Bota Biosciences Secures Over $100 Million Series B Financing Led by Sequoia China to Accelerate Design and Scalable Production of Bio-based Products

VCBeat has learned at the earliest opportunity,Industrial synthetic biology company Bota Biosciences (“Bota Bio”) announced the completion of its Series B financing round, raising over $100 million.This funding round was led by Sequoia China, with participation from CMB International Capital and existing investors Matrix Partners China, Sherpa Capital, Source Code Capital, 5Y Capital, and Meituan. This brings Bota Biosciences’ total fundraising to over $145 million, setting a new record in Asia for both the speed and scale of financing in the synthetic biology sector.

Bota Biosciences, founded in 2019, is dedicated to pioneering new technological pathways for the traditional chemical manufacturing industry by producing sustainable bio-based products through efficient and environmentally friendly methods. The founding team of Bota Biosciences possesses extensive expertise in the research and development, scaled production, and commercialization of bio-based products. The company has initially established Bota Freeway, a highly integrated automated technology platform that accelerates the parallel R&D of multiple product pipelines. By combining advanced digital tools with laboratory automation and leveraging computation as its core foundation, Bota Freeway enables the construction and optimization of enzymes, microbial strains, and manufacturing processes. Furthermore, the platform efficiently executes the design-build-test-learn cycle of synthetic biology, reducing iteration cycles by 50% and extending its capabilities to downstream process development and the engineering of non-conventional microbial strains.

It is reported that the proceeds from this financing round will be used to expand the company’s global operations, further enhance the Bota Freeway and high-precision fermentation platform, and establish a pilot-scale production base, thereby facilitating the further expansion of its product pipeline in the consumer goods, food, nutraceutical, and pharmaceutical sectors.

Achieving carbon neutrality and addressing environmental pollution have become urgent priorities, as most traditional manufacturing processes incur substantial environmental costs. “We need innovative solutions that deliver high-performance, sustainable products. Through Bota Bio’s biomanufacturing platform, we aim to empower traditional industries by leveraging the power of synthetic biology to accelerate the development, design, and scalable production of high-performance products in a sustainable manner,” said Dr. Cheryl Cui, Co-founder and CEO of Bota Bio. “We are recruiting synthetic biology talent worldwide to expedite the development of bio-based alternatives to conventional petroleum-based products, thereby empowering a diverse global customer base. We are delighted to receive recognition and support from top-tier global investment institutions, which encourage our team to push the boundaries of knowledge and harness biological technologies to tackle greater challenges.”

“Bota Biosciences is accelerating the design and scale-up of bio-based products, leveraging sustainable feedstocks for biosynthetic production to replace fossil fuel-based, energy-intensive, and unsustainable products and manufacturing processes,” said Neil Shen, Founding and Managing Partner at Sequoia China. “The Bota Biosciences team has developed an industry-leading integrated technology platform that provides partners with innovative and efficient product solutions. We are delighted to see the achievements made by the Bota Biosciences team and look forward to further supporting the company in enhancing its product development capabilities, continuously creating value for users, and contributing to global sustainability.”

Bota Bio is a biotechnology company founded on the principles of synthetic biology. By building a standardized, automated, high-throughput experimental platform and integrating machine learning and artificial intelligence, the company systematically engineers organisms to develop efficient, green, low-cost industrial biotechnologies suitable for large-scale production. It provides key technological solutions to various industries, including chemicals, food, agriculture, and pharmaceuticals. Bota Bio is actively recruiting talent in synthetic biology; please follow the Bota Bio WeChat official account to view open positions. For more information, visit www.bota.bio.