Advantech, CMBI lead Series C for China's InventisBio
Advantech Capital and CMB International, an investment unit of China Merchants Bank, have led a $70 million Series C funding round for InventisBio, a Chinese clinical stage biotech company.
Pudong Innotek Capital, a domestic asset manager, came in as a new investor, while Lilly Asia Ventures (LAV) and OrbiMed Asia both re-upped. The company received angel funding from Beautiful Mind Capital and then a Series A led by LAV in 2016, with participation from Sinopharm Capital. LAV returned for a $19 million Series B the following year, which was led by OrbiMed.
InventisBio was founded in 2015 by Yaolin Wang, previously an oncology specialist at Schering-Plough from 1997-2009 and at Merck after the two companies merged. It specializes in treatments for cancer and metabolic diseases. InventisBio has three drug candidates in clinical development for breast cancer, lung cancer, and gout. The company is working with Betta Pharma – which listed in 2016, having previously received funding from LAV, among others – on phase two trials for a lung cancer treatment.
The new capital will help accelerate the development of InvestisBio’s clinical stage candidates, according to a statement. Benjamin Qiu, a partner and co-head of healthcare investment at Advantech, credited the company for utilizing its management team’s expertise in the US and China to bring forward treatments that address significant unmet medical needs.
Advantech is one of two entities formed following the restructuring of Chinese GP New Horizon Capital. While Redview concentrates on traditional businesses in areas such as advanced manufacturing and consumer, Advantech makes growth capital investments in technology, media and telecom (TMT) and healthcare. Last year, parallel funds were launched seeking a combined $1.5 billion.
Advantech has backed a string of biotech businesses, including Zai Lab, which went public in the US in 2017. Earlier this year, the firm led a $55 million Series B for Connect Biopharmaceuticals. Investments from 2018 include Habour BioMed, Sinovac Biotech and KBP Biosciences, as well as medical imaging technology specialist Beijing Infervision.
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