BaiKuiRui Bio Secures Nearly RMB 50 Million in Pre-A Financing to Advance Protein Design and Synthesis

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) recently learned that synthetic biology company Bai Kuirui Bio has completed a Pre-A financing round of nearly RMB 50 million.Led by Yuansheng Ventures, with participation from Shenzhen Angel Fund of Funds, Guoke Jiahe, and Xiamen Fengxue, the proceeds from this round of financing will be primarily used for the production of biosynthetic targeted bactericidal proteins and functional peptides, accelerating product portfolio deployment in the fields of efficacy-based skin health, pet gut health, rare metabolic disorders, and biopesticides. The company also plans to establish its first-phase industrial-scale production base, as well as to recruit top-tier talent and build a market expansion team.

For gaining recognition in the capital market,Founder of BaiKuiRui BiotechHe stated, “We extend our gratitude to Genesis Capital, Shenzhen Angel FOF, CAS Star, and Xiamen Fengxue for their recognition of our team. BaiKuiRui is a synthetic biology company driven by technological innovation. Over the next two to three years, we will leverage our platforms for precise protein design and protein molecular machines to continuously innovate and develop a pipeline of protein and peptide products with diverse functionalities. These products will target therapeutic applications in skin health, pet health, and rare metabolic disorders, thereby creating greater value for human health.”

BaiKuiRui Biotechnology was established in 2019 and initially located at the Industrial Biotechnology Institute Incubator of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in the Tianjin Airport Economic Area. In 2021, the company relocated to the Shenzhen Engineering Biology Industry Innovation Center. Currently, BaiKuiRui has nearly 3,000 square meters of R&D and pilot-scale production facilities in Shenzhen and Tianjin, either operational or under construction. The company is dedicated to the efficient biosynthesis of pharmaceuticals using synthetic biology technologies. It aims to build a comprehensive synthetic biology platform encompassing precise protein design and protein molecular machine technologies, thereby enabling innovative, efficient, and green manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals and biomaterials.

The company’s founding team comprises biologists from top Australian universities, PhD holders, and entrepreneurs with extensive industry experience, boasting deep expertise in interdisciplinary fields such as synthetic biology, protein engineering, artificial intelligence, bioinformatics, and chemical engineering. By establishing platforms for precise protein design and protein molecular machines, the BaiKuiRui Biotech team focuses on functional skincare, rare metabolic disorders, and pet gut health therapeutics. Leveraging synthetic biology techniques such as gene editing, the company develops targeted therapies against harmful bacteria or toxins that adversely affect human health.

Since its inception, BaiKuiRui Bio has been committed to building a technology platform for precise protein design and protein molecular machines. By integrating biological big data, machine learning, and rational design, the company develops powerful protein components. Building on this foundation, it employs directed evolution of protein molecules to further enhance protein performance. Leveraging an intelligent, automated, high-throughput screening system combined with efficient gene-editing technologies, BaiKuiRui Bio constructs protein machines with strong synergistic effects. This approach rapidly establishes metabolic synthesis pathways within cells, enabling the design and development of highly efficient cell factories and significantly boosting synthesis efficiency.

Guided by this synthetic biology development paradigm, BaiKuiRui Bio has modularized the biosynthetic production process, creating “plug-and-play” biological components that enable the efficient construction of metabolic pathways for target products in chassis cell factories. This approach paves the way for the rapid design of drug synthesis routes and the development of super biocatalytic enzymes. The BaiKuiRui team can rapidly produce high-value-added products tailored to diverse application scenarios, including targeted bactericidal proteins as antibiotic alternatives, functional peptides, engineered functional proteins, and medical enzymes for intestinal delivery.

For the investment in Baikirui Bio, the lead investorBan Bo, Partner at Yuansheng Venture Capital Shenzhen Angel FundStatement: Synthetic biology has a wide range of applications, covering all aspects of daily life, including materials, chemical products, food, and pharmaceuticals. It possesses immense market potential, while the rapid development of disciplines such as biology, bioinformatics, and computer science is gradually driving the synthetic biology industry toward an explosive growth phase. Against this backdrop, BioKuiRui not only leverages chassis cell engineering to achieve "cost advantages + carbon neutrality," but its R&D team also draws on 20 years of experience in protein engineering. By utilizing its proprietary library of protein machine components, the team efficiently designs novel proteins or peptides according to functional requirements, thereby strengthening the company's patent barriers. We are honored to participate in BioKuiRui's new round of financing and believe that BioKuiRui will undoubtedly become a steadfast pillar in China's surging wave of synthetic biology.

