Aegicare Completes RMB 100 Million Series B Financing to Accelerate Innovation in Genomic Disease Diagnosis and Therapy

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) learned at the earliest opportunity that,On December 25, 2020, Aegicare (Shenzhen) Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Aegicare”) announced the completion of its RMB 100 million Series B financing round. The round was led by Boxing Capital, with participation from ASB Capital and Hengqin Golden Investment.It is reported that this round of financing will be used to strengthenAnjikaner Gene IntelligenceAEGIS™SystemR&D innovation,and prioritize the advancement of genomic diseasesIVDMedical DevicesProduct Registration Filing.

Genomic diseases, also known as genetic diseases or rare diseases, currently encompass over 8,000 identified conditions and more than 4,000 associated pathogenic genes, affecting over twenty clinical specialties including neurology, cardiology, ophthalmology, endocrinology, prenatal and reproductive medicine, and oncology. According to a report by the World Health Organization, there are currently 500 million patients with genomic diseases worldwide. In China, the patient population exceeds 30 million, with approximately 900,000 newborns affected by birth defects each year. The first step in the prevention and control of genomic diseases is to achieve precise diagnosis. In 2019, the National Health Commission of China released the Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Rare Diseases, deploying and promoting standardized diagnosis and treatment for genomic diseases, including rare diseases, at the policy level.

It is reported that Aegicare launched the CompleteCare™ whole-genome clinical comprehensive solution in 2019. By comprehensively replacing traditional clinical genetic molecular testing techniques such as whole-exome sequencing, mitochondrial testing, and chromosomal microarray analysis, this solution systematically addresses long-standing detection gaps in structural variants, copy number variants, deep intronic regions, and pseudogenes inherent to conventional approaches. Retrospective data from the past year indicate a comprehensive diagnostic rate of 46% for CompleteCare™, significantly higher than that of traditional methods. There is a growing consensus within the domestic and international industries that whole-genome sequencing will inevitably become the primary choice for clinical molecular diagnosis of genomic disorders in the near future.

Due to the extreme complexity of genomic diseases, technological bottlenecks no longer lie in experimentation and sequencing themselves, but rather in the clinical bioinformatics analysis and clinical genetic interpretation following the output of raw data from sequencing instruments. Over the past four years since its establishment, Aegicare’s multidisciplinary team of scientists and engineers—specializing in bioinformatics, databases, algorithms, and clinical genetics—has continuously developed and iterated the AEGIS™ Intelligent Genomic System. This system has optimized and enhanced multiple dimensions of genomic disease diagnosis, including detection rate, turnaround time, personnel efficiency, cost, and clinical accuracy, with all key metrics reaching the level of top-tier companies in the United States. In addition to internal use, AEGIS™ has been adopted by more than 20 large Grade IIIA hospitals across China, empowering these medical institutions to independently issue clinical genetic diagnostic reports. During the pandemic, leveraging the bioinformatics algorithmic advantages of AEGIS™, Aegicare jointly applied with the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Peking University for the project “Application and Industrialization of Rapid SARS-CoV-2 Detection Based on Fourth-Generation Sequencing,” which received funding from the National Key Special Project “Science and Technology Supporting Economy 2020” administered by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China.

Dr. Li Yang, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Aegicare, stated, “U.S. genomic disease diagnostic companies, represented by Invitae, have achieved rapid growth in recent years, with Invitae projected to reach an impressive annual testing volume of 700,000 individuals for a single company in 2020. In contrast, the penetration rate of genetic diagnosis in China remains relatively low. Invitae’s substantial investment in standardized products and intelligent analysis has provided valuable insights for Aegicare. In terms of standardization, we are fully committed to building the CompleteCare™ comprehensive whole-genome clinical solution, which covers nearly all known types of human genetic variants in a single test. In terms of intelligence, we leverage our AEGIS™ Genetic Intelligence System as a breakthrough to provide precise and efficient bioinformatics analysis and clinical genetic interpretation. We thank our investors for their continued recognition and support of the genomic disease sector and Aegicare. We will further strengthen our core capabilities, striving to become the healthcare technology company serving the largest number of genomic disease patients globally, and advance the integration of comprehensive genomic information into mainstream clinical practice.”

