CICC, GL Ventures join $66m round for Suzhou Ribo Life Science
Chinese drug developer Suzhou Ribo Life Science has raised RMB470 million ($66 million) in an extended Series C round led by China State-owned Capital Venture Capital Fund, CICC Capital and GL Ventures, the VC arm of Hillhouse Capital.
Other investors include Everest Ventures, SAIC Capital, and Shanghai Free Trade Zone Equity Fund Management. Ribo closed the first tranche of the Series C last December on RMB200 million. It was led by Trinity Fund and Panlin Capital. Previously, Legend Capital and SDIC Fund participated in the Series A and B rounds.
Founded in 2007, Ribo is devoted to the development of innovative nucleic acid drugs that target infections, tumors, heart conditions, and metabolic and neurological diseases. Two drugs are in phase two and three clinical trials, while a third was accepted by the National Medical Products Administration in early 2020.
The company claims that its platform laid the foundations for China's small nucleic acid pharmaceutical industry. Zicai Liang, chairman of Ruibo Bio, said: "Globally, small nucleic acid pharmaceuticals have entered the industry's harvest period after nearly two decades of hard work. Ribo Bio has put in more than 10 years of effort and has now entered a stage of rapid development."
Legend added that it was "optimistic about the investment in innovative drugs, and sees the mechanism of small nucleic acid drugs as an innovative treatment field that is completely different from the previous drugs and the huge imagination in the future."
Biotech and pharmaceuticals has been one of the more active sectors for China PE investment since the start of the year, with more than $1.5 billion committed across 40 deals, according to AVCJ Research. Over $10 billion was deployed in the space in 2018 and 2019, up from $4.4 billion in the prior two years.
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