Liu Xiangning, Deputy General Manager of Shenzhen Angel Fund Management Co., Ltd.VCBeat stated: "BaiKuiRui is a highly promising synthetic biology company whose products are of high value and originality. The BaiKuiRui team boasts substantial technological and industrial expertise. We are optimistic about BaiKuiRui’s development and look forward to growing alongside the company."

Liao Jieying, Partner at Guoke Jiahe FundStatement: Compared with traditional chemical engineering pathways, biosynthetic pathways are more aligned with the national strategic goals of achieving carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. “Green chemical engineering” offers greater potential for the harmonious development of the socio-economy and the ecological environment, and is poised to trigger a new round of industrial transformation, fundamentally reshaping traditional models in pharmaceuticals, food, energy, materials, and agriculture. Originating from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Bai Kuirui boasts leading core technologies and possesses efficient end-to-end industrialization capabilities across its full-state chain, encompassing “precise protein design + protein molecular machines + high-performance cell factories.” This aligns well with Guoke Jiahe’s investment positioning as a “technology capital” firm focused on the transfer and commercialization of high-quality scientific research achievements from CAS. With years of accumulated industry expertise and strong business development capabilities, Bai Kuirui’s team is well-positioned to accelerate the industrialization of synthetic biology in China and rapidly emerge as a leading force at the forefront of the domestic synthetic biology sector.

Yuansheng Venture Capital is an investment firm focused on the early and growth stages of the healthcare sector, headquartered in Suzhou BioBAY with a global reach. To date, it has invested in over 140 outstanding companies in the life and health sectors, covering four key areas: novel drug development, medical devices, in vitro diagnostics and precision medicine, and healthcare services. The firm has achieved substantial investment returns, with 13 of its portfolio companies having gone public on capital markets such as the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the STAR Market. Yuansheng Venture Capital has been repeatedly recognized as one of the Top 10 venture capital funds in China’s healthcare sector and as one of the most active healthcare investment institutions in China. By bringing together seasoned professional investors and a world-class team of scientific advisors, Yuansheng Venture Capital possesses extensive experience in entrepreneurship, venture capital, and corporate operations within the biopharmaceutical industry and beyond. Leveraging our professionalism, focus, and abundant industry resources, we are committed to becoming one of the most successful healthcare and pharmaceutical venture capital funds in China.

The Shenzhen Angel Fund of Funds is a strategic and policy-oriented fund established under the initiative and investment of the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Government. It represents a policy measure by Shenzhen to benchmark against international best practices, address shortcomings in venture capital, and support the development of seed-stage and early-stage enterprises. It is the largest government-guided angel investment fund of its kind in China. The Shenzhen Angel Fund of Funds focuses on investing in and nurturing strategic emerging industries and future industries, striving to lead the angel investment sector, cultivate outstanding start-ups, and improve the full-process innovation ecosystem encompassing “basic research + technological breakthroughs + industrialization of achievements + sci-tech finance + talent support.” This provides strong support for Shenzhen’s efforts to build itself into an international venture capital and private equity center, as well as an international hub for scientific, technological, and industrial innovation.

Guoke Jiahe (Beijing) Investment Management Co., Ltd. was established in 2011. Initiated by CAS Holdings Co., Ltd. (“CAS Holdings”) as a cornerstone investor and jointly founded with several large domestic enterprise groups, it is an equity investment fund manager. It is also the only full-cycle professional technology investment institution directly under CAS Holdings that covers angel, venture capital (VC), and private equity (PE) stages. Guoke Jiahe has consistently leveraged “technology capital” to lead investments in hard-tech sectors, having cumulatively invested in over one hundred high-tech innovation projects with technological barriers in the two major tracks of TMT and healthcare.