International CDMO Innovator Bioinnovo Completes Nearly RMB 100 Million Pre-A Financing Round Co-led by Tigermed and Taiyu Investment

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) has learned that Beijing Baiyinuo Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Baiyinuo Biotech”) recently announced the completion of its Pre-A financing round, amounting to nearly RMB 100 million.Co-led by Tigermed and Taiyu Investment, with participation from Dongzheng Capital, Fuying Investment, Shileng Investment, Qianhui Zhitou, and Huaiji Investment; Chana Capital and Kaicheng Capital served as financial advisors., the funds raised in this round will be primarily used by Bainuo Biotech for the construction of its R&D and production base in Taicang, Suzhou, as well as for talent acquisition and other related purposes.

Previously, in July 2020, Baizhennuo Biotechnology completed an angel financing round of over RMB 10 million, invested by Taiyu Investment and several strategic shareholders.

Baizinuo Biologics is an international biopharmaceutical CDMO company established in late 2019. It not only provides global pharmaceutical companies with services including biopharmaceutical cell line construction and screening, process development, clinical material manufacturing, clinical trial applications, GMP manufacturing for commercial products, and supply chain management, but also offers supply chain products such as world-class engineered cell lines and cell culture media. Baizinuo Biologics has established a comprehensive supply system, ensuring the efficient, high-quality, and stable delivery of CDMO services while effectively controlling costs.

Dr. Zhao Xiaojian, Chairman and CEO of the Company, is a renowned scientist in the field of international cell culture media and an expert in biopharmaceuticals. He previously served as Technical Director at Invitrogen (a subsidiary of Thermo Fisher), a global leader in culture media, and at Merck Millipore. Dr. Zhao has developed dozens of high-end serum-free culture media and additive products that are currently mainstream worldwide, accumulating decades of experience in biomedical research, development, and production.

In response to the strong interest shown by multiple professional investment firms in this round of financing, Dr. Zhao Xiaojian, Founder of Baiyinuo Biologics, stated: “First and foremost, we sincerely appreciate the recognition from our investors. The founding team of Baiyinuo Biologics brings together numerous internationally renowned experts specializing in CDMO and supply chain services. Their extensive experience has endowed us with world-class CDMO operational capabilities. Furthermore, Baiyinuo Biologics possesses a substantial portfolio of independently developed, internationally leading cell culture media and engineered cell lines, which fully support our ability to deliver the highest-quality and most cost-effective CDMO services. Additionally, one of our core founders, Dr. Scott M. Wheelwright, is a globally recognized expert in quality control. Under his leadership, our R&D and manufacturing facilities have established a quality control system that meets international best practices and complies with the regulatory standards of the U.S. FDA, the European EMA, and China’s GMP requirements. It is our founding team’s international leadership position in the industry and our core technological advantages that have earned us the confidence of these professional investment institutions. We are confident that, with the support of capital, Baiyinuo Biologics will emerge as a rising star in the global CDMO sector.”

Biopharmaceuticals have long been the mainstream of the pharmaceutical industry, accounting for half of the entire sector. China has designated biopharmaceuticals as a key pillar industry under its 13th Five-Year Plan. With strong support from national policies, China’s capabilities in biopharmaceutical innovation and industrialization have improved rapidly. However, a certain gap still remains compared with Western developed countries. The current bottlenecks hindering the development of China’s biopharmaceutical industry are as follows:

I. Weak industrial foundation, with supply chain products such as raw materials and equipment relying on imports. In particular, the cell culture media sector, often referred to as the “chip” of biopharmaceuticals, is globally monopolized by U.S. companies;

2. The relatively backward level of process development and the lagging progress in specialized division of labor have hindered the effective translation of innovative achievements in biotherapy, thereby constraining the rapid development of China's biopharmaceutical industry;

3. There is still room for further improvement in quality levels. Currently, only WuXi AppTec in China meets international quality control standards, which makes it difficult for Chinese pharmaceuticals to enter global markets and hinders the local production of overseas pharmaceuticals in China.

