Bioxgene Secures RMB 200 Million Series B Financing to Accelerate 'Thousand Targets, Ten Thousand Leads®' Initiative and Empower Origin Innovation in Drug Discovery

Recently, Wuxi Biortus Biosciences Co., Ltd. (“Biortus”), a CRO enterprise specializing in drug discovery with cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structure determination, announced the completion of its RMB 200 million Series B financing round. The round was co-led by Kangjun Capital and Legend Capital, with Sherpa Capital participating as a follow-on investor. The proceeds will be used to further invest in the cryo-EM platform and accelerate the “Thousand Targets, Ten Thousand Leads”^®"Plan to empower 'source innovation' in new drug R&D focused on 'new targets, new mechanisms, and new molecular entities.' Last October, the company secured over RMB 100 million in Series A financing led by Kangjun Capital, marking its second round of funding completed one year later."

Unlike other CRO companies, “Biortus” focuses on the source of new drug development—the drug discovery stage. With structural biology as its specialty, it provides integrated, distinctive CRO services for drug discovery, ranging from drug target genes to proteins and cryo-EM structures. The company boasts a team of over 100 specialists in complex drug target protein preparation and another team of more than 100 experts in structural biology. It is equipped with three core technologies: X-ray crystal structure determination, single-particle analysis (SPA) by cryo-electron microscopy, and MicroED (microcrystal electron diffraction). Ninety percent of its clients are overseas. Led by Dr. Wu Jiaquan, its team of overseas-returnee scientists has collaborated with clients to publish more than 20 SCI-indexed papers.

As a natural extension of its existing structure elucidation business, Wuxi Biortus Biosciences Co., Ltd. (“Biortus”) established its Cryo-Electron Microscopy (Cryo-EM) platform in 2017, completed team building in 2018, and installed the first Cryo-EM instrument in China’s industrial sector in 2019. It became the first company globally to offer CRO services spanning from gene to Cryo-EM structure determination. In 2020, Biortus equipped its facility with multiple high-end Cryo-EM systems, including the Titan Krios. To date, Biortus’s Cryo-EM platform has successfully determined the structures of nearly 100 protein complexes for clients, achieving a highest resolution of 2.1 Å. Additionally, it has completed MicroED structure elucidation for multiple reference compounds, such as carbamazepine, covering their structures, crystal forms, and chirality.

Over the years, Wuxi Biortus has provided services for more than 3,000 new drug R&D projects to nearly 200 domestic and international clients, accumulating extensive experience in “Lead generation.” To address the pain points of “source innovation” in new drug development, Wuxi Biortus officially launched the “Thousand Targets, Ten Thousand Leads” initiative in 2020.^®"The plan is to establish, within three years, multiple essential tool libraries for new drug R&D, including a drug target protein library, a drug target protein structure library, a hit compound library, and a complex structure library, thereby continuously providing customers with novel targets and significantly accelerating the R&D process of 'source innovation' new drugs."

While serving overseas clients, “Biortus” is accelerating its expansion into the domestic market. It has already established strategic partnerships with multiple renowned new drug R&D enterprises, actively exploring diverse collaboration models to comprehensively empower China’s new drug research and development industry.

For this round of financing,“Kangjun Capital” Partner Su YuexingIt stated: “Structural biology research plays a vital role in multiple stages of new drug development. ‘Biortus’ has successfully established an integrated structural biology CRO service capability, encompassing drug gene identification, protein preparation, bioanalysis, X-ray crystallography, and cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structure determination. As the research and development of innovative drugs in China continues to upgrade and accelerate, structural biology will assume an increasingly important role. ‘Biortus’ will continue to deepen its expertise in the field of structural biology services, delivering high-quality and efficient solutions to customers both domestically and internationally. Furthermore, with the goal of fostering ‘source innovation,’ the company is striving to build the ‘Thousand Targets, Ten Thousand Leads’ platform, which is expected to provide a continuous stream of innovative momentum for global clients. We remain optimistic about the company’s service capabilities and growth potential in empowering the innovative drug industry.”

