MooN Bio Secures RMB 200 Million Series C Financing Led by SDIC Chuangye to Advance Live Biotherapeutic and Agricultural Microbial Platforms

VCBeat has learned that Guangzhou Colony Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Colony Bio”) recently completed a C-round financing of RMB 200 million, led bySDIC Venture Capital Leads Investment Round; Dr. Chen Zhuxi of SDIC Venture Capital Joins the Board of Directors of Colony Biotechnology. This marks Guangzhou Colony Biotechnology Co., Ltd.’s second hundred-million-yuan-level financing round this year, following its completion of an over-100-million-yuan Series B+ round in June 2021, demonstrating continued favor from top-tier investors. The proceeds from this round will be used to further advance the industrialization of microbiome technologies, strengthen the company’s microbiome technology platform, and comprehensively accelerate clinical trials for two innovative live biotherapeutic products as well as market development and sales of multiple agricultural microbial products.

Founded in 2015, Colony Biotechnology is an internationally leading microbiome platform technology company that has established a complete industrialization technology system for the microbiome, covering microbial discovery, screening, engineering, and application. The company has built the world’s largest and most biodiverse culture collection and gene bank of gut and plant microbes, discovering, preserving, and identifying over 150,000 microbial strains with independent intellectual property rights. Leveraging its proprietary Culture-To-Product technology platform, Colony Biotechnology can efficiently and continuously develop innovative, naturally derived high-activity microbes and their metabolites.

In the biopharmaceutical sector,Leveraging its leading full-spectrum live biotherapeutic drug development platform, Guangzhou Colony Biotechnology Co., Ltd. is targeting the therapeutic potential of microbiome-based therapies in oncology immunotherapy and metabolic diseases, and is building a R&D pipeline comprising nine blockbuster live biotherapeutic products. Its oncology immunotherapy candidate MNC-168 and metabolic disease candidate MNO-863 are set to file Investigational New Drug (IND) applications in both China and the United States. The company has established collaborations with domestic and international pharmaceutical giants such as Novo Nordisk, Hengrui Medicine, and Merck China Innovation Center; co-established the “Engineered Bacteria Drug Joint Laboratory” with the Institute for Interdisciplinary Life Sciences and Medicine at Hunan University; and entered into clinical collaborations with medical institutions including Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital and the PLA General Hospital (301 Hospital). In early 2021, a scientific research project conducted by Guangzhou Colony Biotechnology in collaboration with academic institutions was awarded the First Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress by the Ministry of Education. Currently,The live biotherapeutic anticancer drug MNC-168 has initiated a global clinical study in combination with adebrelimab (an anti-PD-L1 monoclonal antibody) from Hengrui Medicine.

In the bio-agriculture sector,Guangzhou Colony Biotechnology Co., Ltd. has a clear commercialization path, targeting the $60 billion unserved market for biological control and soil health. The company has obtained product certificates and has more than ten bio-agricultural products under registration. It has launched a series of highly innovative agricultural microbial inoculant products, with product sales achieving triple growth for three consecutive years. Recently,The Company has established close strategic partnerships with leading agricultural enterprises such as Syngenta Group, Nuopuxin, Zhejiang Xinong, and Pagoda. In 2021, Guangzhou Colony Biotechnology Co., Ltd. jointly established the “Joint Laboratory for Microbial Pesticides” with Syngenta Group and reached an agreement to collaborate with its seed business in discovering next-generation biotech traits, thereby jointly driving innovative transformation in the seed industry’s core “chips.”

Dr. Jiang Xianzhi, Founder & CEO of Colony Biotech, stated: We sincerely appreciate the support and trust from SDIC Venture Capital. With the backing of both existing and new shareholders, Guangzhou Colony Biotechnology Co., Ltd. will continue to consolidate its technological and industrial advantages, including enhancing capabilities in microbial multi-omics, synthetic biology, and single-strain genomic data mining and prediction, accelerating the clinical development of live biotherapeutic products, and expanding the market distribution network for biological agricultural products. In 2022, Guangzhou Colony Biotechnology is poised to achieve significant breakthroughs in technological innovation and industrialization.

Dr. Jin Tao, Managing Director of SDIC Venture Capital, stated: Colony Biotechnology possesses leading R&D capabilities, innovation strengths, and extensive industry experience in the microbiome field. Its live biotherapeutic drug pipeline has achieved rapid progress in tumor immunology and metabolic diseases, demonstrating significant potential. Meanwhile, its agricultural products fill domestic gaps in China and have gained collaboration recognition from multiple leading enterprises in the industry, positioning the company to become a leading provider of microbial agricultural inoculants in China. We remain optimistic about its prospects and hold high expectations, looking forward to the Colony team achieving steady and long-term success while continuously creating value in the microbiome sector.

SDIC Venture Capital was established in 2016. It is a private equity fund management company specially set up by China Development Investment Group (SDIC) in accordance with market-oriented principles, to implement the national innovation-driven development strategy, deepen comprehensive strategic cooperation with the Ministry of Science and Technology, and accelerate the transfer and commercialization of national scientific and technological achievements.

Through platforms such as the National Science and Technology Major Project Achievement Transformation Fund, SDIC (Guangdong) Scientific and Technological Achievement Transformation Venture Capital Fund, SDIC Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Scientific and Technological Achievement Transformation Fund, SDIC High-Tech (Shenzhen) Venture Capital Fund, and SDIC (Ningbo) Scientific and Technological Achievement Transformation Fund, SDIC Entrepreneurship has consistently adhered to its investment objectives for the commercialization of scientific and technological achievements. It focuses on key sectors including advanced manufacturing, electronic information, materials and energy, and biopharmaceuticals. Aligning with national regional development strategies in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, it continuously promotes breakthroughs in independent innovation of core critical technologies and fosters a robust investment ecosystem for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements.