AnchorDx Secures $28 Million Series B Funding to Advance Early-Stage Cancer Detection

On November 7, 2017, Guangzhou AnchorDx Medical Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “AnchorDx Medical”) announced the completion of its $28 million Series B financing round. The round was co-led by Allspring Healthcare Investments and SJ Capital, with participation from renowned U.S. venture capital firm ARCH Venture Partners, WuXi AppTec, and KingMed Diagnostics. Existing investor Yuan Yi Capital continued to participate in this round.

In addition, Dr. Chen Lianyong and Dr. Shi Chenyang, co-lead investors of the Series B financing round, will join the board of directors of AnchorDx Medical.

AnchorDx Medical, established in 2015, is dedicated to the clinical application and research and development of high-throughput sequencing, providing internationally leading precision medicine technologies and products. The company is also the first enterprise to apply high-throughput sequencing technology for ctDNA methylation in tumor diagnosis.

Fan Jianbing, Founder and CEO of the company, previously served as Senior Technical Director at Illumina, where he led his team to secure the first U.S. FDA clinical clearance for a high-throughput sequencing platform, marking a major milestone in the clinical application of high-throughput sequencing technology.

Leveraging its successful experience in the United States, the company is committed to advancing earlier cancer detection. It defines its core business as the research and development of internationally cutting-edge next-generation testing, clinical diagnostics, precision medicine, and medical “big data” products, thereby developing a series of highly clinically valuable products—including those for early cancer diagnosis—along with subsequent R&D platforms.

It is understood that the company’s proprietary technologies currently include AnchorIRISTM, a methylation library preparation technology with an efficiency five times higher than that of comparable commercial products, and AnchorMonarchTM, a systematic analysis pipeline for methylation data based on machine learning algorithms. These technologies provide more accurate and sensitive detection services for clinical applications in early cancer screening, auxiliary diagnosis, treatment efficacy assessment, and recurrence monitoring.

Dr. Chen Lianyong, Founding Managing Partner and CEO of Tonghe Yucheng, stated, “There is a clear and significant clinical need for early cancer diagnosis. AnchorDx Medical’s ctDNA methylation sequencing technology development is at the industry forefront. We look forward to in-depth collaboration with the team.”

Dr. Shi Chenyang, Managing Partner at Sijia Jianxin, stated, “The combination of epigenetic biomarkers with liquid biopsy holds promise for early screening and diagnosis of tumors. AnchorDx Medical has conducted preliminary validation of this approach using its innovative technology platform. We are delighted to collaborate with top-tier investors and look forward to bringing benefits to cancer patients as soon as possible.”

Yang Ruirong, Partner at Yuanyi Capital, stated, “Yuanyi Capital has consistently maintained its strategic investments across various application areas of gene sequencing. The team led by Dr. Fan at AnchorDx Medical represents the most technologically advanced group globally in this field. Yuanyi has witnessed the company’s journey from the challenges of its early startup phase to achieving key milestones today. We hope that AnchorDx will continue to lead in technology, accelerate product development, and emerge as the industry leader in the gene sequencing applications sector.”

Fan Jianbing revealed that multiple projects of the company have entered the stage of multi-center clinical trials. Meanwhile, the domestic company has established good relationships with Illumina, hospitals and research institutions both in China and abroad, as well as several third-party testing agencies in China. In the future, AnchorDx Medical will continue to adhere to its development direction of utilizing liquid biopsy technology for early cancer screening research, constantly innovate, and develop more in vitro diagnostic products with clinical value.

AnchorDx Medical gained the favor of Aurora Venture Capital and Yuanyi Capital in its early stages, with these two firms leading the company’s Series A and Series A+ financing rounds, respectively. In this round of financing, new investors included internationally backed Arch Venture Partners, alongside existing or sector-focused investors such as Tonghe Yucheng (which specializes in in vitro diagnostics), Sijia Jianxin Fund, KingMed Diagnostics, and WuXi AppTec (which focuses on investments in pharmaceutical innovation).

ARCH Venture is a U.S.-based firm specializing in seed-stage and early-stage advanced technology companies. Its portfolio includes numerous high-profile enterprises, and it frequently co-invests with Lilly Asia Ventures, Temasek, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Google Ventures. For instance, it partnered with Lilly Asia Ventures, Temasek, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to invest in the pharmaceutical innovation company YiAn JiShi. It also co-led two financing rounds for Grail—a highly capitalized venture—alongside the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Google Ventures, with the total amount raised in these two rounds exceeding $1 billion. Additionally, Illumina, the global leader in next-generation sequencing, is also among its investments.

ARCH Venture has long been bullish on the revolutionary innovation and convergence of life sciences, physical sciences, and information technology, with next-generation sequencing being a key area of focus.In addition to the aforementionedIllumin、GrailIn addition,ARCH Venturealso participated inIV diagnostics、boreal genomics、codiak biosciences, and other liquid biopsy tests.

And this timeARCH VentureInvesting in AnchorDx Medical from afar is undoubtedly an endorsement from the international market for the company.