On Tuesday, ZhenGe Biotech of Shanghai announced that it has raised a $100 million Series C venture capital round, led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management, the investment management arm of the global financial services giant which currently manages $2.37 trillion in client assets, alongside Brussels-based and listed investment manager Sofina. Also participating in the round were Denmark’s Novo Holdings A/S, Qiming Venture Capital, IDG Capital, LYFE Capital, Junxin Capital and Cowin Capital. The new funds bring ZhenGe’s total private market capital raised to $225 million.
In a statement, the company said it plans to use the capital to strength its global R&D capabilities and expand its Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) manufacturing capacity to better meet demand from domestic and international clients.
ZhenGe provides one-stop Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) services and other solutions to help customers discover, develop, and manufacture biologics from concept to commercialization. To date, ZhenGe has served more than 100 biopharma and biotech customers and has completed over 150 projects, ranging from cell line development projects to Investigational New Drug (IND) applications and large clinical phase production contracts. Over the years, ZhenGe Biotech has developed deep expertise across monoclonal and bispecific antibodies, Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADC), fusion proteins and vaccines.
ZhenGe integrates advanced cell culture platform, metabolite analysis platform, recombinant protein analysis platform and customized medium development and production platform for customers to improve titer yield and quality. In addition, the company provides advanced analytical services, including Analytical Ultra-centrifugation (AUC) to help customers with overseas drug approval applications.
The company operates several R&D Centers across Shanghai and Maryland, as well as a 10,000 ㎡ GMP pilot production center in the Lingang Special Area of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ), a GMP medium production line with an annual output of 200 tons of dry powder, and a commercial manufacturing base with three 2,000L and three 5,000L bioreactors, which are currently under construction..
“We are excited to have global investors like Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Sofina and Novo Holdings lead the current round of financing, and we thank them for their support,” ZhenGe Biotech Chairman and CEO Jianxin Chen said. “Round C proceeds will be used to strengthen our R&D and build multiple 15,000L production lines, which will enable ZhenGe Biotech to deliver cost-effective and high-quality solutions for meeting growing demand from existing and new customers.”
“Against the backdrop of a large and fast-growing global biologics market, we see continued innovation in drug development being propelled by regulatory policy and capital formation. We expect the outsourcing rate for macromolecular drug development to grow as innovative players start to face capacity and talent constraints. We are excited by the solutions that ZhenGe can offer to its clients, as well as its deep knowhow in up-and-down stream processes to help arrive at viable cell lines,” said Goldman Sachs Asset Management Managing Director Kevin Xu, who leads the firm’s healthcare and life science investment efforts in China, and will now join ZhenGe Biotech’s Board of Directors.
“We are delighted to support ZhenGe which has been on a rapid growth trajectory given its strong combination of deep technical expertise and commitment to providing its customers with industry leading manufacturing and process excellence in the development and production of affordable and innovative therapeutics,” Sofina’s Head of China Loi Xiao-Tian and Investment Manager Lim Yizhen said in a jointly issued statement. “We are confident that ZhenGe will continue to be trusted partner of choice for both new and existing customers and are excited to embark on a long-term partnership with ZhenGe.”
“ZhenGe Biotech is one of the fastest growing Biologics CDMO fulfilling a large unmet need by its high quality, end to end services driven by an industry leading team,” said Dr. Amit Kakar, Senior Partner and Head of Novo Holdings Asia said: Novo Holdings is very excited to partner with them in enabling their domestic and international growth strategy.”