Chen Lei, Partner at Boxing Capital, the lead investor in this round, stated, “The diagnosis of genomic diseases, including genetic disorders, represents a critical application scenario for high-throughput sequencing and precision medicine, addressing long-standing unmet clinical needs. Leveraging its robust R&D capabilities, the Aegicare team has developed a standardized, scalable, automated, and intelligent comprehensive solution for genomic disease diagnosis, starting from urgent clinical demands. This enables the provision of valuable services to more hospitals and patients. Against the backdrop of national initiatives promoting precision medicine, and with declining sequencing costs and advancing clinical diagnostic technologies, we are firmly optimistic about Aegicare’s future development prospects.”

Headquartered in Shenzhen, with R&D centers in Silicon Valley, Beijing, and Wuhan, Aegicare is a national high-tech enterprise that empowers precision medical diagnostics and drug development through genomic intelligence. Its core team hails from publicly listed companies in the U.S. pharmaceutical industry, such as Invitae and Myriad, as well as from top-tier universities worldwide, including the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Peking University, and Tsinghua University. Leveraging cutting-edge bioinformatics, medical genetics, high-throughput sequencing, functional genomics, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing technologies, Aegicare develops world-leading genomic intelligence algorithms for patients, healthcare institutions, research organizations, and innovative pharmaceutical companies. These algorithms address challenges related to the mining, translation, interpretation, clinical decision support, and drug development for genomic diseases affecting hundreds of millions of people globally. The company operates a 1,000-square-meter medical testing laboratory approved by the National Health Commission and compliant with U.S. CLIA/CAP standards, holding certification from the American Board of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ABMGG). It has established long-term collaborations with nearly 300 Grade III Class A hospitals across China and jointly founded the Genomic Intelligence Collaborative Innovation Laboratory with the College of Engineering at Peking University, Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and MGI Tech. To date, Aegicare has accumulated comprehensive genetic and clinical phenotype data from hundreds of thousands of Chinese patients with genomic diseases.

Boxing Capital is a venture capital firm focused on early-stage healthcare investments, founded by partners with extensive experience in healthcare industry investing. The firm currently manages funds totaling nearly RMB 1 billion, with key investments in more than 30 innovative medical device and healthcare service companies possessing significant market potential. Many of these portfolio companies have grown into leaders in their respective niche sectors, and the firm has successfully achieved profitable exits from multiple projects. Boxing Capital’s limited partners include top-tier domestic fund-of-funds, healthcare industry entrepreneurs, and seasoned investors. Leveraging in-depth industry research, clear investment logic, and comprehensive post-investment management capabilities, Boxing Capital has secured ongoing support from its investors and earned long-term respect from entrepreneurs, firmly establishing itself as a trusted long-term partner for leading Chinese investors and entrepreneurs.

ASB Ventures focuses on two core businesses: early-to-mid-stage venture capital investment (through methods such as Fund of Funds combined with direct project investments) in fields including biomedicine and health, TMT and creativity, hardware technology and clean technology; and private equity fund management. It also provides high-level financial and governance services to its portfolio companies. The RMB-denominated fund series currently managed by ASB Ventures includes “ASB Venture Capital Portfolio Funds No. 1–7” (including the Hua’ao Venture Capital series funds).

Hengqin Financial Investment Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Hengqin Jin Tou”) was established on January 28, 2014, with a paid-in registered capital of RMB 4 billion. It is a wholly state-owned enterprise set up by the Hengqin New Area to promote financial innovation, deepen cooperation with Macao, accelerate industry incubation through investment and financing instruments, and explore new models for the market-oriented operation of state-owned capital. As of now, its assets under management exceed RMB 17 billion.