BioForAny Biosciences Secures Nearly RMB 50 Million in Angel Funding Led by Sequoia China Seed Fund, Files IPO Prospectus

Recently, Suzhou Baifuan Enzyme Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Baifuan Bio") completed an angel financing round of nearly RMB 50 million. This round was led by Sequoia China Seed Fund, with Heli Investment participating as a co-investor. Previously, Baifuan Bio had completed a seed financing round worth several million yuan last December.

Baifuan Biology, founded in 2014 by Professor Xu Jianhe from East China University of Science and Technology, has developed a comprehensive synthetic biology technology platform, an advanced enzyme engineering platform, and enzyme-based green process development technologies through years of accumulation. It is one of the “major pioneers in China’s biocatalysis industry.”

Professor Xu Jianhe, the company’s scientific founder, earned his bachelor’s degree from the Department of Chemistry at Tsinghua University in 1987 and obtained a joint Ph.D. from East China University of Science and Technology and Kyoto University in 1995. For many years, Professor Xu has been dedicated to advancing the practical application and commercialization of biomanufacturing technologies. He worked for over two decades at the State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering and has been granted more than 90 invention patents related to industrialization to date.

Currently, Baifuan Biotechnology’s R&D center in Shanghai and its pilot-scale production base in Suzhou not only boast an advanced platform for industrial enzyme gene mining and engineering, but have also established diverse product development platforms tailored to various types and applications of enzymatic functional components. Baifuan Biotechnology is leveraging high-performance biological parts to combinatorially synthesize a wide range of product categories.

Since its establishment, Baifu’an Biotechnology has leveraged its proprietary enzyme technology platform to forge technical collaborations with nearly 20 downstream companies, successfully achieving end-to-end R&D and scaled commercial production for multiple products. Notable examples include: partnering with Suzhou Kaiyuan Minsheng to establish an enzymatic production line with an annual capacity of 300 tons of diltiazem; commissioned by Suzhou Fushilai Pharmaceutical, pioneering the R&D and global first-scale construction of an enzymatic production line for (R)-lipoic acid with an annual capacity of 100 tons; and collaborating with Xiamen Omicron to build the world’s first enzymatic production line for high-end fragrance ingredient (R)-alkyl lactones, with an annual capacity of 30 tons, among many other cases. In 2021, Baifu’an Biotechnology embarked on a new journey, actively pursuing a product-platform strategy driven by diversified R&D.

Zhang Han, Partner at Sequoia China, stated,We have long been focused on the synthetic biology industry, where enzyme engineering serves as a foundational, platform-level technology equally important to cell factories. Enzyme technologies enable biological methods to overcome challenging bottlenecks that are difficult to address through conventional chemical synthesis, thereby accelerating the development of biomanufacturing. We are equally optimistic about the future prospects of enzymatic processes. As a technological leader in enzyme engineering, Baifuan Biology has accumulated substantial expertise over many years in enzyme gene mining and modification, as well as in developing functional modules for diverse types of enzymes. Sequoia China is committed to nurturing and empowering companies with leading scientific and technological innovation capabilities in synthetic biology and the zero-carbon economy. We look forward to growing together with Baifuan Biology.

Yu Junhan, Managing Partner at Heli Investment Management, stated,Synthetic biology boasts exceptionally broad development prospects, and Heli Investment attaches great importance to this field. Led by Professor Xu, the Biofu’an team possesses years of practical experience in genuine industrial commercialization and maintains a high level of academic research excellence. The team seamlessly integrates science with commerce, boasting a solid foundation for industrialization and a strong portfolio of client cases. Furthermore, we highly recognize Biofu’an’s strategy of leveraging its existing platform technologies to directly engage in the R&D, manufacturing, and production of categories such as pharmaceutical intermediates, chiral compounds, flavors and fragrances, and vitamins, thereby achieving a closed-loop value proposition with high barriers to entry. Heli Investment will provide multifaceted support and empowerment to the company, helping Biofu’an grow into a globally renowned enterprise in the field of synthetic biology.