From Life Science Research Services to Integrated Biotech: OEBiotech's Next Chapter | Fosun Innostar Venture Camp

Established in 2009, Oebiotech is a high-tech enterprise specializing in multi-omics testing services. Having witnessed the evolution of scientific and technical services in China’s life sciences sector from its early stages to maturity, Oebiotech has grown into a highly efficient, high-quality, and premium technology service platform. It provides multi-omics testing services and solutions tailored to the life sciences, pharmaceutical companies, and clinical research fields.

However, 12 years ago, China’s research technical services sector for life sciences was still in its early stages. How did oebiotech identify the potential in this field and enter the track early to cultivate deep expertise? In this interview, VCBeat speaks with Mr. Wang Shuwei, Chairman of oebiotech, to explore the company’s development and transformation over the past 12 years.

Back in 2009, China’s life sciences sector was beginning to show signs of rapid growth, driven by initiatives such as the National 863 Program and the National 973 Program. However, contrary to this trend, there were very few companies in the market capable of providing high-end technical services for scientific research projects.

At the time, Wang Shuwei believed that the market would inevitably favor companies offering high-level services and adhering to high-quality standards. Therefore, in its early stages, oebiotech chose gene chip technology services as its primary business direction.

The ability to formulate such a development strategy at an early stage of market growth is clearly attributable to Wang Shuwei’s years of accumulated experience in the biotechnology sector. Prior to founding oebiotech, Wang Shuwei served as a senior executive at several companies in the biosciences field. His extensive industry experience led him to recognize that the cutthroat competition characteristic of the low-end services market was not a viable path for oebiotech’s development.

Regarding the team, all core members of oebiotech have over ten years of industry experience in the field of biotechnology, possessing a profound understanding of the evolution and development of biotechnologies.

Although the domestic scientific research services market was not as large and prosperous in the early days of oebiotech’s establishment as it is today, the biotechnology market began to expand with the development and maturation of technologies such as biochip technology, RNA interference technology, and next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology. Correspondingly, the volume of related technical services also grew rapidly. During this process, oebiotech continuously expanded the boundaries of its technical services and began to explore the construction of a comprehensive technical service platform.

From a biological perspective, gene expression regulation is complex, and various modifications occur after gene transcription or translation. Therefore, if research and data analysis are conducted at only a single omics level, the conclusions are often not comprehensive. Multi-omics can effectively compensate for the limitations of single omics.

As a novel bioanalytical approach, multi-omics leverages vast amounts of biological data at the molecular level across multiple dimensions and stages of life—including genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and microbiomics—to enable high-level analysis and interpretation of complex biological phenomena, such as life processes and diseases, which involve a multitude of influencing factors.

In light of this, since the maturation of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology in 2012, OE Biotech has been actively tracking and covering multi-omics technologies, gradually establishing a comprehensive service system in genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, and other fields.

To further enhance its existing multi-omics service system, Oebiotech acquired a controlling stake in Lumming Biotechnology in 2017. Since then, Oebiotech has established a comprehensive multi-omics detection platform encompassing single-cell sequencing, spatial multi-omics technologies (spatial metabolomics and spatial transcriptomics), proteomics and metabolomics mass spectrometry, first-/second-/third-generation sequencing, library preparation, and gene chip technologies.

For life sciences technology service providers, exploring and keeping pace with cutting-edge, high-quality technologies is clearly a prerequisite for conducting business. However, the public nature of these technologies means that, in theory, it is difficult for peer companies to achieve substantial differentiation at the technical level. Instead, the core of service delivery lies in a company’s understanding and application of technology, its ability to comprehend and meet customer needs, the quality and efficiency of its services, and the effectiveness and quality of its management and operations.

At the service level, oebiotech adheres to high efficiency, high quality, and premium standards in its service delivery. Throughout customer collaborations, oebiotech places great emphasis on service philosophy and customer experience, consistently upholding the principle of “Robust Data, Excellent Service.” By establishing a comprehensive set of service specifications and standard operating procedures (SOPs), oebiotech fully ensures the standardization, normalization, and scientific rigor of its services.

