China's HC Scientific gets $41m Series B extension

Dalton Venture, Eightfold Venture Partners, and Guosheng Capital came in as new investors, while there were re-ups from Legend Capital and Lyfe Capital. It takes the overall Series B to around CNY 500m, following a CNY 200m commitment from Legend, Lyfe, Northern Light Venture Capital, BioTrack Capital, and Ultima Capital in September 2021.

Ultima provided HC's initial funding in 2017 and then BioTrack and Fosun International backed a Series A of undisclosed size a year later. All three investors contributed to a Series A extension amounting to tens of millions of renminbi in 2020 alongside Northern Light.

Founded in 2016, HC built an end-to-end software and hardware stack covering molecular detection, sample processing, and intelligent automation for use in biological breeding. The company claims to have helped nearly 100 customers improve the efficiency of experiments, reduce costs, and ensure standardization of processes.

Modern agriculture was the initial focal point, with HC tapping into growing concerns about food security in China and the introduction of biosafety certification and pilot projects aiming to modernize the seed industry. The company played a role in easing reliance on imported lithography machines seen as essential to biological breeding.

From there, it moved into mainstream molecular detection technologies for PCR and DNA sequencing, including high throughput genotyping systems, multifunctional genetic detection systems, nucleic acid extraction platforms, and automated dispensing platforms.

The next step in HC's evolution involved an expansion from biological breeding – of crops, livestock, and poultry – to in vitro diagnostics. The company developed China's first fully automated molecular diagnostics device and then widened its product range to include equipment for use in pathogen detection, early cancer screening, and precision medicine.

"HC Scientific is a rare platform company in China that can provide core equipment and overall solutions in the fields of biological breeding and molecular diagnosis," said Bin Li, founder and CIO of Lake Bleu, in a statement.

"The team, led by the founder, Dr. Han Zhang, successfully broke the monopoly of imported equipment, especially in the field of molecular breeding. Leveraging their proximity to China's seed industry, they provided equipment and solutions more suited to the needs of domestic breeding enterprises."

The new capital will go towards product development, market expansion, international business development, and recruitment. InvesTarget served as exclusive financial advisor for the funding round.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Healthcare
• Early-stage
• China
• medical devices
• Legend Capital
• Lake Bleu Capital