“Junlian Capital” Managing Director Wang Jianfei“CRO/CDMO is a key sector that Legend Capital’s Healthcare Fund has prioritized and systematically invested in. Structural biology is a critical methodology in new drug development, and ‘source innovation’ targeting novel therapeutic targets will become the mainstream approach for drug R&D in China. Wuxi Biortus Biosciences Co., Ltd. (‘Biortus’) is one of the few CROs globally capable of providing integrated services spanning from gene to protein to cryo-EM structure determination, with its technological expertise and service framework ranking among the industry’s best. We are honored to partner with the company and look forward to Biortus leveraging its profound technical accumulation and commitment to service excellence to deepen its engagement in drug discovery, thereby delivering sustained value to international pharmaceutical and biotechnology enterprises.”

Xing Cheng, Partner at Sherpa Investmentstated: “We are optimistic about the broad field of structural biology. Structure-based drug design, particularly for novel targets, will significantly enhance the efficiency and success rate of drug development. We are delighted to support specialized CRO companies like ‘Biortus,’ which has established multiple cutting-edge structural biology platforms, including cryo-electron microscopy, over the past few years, thereby empowering biotechnology companies committed to source innovation worldwide.”

Kangjun Capital was established in 2019. Leveraging the industrial background of Pharmaron, it focuses on equity investments in the biopharmaceutical sector. Pharmaron (Stock Codes: 300759.SZ/3759.HK) is an internationally leading life sciences R&D service provider with operational entities in China, the United States, and the United Kingdom. It employs over 12,000 people and maintains long-term, stable partnerships with pharmaceutical companies and institutions across North America, Europe, Japan, and China. The Kangjun Capital team conducts global investments by leveraging its unique industry perspective and extensive experience in industry, scientific research, management, and capital markets. It primarily focuses on globally leading biopharmaceutical R&D service providers, technology innovation platforms, biotechnology companies, and medical device manufacturers. Kangjun Capital is committed to becoming a trusted long-term partner and a vital link connecting life sciences, the health industry, and capital.

Legend Capital was established in April 2001 as a fund management company under Legend Holdings, specializing in early-stage venture capital and growth-stage private equity investments. Over the past two decades, Legend Capital has adhered to international standards, created best practices for fund operations and management, accumulated comprehensive experience in these areas, and built an ecosystem-based collaborative network across the entire investment value chain. Through its proactive value-added service system, Legend Capital drives innovative corporate growth, consistently delivering strong investment returns across multiple sectors while promoting industrial advancement and social development in China. With the vision of “becoming an investment firm with global influence,” Legend Capital upholds the core value of “Wealth with Integrity” and actively fulfills its social responsibilities. Since entering the healthcare investment sector in 2007, Legend Capital has developed a systematic presence in the CRO/CDMO field, investing in numerous new drug R&D CRO/CDMO enterprises, including WuXi AppTec, WuXi Biologics, Pharmaron, Bellen Bioscience (Liuhe Ningyuan) Group, Noxgor, CytoMed Therapeutics, Dymedso, Xihua Testing, Duchuang Pharma, ZhiXiang Bio, and Kinlong Medicine.

Sherpa Capital was founded in 2018. Its founders previously worked together at a renowned Chinese venture capital firm, where they established and led the healthcare investment team in 2011, overseeing healthcare investments and managing healthcare funds. United in purpose and resilient through challenges, the Sherpa Capital team has emerged as an influential venture capital institution in China’s healthcare sector. The firm has invested in numerous industry leaders across key sectors, including life sciences, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and diagnostics, and healthcare services. Honing its expertise over a decade—from 2011 to 2020—the team navigated four fund vintages and evaluated more than 100 healthcare projects, forging lasting partnerships with many outstanding entrepreneurs and growing alongside them.