Furthermore, as a platform-based company offering a wide array of scientific research technologies, oebiotech ensures the parallel advancement, balanced development, and mutual reinforcement of its multiple technological capabilities. It is precisely due to its rigorous attitude and efficient, high-quality execution that oebiotech has continuously earned full customer recognition during business operations, thereby establishing a strong reputation and solidifying its brand presence.

Building on years of business development and a deep understanding of customer needs, oebiotech has launched the “Yiming Academy” research training platform and the “oebiotech Cloud” analytical tools, in addition to its existing scientific research technical services, to help customers improve the efficiency of their research projects.

Since its establishment, Oebiotech has served clients across China, with dozens to nearly one hundred customer publications applying Oebiotech’s technologies appearing monthly in prestigious domestic and international journals. High-end institutions, such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences, constitute a significant proportion of its collaborative partners. Throughout these collaborations, clients’ stringent demands for service quality have driven Oebiotech to continuously elevate its service standards. These high-standard services, in turn, have significantly supported scientific research, fostering a win-win scenario characterized by mutual promotion and synergistic development.

As the saying goes, “Make further progress from a hundred-foot pole.” Oebiotech’s exploration of the industry has never ceased.

While maintaining steady growth in its existing technical services and business scale, identifying new growth curves has become the next strategic focus for oebiotech.

In terms of strategic development, leveraging its existing technological expertise, oebiotech has expanded its multi-omics testing platform into a suite of in vitro diagnostic (IVD) products and established Jingzhun Biology, a molecular diagnostics company specializing in pre-conception care, prenatal diagnosis, and newborn screening. Meanwhile, it has gradually built a comprehensive system for the research and development, production, and sales of clinical molecular diagnostics, thereby bridging the gap between high-end multi-omics technical services and the molecular diagnostics sector. After several years of development, multiple molecular diagnostic products have been finalized, with two of them scheduled to complete clinical trials this year.

From its initial gene chip technology to a multi-omics technology service platform, and now to self-developed products, oebiotech has continuously undergone upgrades. To broaden its horizons, the oebiotech team has also actively participated in the Fosun Star Future Entrepreneurship Camp, engaging in exchanges and learning with numerous peers in the life sciences field.

Earlier this month, oebiotech closed its Series A+ financing round, raising nearly RMB 100 million. Commenting on the development, Wu Lili, Executive General Manager of Fosun’s Xingweilai Capital and CEO of Xingweilai Research Institute, stated, “We are delighted to witness oebiotech’s rapid growth. Precision medicine, spanning from precision therapeutics to precision diagnostics, has always been a key frontier sector for us. oebiotech boasts innovative reproductive genetics products with significant potential for clinical application. We look forward to future collaboration with industrial companies within the Fosun ecosystem, leveraging our respective strengths to drive continuous innovation in product pipelines and technology platforms, and achieving synergistic development.”

Building on its existing business, oebiotech has established a development strategy focused on two core areas: an innovative multi-omics testing service platform and molecular diagnostics. According to Wang Shuwei, exploration in the life sciences sector demands substantial investment of time and effort. Moving forward, oebiotech will continue to deepen its expertise in these two fields, continuously refining its products and services, with the aim of becoming a leading comprehensive biotechnology company in the industry.

Fosun Star Future Entrepreneurship Camp is an incubation and investment platform under Fosun’s Star Future Capital, established with the support of Fosun and Fosun Pharma. Focused on the broader health sector, it adopts a “community + incubation + investment” model to explore cutting-edge innovation, concentrate on entrepreneurial talent, and identify and invest in future unicorns at an early stage.

In 2021, Fosun Star Future Entrepreneurship Camp launched its third cohort. Targeting entrepreneurs in the healthcare sector and aspiring innovators, it invited top-tier global mentors and introduced six core incubation modules, offering entrepreneurship courses grounded in China’s medical industry background and practical experience.