SynBioLab Secures Tens of Millions in Pre-A Funding to Accelerate Synthetic Biology Product Commercialization

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) recently learned that SynBioLab, a leading enterprise in synthetic biology, announced the completion of its tens-of-millions-of-yuan pre-A financing round,Led by K2VC, with follow-on investment from BGI-Songhe Angel Fund. This round of financing will be used for the iterative development of the company'sHigh-throughput automated cell factory construction platform, data-driven intelligent enzyme design platform, andLarge-Scale Green Manufacturing Platform for Pharmaceutical Compounds。

SynBioLab will upgrade its high-throughput, automated construction platform,Enhancing the Intelligent Bio-Manufacturing Capabilities of Cell Factories; then, establish a data-driven intelligent enzyme design platform to enhance the functional mining and rational design capabilities of key enzymes,Further strengthen the layout in rational enzyme design and deep learning; finally, by iteratively scaling up the core equipment of the fermentation platform,Accelerate the pilot-scale development and industrialization of biosynthetic high-value-added active pharmaceutical ingredients, functional foods, and products in other sectors。

SynBioLab, established in 2017, focuses on the biosynthesis of high-value plant-derived pharmaceutical compounds. To address the pain points associated with plant-derived compounds—such as long production cycles, high extraction costs, and the reliance on rare or protected plant species—SynBioLab employs synthetic biology approaches to redesign microbial metabolic pathways and construct cellular factories. This enables a significant reduction in both the production cycle and cost of plant-derived compounds, completely eliminating dependence on agricultural and forestry land.

Regarding the completion of this round of financing, Wang Xiao, CEO of SynBioLab, responded: “We are deeply grateful to Kaitai Capital, BGI, and Shouhe Capital for their recognition of our team. Over the next two to three years, SynBioLab will continue to collaborate with industry peers and cross-disciplinary partners. Through robust technological innovation, we aim to jointly advance the practical applications of synthetic biology in healthcare, food, consumer goods, and other sectors, achieving truly green ‘intelligent’ manufacturing and expanding the possibilities for a better life for humanity.”

The SynBioLab team possesses outstanding integrated innovation capabilities in gene data mining and the construction of synthetic biology systems, and has published works in top-tier academic journals such as *Science*, *Nature Biotechnology*, and *Nature Communications*. Leveraging the team’s extensive experience in big data mining for omics and the design of cellular metabolic pathways,SynBioLab has previously established an omics big data analytics platform, a deep learning-based enzyme computation platform, and a high-throughput screening platform, achieving full-stack R&D capabilities ranging from gene mining to cell factory construction.。

It is reported that SynBioLab has currently established multiple synthetic biology R&D pipelines across three major sectors: pharmaceuticals, functional foods, and skincare products.

K2 CapitalIt is believed that every stage of the Design-Build-Test-Learn (DBTL) cycle in synthetic biology is critical. Building upon current mainstream programmable high-throughput automated laboratories, the targeted expansion of component libraries through efficient gene mining and protein evolution capabilities upstream serves as a key strategy to accelerate the development of synthetic biology pipelines. SynBioLab’s “dry lab” capabilities, characterized by evolutionary genomics and structural simulation, help address industry challenges in synthetic biology and facilitate the commercialization of downstream applications.

Likewise, the first investment made by the “BGI-Songhe Angel Fund,” newly established through a partnership between BGI Group and Songhe Capital, was in the cutting-edge field of synthetic biology—namely, SynBioLab.

Zeng Xiaoyu, Managing Partner of BGI-Songhe Angel Fund, Expressed Strong Endorsement for SynBioLab“SynBioLab boasts a world-class team in evolutionary genomics, with robust R&D capabilities in omics big data, enzyme engineering and screening, and chassis cell libraries. We are highly optimistic about the company’s prospects.”

Looking ahead, biosynthesis could enable evolutionary pathways in nature that are not clearly defined, significantly reducing the number of reaction steps and time required for manufacturing, improving efficiency, greatly lowering the consumption of natural plant resources, meeting the country’s major needs for green manufacturing, and aligning closely with national strategies for carbon neutrality and peak carbon emissions.

Founded in 2009, K2 Capital adheres to the philosophy of “research-driven investment.” Guided by its understanding of the intelligent economy era, the firm invests in innovative companies within the decentralized intelligent economy sector, starting from genuine and effective enterprise needs and scenarios. It serves new scenarios and models in the digital economy, facilitating enterprises’ digital and intelligent transformation. To date, K2 Capital has invested in nearly 30 innovative companies across fields such as data intelligence and enterprise services, artificial intelligence technologies, and specialized scenario applications.

BGI-Songhe Angel Fund was jointly established by BGI Group, a leading company in the genomics industry, and Songhe Capital, a seasoned local venture capital firm. The fund focuses on equity investments in strategic genomic technologies, as well as related innovative biomedical devices, precision medicine products, and services. Leveraging the industry insights and extensive venture capital experience of its two cornerstone investors, the fund is committed to identifying outstanding early-stage technology projects, delivering landmark achievements that lead global life sciences innovation, and demonstrating its strong brand capability.