Chinese CRO player Yaoyanshe raises $86m

These include a Series D co-led by GGV Capital and Vision Plus Capital and an extended tranche of Series C funding jointly led by Sequoia Capital China and Eastern Bell Capital. Existing investors Matrix Partners China and Genesis Capital have re-upped.

Founded in 2015, Yaoyanshe provides research services for innovative drug development, reducing research cycles and costs. In the past year, revenue is said to have more than tripled with the company establishing collaborations with 1,500 hospitals. Its Trial.Link platform is touted as bridging 500 hospitals with 1,000 drug developers and 95% of the drug professionals in China.

Meilin Sun, founder of the company, said that the proceeds would go into the standardization of drug development and the promotion of the clinical trial platform.

Yaoyanshe has raised an RMB300 million Series C last August, according to AVCJ Research. Vision Plus supported a pre-Series A in 2017, which was followed by an RMB100 million Series A led by Matrix Partners in 2018.

Recent investment activity in Chinese CROs includes a $51 million Series A for Zhenge Biotech, which focuses on large molecule drugs, and a $62 million Series D for Fountain Medical Development, which serves a global client base of drug developers. Meanwhile, Frontage Holdings has raised HK$1.61 billion ($205.1 million) in a Hong Kong IPO. It previously received backing from Hillhouse Capital, Ally Bridge Group, Qiming Venture Partners, and OrbiMed.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Expansion
• Healthcare
• Technology
• China
• Pharmaceuticals
• Sequoia Capital
• Matrix Partners
• Vision Plus Capital
• GGV Capital
• Eastern Bell Venture Capital