Sequoia leads $40m round for Hong Kong biotech player
Sequoia Capital China has led a $40 million Series B round of funding for MabSpace Bioscience, a Hong Kong-headquartered drug developer that specializes in cancer treatments.
Lilly Asia Ventures, which committed $15 million in Series A funding to the company in 2015, took part once again. King Star Capital, a private equity firm that has backed several healthcare businesses in China, came in as a new investor.
Founded in 2013, MabSpace conducts its R&D work in mainland China at an integrated facility in Suzhou Industrial Park. The company has developed immune tolerance breaking technology (ITBT), which is said to produce antibodies that target cancer and fibrotic diseases more efficiently. The new capital will be used to support ongoing clinical-stage development of its products.
Sequoia has invested nearly RMB10 billion to 70 healthcare businesses in China over the past 13 years. In recent months, it has participated in a $260 million investment in CStone Pharmaceuticals and led rounds of $50 million and $90 million for Adagene and JW Therapeutics. It also helped privatize WuXi Biologics and backed WuXi NextCode, a genome sequencing spin-out.
Lilly Asia Ventures was the captive VC arm of global pharma player Eli Lilly until it went independent in 2011. The firm closed its fourth fund last year at the hard cap of $450 million.
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