Genecast Secures RMB 210 Million Series C Financing Led by Matrix Partners China and ZhenFund, with Participation from YaeHui Precision Medical Fund and Kaifeng Capital

2Month11Recently, Zhenhe Technology announced that it had securedCWheel2.1RMB 100 million in financing. This round was led by Matrix Partners China and Zhenxin Valley Innovation Capital, with participation fromAYahui Precision Medicine Fund and Kaifeng Venture Capital, which led this round and continue to invest. The funds raised in this round will be primarily allocated to three key areas: product research and development, business expansion, and market promotion.

Zhenhe Technology, established in 2014, is a company specializing in non-invasive, individualized precision diagnosis and treatment of cancer, as well as companion diagnostics, with next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology and bioinformatics at its core. In 2017, the company invested in the construction of a Phase II laboratory based on clinical molecular cytogenetics, conducting molecular biomedical testing related to oncology.

To date, the company has established two independent clinical laboratories with medical qualifications. It possesses a technological platform for companion diagnostics, prognostic assessment, and medication guidance for multiple solid tumors (lung cancer, colorectal cancer, liver cancer, esophageal cancer, endometrial cancer, ovarian cancer, and cervical cancer) based on cell-free DNA testing.

As of the end of 2017, Zhenhe Technology had established collaborative partnerships with nearly one hundred medical institutions, universities, and research institutes across China. These include prestigious institutions such as the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Peking University Cancer Hospital, Cancer Hospital Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital. Through technological innovation and collaborative sharing with these leading medical institutions, we provide patients with safe, precise, and comprehensive personalized health guidance.

Meanwhile, Zhenhe Technology collaborates with multiple multinational corporations on genetic testing for clinical drug trials, jointly advancing the development of new drugs.

As the CFDA begins to signal a move toward orderly development in the tumor testing market, the clinical testing market is poised to multiply several fold. The translation of tumor gene sequencing from research to clinical practice not only means that end-point tumor patients can benefit from precision medicine enabled by gene sequencing, but also signifies that midstream gene sequencing services can advance toward standardization, thereby laying the groundwork for subsequent large-scale application and commercialization.

However, Zhenhe Technology believes that the clinical application of products must be supported by scientific research achievements. Therefore, through collaboration with clinicians,

Close collaboration, driving product development through scientific and technological innovation. Genetron Health has established a research and development team with extensive clinical experience and has purposefully developed multiple products tailored to different types of cancer.

Currently, Zhenhe has accumulated 50,000 genomic sample datasets, leveraging this foundation to assist physicians in clinical decision-making and improve patients’ “cost-effectiveness ratio of diagnosis and treatment.”

It is understood that several existing products have enabled Zhenhe to achieve rapid growth over the past three years. Moving forward, while upgrading its current offerings, the company will expand its product portfolio into the field of precision immunotherapy.

Xu Chuansheng, Founding Managing Partner of Matrix Partners China, stated, “China accounts for 22% of new global cancer cases annually, ranking first worldwide in incidence. The five-year mortality rate for major cancers remains high, making precision oncology diagnosis and treatment an inevitable trend. We have long focused on technological advancements in precision cancer therapy and diagnostics. Liquid biopsy based on high-throughput sequencing is one of the fastest-advancing technologies in precision cancer diagnosis.”

Zhengxin Valley Innovation Capital stated, “Zhenhe has assembled a first-class team with balanced capabilities across all operational segments, and the company continues to attract top-tier talent. Given Zhenhe’s substantial accumulation of patient cases and data, coupled with the clinical translation of its technologies, we are optimistic about the company’s future development.”

Ouyang Ming, Founding Partner of Yahui Precision Medicine Fund, stated, “The precision medicine industry has benefited from a significant decline in sequencing costs and an explosion in clinical application scenarios, making it one of the healthcare subsectors we are most bullish on. Due to its non-invasive nature, tumor liquid biopsy has become the most promising method for cancer detection. In the long term, it enables comprehensive testing across the entire care continuum—from early screening and auxiliary diagnosis to treatment guidance and subsequent recurrence monitoring—making it the subsector we favor most within the genetic testing field.”

To date, Zhenhe Technology has collaborated with physicians, hospitals, and other research institutions on more than 100 projects, many of which have already yielded results. Over the past year, four research studies from Zhenhe were accepted for presentation at the 53rd ASCO Annual Meeting. The study “Differences in Mutational Spectra and Evolutionary Trajectories Between Brain and Liver Metastases in Lung Adenocarcinoma” was selected for an oral presentation at the 18th World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC).

The company revealed that its research output in 2018 would far exceed that of 2017. Additionally, Zhenhe’s oncology outpatient clinic has been established in Wuxi, and the company will pursue an integrated model of diagnosis and treatment in the future.