AstraZeneca-CICC fund backs China gene sequencer
Axbio, a China-based provider of gene sequencing and diagnostic systems, has raised nearly USD 100m in Series B funding led by AstraZeneca-CICC Healthcare Industrial Fund and Yunfeng Capital.
Other Investors include CBC Group, SDIC China Merchants Investment, and 5Y Capital. The company raised tens of millions of US dollars from 5Y, Kaitai Capital, MSA Capital, and Hua Capital Management in 2021.
Established in 2016, Axbio has R&D centres in the US, China and Europe. It focuses on accelerating the discovery of precision therapeutics through next-generation gene sequencing technologies. The company has developed a microfluidics Bio-CMOS platform capable of high-throughput single-molecule sequencing and diversified molecular diagnostics.
Axbio's solutions are typically used in early cancer screening and detection, rapid pathogen detection, and drug development. The company also provides customized services for chemical synthesis reagents, pathogen detection kits, and sample nucleic acid extraction kits.
The new capital will support advanced research and commercialisation of its next-generation sequencer. A GMP-approved manufacturing facility based in Wuxi is slated for completion by the end of this year.
“Axbio’s nanopore-based low-cost single-molecule sequencing platform is critically important for the precision medicine market. It enables fast cancer diagnostics, rapid pathogen detection, and drug development – areas where accuracy, speed, and cost of comprehensive tests are of utmost importance,” said Marco Ma, a managing director at CBC Venture.
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