China’s biopharmaceutical sector has immense growth potential, but constrained by industry development bottlenecks, CDMO services have become an essential requirement for sector advancement and are poised for explosive growth alongside the broader expansion of China’s biopharmaceutical industry.

Seizing this opportunity, in 2019, Dr. Zhao Xiaojian joined forces with Dr. Scott M. Wheelright, founder of Suzhou Innovent Biologics and a global expert in quality control and biomedicine, and Dr. Rolf Werner, former President of Boehringer-Ingelheim (a global CDMO giant) and an internationally renowned biopharmaceutical expert. Bringing together numerous outstanding industry talents and leveraging robust technological and product advantages, they established Byinno Biologics, a world-class innovative CDMO service platform. This initiative aims to fundamentally break through the bottlenecks constraining China’s biopharmaceutical industry, focus on and unleash innovation capabilities in biotherapeutics, and drive the rapid ascent of the biopharmaceutical sector.

Baizhennuo Biologics focuses on CDMO services for biopharmaceuticals. Leveraging the technical advantages of its integrated cell line and serum-free culture medium development platform, and underpinned by excellent quality management capabilities, the company provides efficient, high-quality, and highly stable CDMO outsourcing services to biopharmaceutical enterprises worldwide. Meanwhile, Baizhennuo Biologics aims to establish the most advanced R&D and production base for culture media in China. This initiative is designed not only to help China completely break free from the monopoly and constraints imposed by foreign companies in this field, but also to ensure the provision of the highest-quality and most cost-effective raw materials to pharmaceutical companies, ultimately enabling patients around the world to access the best medicines at the lowest possible prices. This represents the original aspiration of Baizhennuo Biologics’ founding team and the goal for which all employees strive.

Regarding the investment in Baizinuo Biologics,Dr. Ji Tianrong, Head of the Investment Department at Tigermed (the lead investor) and General Manager of Taiyu Investmentstated: “With the rise of the global biopharmaceutical industry, China’s biopharmaceutical sector is undergoing rapid development, which has spurred the vigorous growth of biopharmaceutical CDMOs. The Bainnuo team boasts exceptional talent: Dr. Zhao Xiaojian is highly experienced in the joint development of cell lines and serum-free media, enabling source-level innovation; Dr. Scott M. Wheelright, founder of former Suzhou Innovent Biologics, is a global quality control expert; and Dr. Rolf Werner, former President of BI, possesses extensive global industrial resources. Bainnuo will establish world-class R&D and manufacturing bases in China, providing professional, efficient, and cost-effective services to Chinese biopharmaceutical companies, while also positioning itself competitively within the global biopharmaceutical CDMO landscape.”

Tigermed (Stock Code: ChiNext: 300347; H Shares: 03347) is a contract research organization (CRO) dedicated to providing comprehensive professional services for the entire clinical trial process of new drug development. It offers integrated and comprehensive clinical research services and solutions to global pharmaceutical and medical device innovators, thereby reducing R&D risks, shortening development cycles, saving R&D costs, and accelerating product commercialization, with the ultimate goal of enabling patients to access newer and better pharmaceutical and medical products at an earlier stage.

Taiyu Investment is an independent professional venture capital firm under Tigermed, a publicly listed company, established in 2014. Taiyu Investment focuses on equity investments in the healthcare sector at early and growth stages. Its management team possesses extensive expertise in the pharmaceutical and health industries, broad industry resources, and rich experience in venture capital. To date, it has completed over RMB 1 billion in financing and investments, with early-stage equity investments in more than 40 projects, primarily serving as a lead investor in Series A or Pre-A rounds. Its investment portfolio covers medical devices, biopharmaceuticals, health supplements, and CRO companies. By empowering its portfolio companies, Taiyu Investment creates value for the development of the healthcare industry in China and globally, contributing to public health.