Zencore Biologics recently announced the completion of US $70 million Series B financing, led by Qiming Venture Capital and IDG Capital, joined by CMB International, Jinpu Investment, Guokejiahe and Hangzhou Fulin Investment; The Series-A investors - Lyfe Capital (Jifeng), Guofang Capital and Junxin Capital, further increased their investments in Zencore Biologics (the listing of the investors above has no particular ranking).
Zencore Biologics Commercial Manufacturing Facility
The total funding amount raised by Zencore Biologics has reached $125 million US dollars. This round of funding will be used for the construction of manufacturing production base in Lin-Gang New District, which covers an area of 45.8 mu (a Chinese unit of area, equals to 1/15 of a hectare or 1/6 an acre), including several GMP standard 2,000L, 5,000L and 500L perfusion commercial liquid production lines and finished product filling lines.
Zencore Biologics is engaged in the CDMO business of biological drugs. So far, it has served more than 80 customers and completed more than 100 projects, including a number of clinical stage production services and a large number of technical services such as IND filing preparations for monoclonal antibodies, bispecific antibodies, antibody drug conjugates (ADC), fusion proteins, vaccines, etc.
The continuous growth of the global biopharmaceutical market and the rapid advancement of the biotechnology industry in China's, propelled the sustained growth in demand for services in production process and the commercial production of Biological drugs. The available data shows that the global CDMO services for biological drug has reached $10 billion US dollars; The commercial production of biological drugs will continue to expand in China, and Zencore Biologics is preparing to meet the commercial production demands from both the global and domestic biopharmaceutical companies with our quality services.
The experienced team, at Zencore Biologics has fostered a strong collaboration mode crosses cell line development, process development and characterization research, CMO services for clinical drug product and other fields. The respected team developed the first anti-PD-1 antibody production process in China, with high yield and low price, contributed to the drug affordability that has benefited many cancer patients; The Avastin biosimilar we developed was the first biosimilar developed by a Chinese company and received the phase I and III clinical trial approval from FDA without the need to provide supplements. Founder, Chen Jianxin has over 30 years’ experiences in the research & development ( R&D) and production in mammalian cell culture technology. He has worked in several multinational companies and led the team to score an industry record of 14.5g/l titer of antibody production in fed batch mammalian cells culture.
Zencore Development Center
In addition to biologics CDMO services, the company has also integrated advanced cell culture platform, nutrient / metabolite analytical platform, recombinant protein analysis platform and dry powder media pilot production platform. The integrated platforms enable team at Zencore Biologics to customize and develop optimized base medium, medium supplement and perfusion medium formula for customers, thus to improve protein expression and antibody quality for our customers; We also provide the GMP large-scale commercial production for dry powder culture medium. Furthermore, the company also provides various instrument analysis services including the first AUC (Analytical Ultra-Centrifugation) in China.
Zencore Development Center
Currently, the company has established a biomedical R&D center in Zhoupu international medical park (4500 ㎡); A pilot production line of GMP for biological drugs in Lin-Gang New District of Shanghai Free Trade Zone (10,000 ㎡) , a commercial GMP production line with an annual output capacity of 200 tons of mammalian cell culture medium, a commercial production base under construction (66000 ㎡), and a ADC (R&D) and production center (6500 ㎡). Additionally, the company has a 4,000 square foot Innovation center Rockville, Maryland, USA.
Chen Jianxin,
Chairman of Zencore Biologics:
"Thanks to the top international investment institutions for their recognition and continuous support. CDMO business of macromolecular biopharmaceuticals is an area that needs to be developed continuously. Zencore Biologics continues to add scale, to develop international market, to strive to become the preferred partner of Biopharmaceutical Enterprises both at home and abroad, and to provide each customer with the best one-stop shop service. "
Liang Yiyu,
Venture Capital director of Qiming:
"Zencore Biologics is good at process development technology and has a good reputation in the industry. This round of funds will accelerate the development of its commercialization and production capacity. We are optimistic about the future of Zencore Biologics and look forward to its better service to customers at home and abroad."
Zhang Jianbin,
Partner of IDG Capital:
"Under the current development trend of global biomedical industry, the rapid development of China's biomacromolecule CDMO will eventually break the global biomedical CDMO footprint and reshape the competitive landscape for biomedical industry. Equipped with the advanced cell culture technology, high quality and high titer technology, efficient project execution, complete one-stop shop services, and familiarity with the registration and filing specifications and requirements of regulatory both Chinese and American macromolecules, Zencore Biologics will prevail in the market in the end. We continue to support the long-term development of Zencore Biologics."
About Zencore Biologics
Established in 2017, Zencore Biologics is a premier high-tech enterprise registered in the Lin-gang Special Area of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone. Zencore Biologics has research and development (R&D) centers located in both Shanghai International Medical Zone and Maryland USA, as well as cGMP and commercial manufacturing sites in the Lin-gang Life Science Blue Bay (Shanghai).
The core business of Zencore Biologics is to provide CDMO services to both Biotech and Pharmaceutical companies. Our service offerings include:
Developability assessment
CMC submission package preparation for IND filing
Cell line development
Process development and optimization
Pilot production
Clinical trial materials production and commercial CMO services
Process characterization and validation research
Analytical services
Media formula development
Commercial manufacturing
Our integrated CDMO services starting from pre-clinical research to the commercial manufacturing, as well as customized cell culture media development, enable and accelerate the R&D and commercialization of innovative biologics for both domestic and foreign pharmaceutical companies.
About Qiming venture Capital
Founded in 2006, Qiming Venture Partners has set up offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Suzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Seattle, Boston and San Francisco Bay area. At present, Qiming Venture Partners manages nine US dollar funds and six RMB funds, with total assets under management reaching US $5.9 billion. Since its establishment, it has focused on investing in early and growing enterprises in Technology, Media and Telecom (TMT), healthcare. Up to now, Qiming Venture Capital has invested in more than 380 innovative fast growing enterprises, of which more than 130 have been listed on the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, Hong Kong Stock Exchanges, Taiwan OTC, Shanghai Stock Exchange, Shenzhen Stock Exchange and other exchanges or exited through merger and acquisition. More than 40 enterprises that Qiming invested have become recognized as unicorn and super unicorn enterprises in the industry.
About IDG Capital
IDG Capital started to develop venture Capital investing business in China back in 1993 and is one of the top private equity investment institution in the world. After nearly 30 years of growth, the company's business has spread all over Europe, America and the Asia Pacific region. At present, the company has offices in 13 cities, five countries, including New York, Boston, London, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul and Hanoi, with a total assets under management of more than 150 billion yuan (RMB). IDG Capital focuses on leading enterprises in the fields of Technology, Media and Telecom (TMT), new consumption and services, culture and entertainment, medical and health care, advanced manufacturing and clean energy. Its investment scope covers the start-up stage, growth stage, mature stage, M & A and other stages, and the investment scale ranges from millions to hundreds of millions of dollars. So far, IDG Capital has invested more than 1,000 outstanding companies worldwide, and they have successfully exited from over 200 companies in the form of IPO or M&A in the US, Europe, Hongkong and Chinese mainland capital markets.
About CMB International
CMB International Finance (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "CMB international") is a wholly owned subsidiary of China Merchants Bank. It is an integrated, global professional and comprehensive financial service institution based in Hong Kong, with deep roots in the mainland China. In addition to participating in the series B funding by CMB international Capital, China Merchants Bank also negotiated with Zencore Biologics to provide working Capital loan and long-term fixed assets loan of several hundred million yuan.
