TopGene Secures Over RMB 100 Million Series A Funding Led by Matrix Partners China, Which Backed Two Genomics Firms Within a Month
Recently, TopGene Technology (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd. (“TopGene”) announced the successful completion of its Series A financing round, led by Matrix Partners China, with an amount exceeding RMB 100 million. The company will strive to build a comprehensive ecosystem for precision oncology medicine.
TopGene was co-founded in Guangzhou by You Xiaobin and Sun Gang at the end of 2014. The core team members also largely come from globally renowned pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, Roche, and AstraZeneca, with over ten years of industry experience, possessing a deep understanding of the operation and management of China's pharmaceutical market.
TopGene has always adhered to a patient-centric approach, taking the improvement of human health as its mission. It is an enterprise focused on promoting the clinical application of precision medicine. With a strong and professional marketing and sales team, TopGene serves 400 hospitals across more than 30 provinces in China. Oncology is TopGene’s core business area; among these, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and lung cancer are its strategic development focuses. In particular, after two years of dedicated efforts in the field of breast cancer—ranging from genetic susceptibility testing (BRCA) to recurrence risk assessment and personalized medication guidance—TopGene has become the leading brand in breast cancer genetic testing.
TopGene operates China’s first Precision Oncology Medicine Center and plans to establish a network of 37 centers nationwide, aiming to build the premier hospital collaboration platform for postoperative rehabilitation and treatment monitoring in cancer patients. It wholly owns one third-party clinical diagnostic medical laboratory and holds strategic equity stakes in two laboratories under Zhongyuan Union Cell & Gene Engineering Corp., a publicly listed company. Backed by a robust bioinformatics analysis database and a product R&D team led by experts from Europe and the United States, TopGene holds 11 technological invention patents and provides comprehensive services to cancer patients across China.
TopGene will be committed to rapidly driving industry development through a dual-engine model of "genetic testing + clinical medication," "research + patient applications," and "genes + cells" in the future.
Upon the completion of this round of financing, TopGene will fully unlock the potential of genetic big data and establish a comprehensive big data platform for the application and diagnosis of oncology drugs tailored to the Chinese population. With cancer as the core focus, the company has defined its first five-year development phase—leading up to 2020—during which it will expand its strategic scope to include female-specific cancers. In recent years, the incidence of female cancers has grown by 2.2%, compared with only 0.2% for male cancers, underscoring the need for greater attention to the health burden posed by female cancers.
TopGene will focus on: 1. Vigorously developing a comprehensive suite of products for breast cancer recurrence risk assessment, providing scientific guidance for the treatment and prognosis of breast cancer patients. 2. Given that approximately 28% of ovarian cancer cases involve BRCA mutations, TopGene will strengthen its efforts in other gynecological tumors (such as genetic susceptibility genes for ovarian cancer and endometrial cancer), extending the clinical application of BRCA gene testing from breast cancer to broader female cancers, thereby improving and prolonging more lives.
As the lead investor in this round, Xu Chuansheng, Founding Managing Partner of Matrix Partners China, stated:“TopGene’s core team, with backgrounds in medicine and biology, is highly exceptional. The company was established2Over the past year-plus, it has experienced rapid growth, with its business now extending across China.30“...the majority of regions across China’s provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities, as well as the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions. We sincerely hope to leverage our professional collaboration to accelerate the development of TopGene, enabling it to rapidly become a leading enterprise in precision oncology medicine in China.”
The field of genetic testing is currently experiencing robust growth, with third-generation sequencing technologies and non-invasive prenatal and tumor screening techniques emerging as particular hotspots. Earlier this month, Hope Genomics, a Beijing-based company specializing in third-generation sequencing, completed an Series A financing round of nearly RMB 100 million. The round was led by Matrix Partners China and SAIF Partners.
Beijing Grandomics Biosciences Co., Ltd. is an innovative enterprise dedicated to applying bioinformatics, genomics, and cutting-edge internet technologies to clinical medicine and personal health. Leveraging high-throughput next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology, the company has established gene panel capture detection platforms and whole exome capture detection platforms for over 4,000 types of monogenic genetic disorders, providing comprehensive, scientific, and accurate genetic testing services for molecular diagnosis, research, and carrier screening of monogenic diseases. Its core R&D team comprises renowned bioinformatics analysis experts, senior medical genetics scholars, and experienced clinicians.
Meanwhile, Hope Genomics’ genetic disease testing service, based on third-generation single-molecule sequencing platforms, can effectively cover complex repetitive regions or regions difficult to amplify that are undetectable by traditional next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, significantly improving the detection rate of mutations in certain monogenic disorders. To complement its genetic testing services, Hope Genomics has independently developed GrandBox™, a medical-grade private computing platform for big data analysis of genetic diseases. Integrating computational hardware, clinical sample management, standardized data analysis, and visualized reporting, GrandBox™ provides clinical laboratories with a one-stop solution for the management and analysis of genetic disease sequencing data.
It is not difficult to identify several commonalities between these two companies: their reliance on genetic testing technology, their focus on serving the clinical sector, and their emphasis on genomic big data. As one of China’s leading investment firms, Matrix Partners China demonstrates exceptional sensitivity and strategic control over industry dynamics and trends. Whether Matrix Partners China will continue to intensify its efforts in the genetic testing space remains a key development that VCBeat will closely monitor.