China’s Yisheng Biopharma Ltd has closed its $130-million Series B round co-led by returning investor OrbiMed and deep tech-focused investor Oceanpine Capital.
Yisheng had raised an undisclosed sum in its Series A round funding from Eight Roads back in 2012.
Chinese investment bank CEC Capital served as the financial advisor for the deal, it said in a WeChat post on Wednesday.
Yisheng will use the proceeds to support R&D operations, clinical trials, commercialisation and to set up manufacturing bases in Singapore and China.
Founded by chairman Yi Zhang, Yisheng leverages its proprietary immunomodulating technology PIKA to develop vaccines and medicines for cancers and infectious diseases.
Since its inception in 1994, it has delivered and marketed a slew of vaccines targeting rabies, hepatitis B, herpes zoster, and influenza. Yisheng has produced safe and efficient vaccine products to treat Covid-19, per its press release issued in June 2020. Headquartered in Beijing, Yisheng has also set up operations in the US, Singapore, and Cambodia.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered abrupt development in vaccine research around the globe, which has been a focus of our investment in the healthcare sector,” said Oceanpine Capital CEO and managing partner Dave Chenn in the statement.
Yisheng’s early stage investors also include 3W Capital, Hillhouse Capital, Adjuvant Capital, MSA Capital, AIHC, Epiphron Capital, Superstring Capital, Haitong International, among others.
Earlier in January 2021, Oceanpine Capital had joined hands with OrbiMed and other marquee investors such as Temasek and Hillhouse’s GL Ventures to back the $2300million Series C round for Chinese global clinical-stage biotech company Clover Biopharmaceuticals.
Source: Yisheng Biopharma
