s technology transfer initiatives, boasting strong technical scalability and promising industrial application prospects. Meanwhile, Yanwei Tech has assembled a professional and pragmatic team. We hope that Yanwei Tech will press forward with determination and steadfast commitment, transforming its outstanding technology and team into superior industrialization outcomes at an early stage. We have been striving to enhance the virtuous cycle from fundamental academic research to industrial applications, thereby facilitating the commercialization of scientific achievements while increasing the value of the university’s intellectual property. In the subsequent development of Yanwei Tech, we will continue to provide support and services to the best of our ability.

Director Wang Tiefeng, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua UniversityIt was stated that the establishment of Yanwei Technology and the completion of its angel financing round mark another significant milestone in the commercialization of scientific and technological achievements from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Tsinghua University. This represents an efficient model for accelerating the industrial application of technologies through the deep integration of industry, academia, research, and financial resources. The Department of Chemical Engineering at Tsinghua University is committed to foundational frontier research and the development of key core technologies, providing strong support for technology commercialization. Professor Yu Huimin, founder of Yanwei Technology, has accumulated extensive experience and achieved outstanding results in the green bio-manufacturing of specialty chemicals. It is believed that the company holds promising development prospects worthy of anticipation.

Dr. Chen Xuanze, Vice President of HongShanStatement: Synthetic biology is one of our key focus areas. The Yanwei team has mastered world-leading gene-editing technologies for Rhodococcus, with its unique technology platform demonstrating superior advantages such as enhanced stress resistance, phage resistance, and cost efficiency. These capabilities have been validated by the industry and received high acclaim. The core management team boasts academic and professional backgrounds from prestigious institutions such as Tsinghua University and leading enterprises, with over a decade of accumulated experience in industry-academia-research collaboration within the field of synthetic biology. Their early achievements are remarkable, and the team has demonstrated exceptional execution capability and cohesion. We are delighted to partner with the Yanwei team to jointly advance the industrialization of synthetic biology.

Dr. Ma Rui, Partner at FreeS FundStatement: Congratulations to Yanwei Technology on completing its RMB 50 million angel financing round. The Yanwei team has accumulated over 20 years of expertise in the green biosynthesis of chemicals. Centered on catalysis as its core, the company designs and optimizes whole-cell biocatalysts, enzyme molecules, and metal single-atom catalysts, thereby establishing comprehensive capabilities in both biological and chemical catalysis and building a unique technological moat. Focused on the creation of high-efficiency cell factories, the company possesses multiple industrial microbial chassis platforms and has successfully developed several products. The founding team hails from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Tsinghua University and is regarded as a rising star among synthetic biology startups; this potential convinced FreeS Fund to commit to investment during our very first meeting. Over the past few months, the team has indeed demonstrated significant technological sophistication, deep industry insight, and exceptional execution capability. We look forward to the company letting actions speak louder than words, achieving leapfrog development, and realizing its vision of “mastering the microscopic to transform all things.”

Dr. Zhou Ping, Executive Director of HWealth CapitalIt states: Our focus is on synthetic biology projects that possess both foundational design capabilities and experience in scaled-up production, and Yanwei Technology fully integrates these two strengths. At the pipeline level, its world-leading whole-cell biocatalysis technology, validated at an industrial scale, secures the foundation for commercialization, while its cutting-edge bio-template-based metal catalyst platform expands the boundaries for growth. We believe that Yanwei’s strong execution capability will enable the rapid industrialization of its core products.