China CDMO Thousand Oaks raises $240m

Thousand Oaks was founded in 2017 by Shun Luo, a US-educated scientist who has previously worked for the likes of Serono, JRH Biosciences, Genentech, and Amgen. He returned to China in 2011.

The company raised initial funding in 2017 from Broadview Capital and Lanwan Capital. New Alliance Capital then led a USD 45m Series A in 2019, which was followed by a CNY 450m Series B - featuring CICC, GL Ventures, and CCB International - in 2020. Hillhouse Capital-controlled GL and China State-Owned Capital Venture Investment Fund led a CNY400m Series C in March 2021.

Thousand Oaks claims to support global biopharmaceutical players through every phase of drug development, from cell line culturing to clinical research to regulatory approvals. It has served more than 200 customers, covering more than 100 phase-one and phase-two trials and over 30 phase-three projects.

The company is headquartered in Shanghai and has a branch office in California. It has also built a large-scale cell culture media production line in Gansu province.

Cell culture media are the components used to grow cells under controlled conditions. Thousand Oaks has been certified by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and it is among the first macromolecule CDMOs to win a drug manufacturing license in China.

The company claims to be the largest supplier of mammalian cell culture media in China. It is also the first domestic producer of serum-free culture media - cell culture processes typically use animal blood serums - thereby easing China's reliance on imports.

The new capital will support development of CDMO and cell culture media operations. CEC Capital served as the exclusive financial advisor to Thousand Oaks for the round.

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• Topics
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• Goldstone Investment
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