Forecyte Bio Limited recently announced that it has completed its Round A finance measured in tens of millions of US dollars. The investment is led by Vertex Ventures China and jointly by Biotrack Capital and HN&T.
The funding will allow Forecyte Bio to maintain its technological lead and to continue technology innovation and market expansion in the cell and gene therapy CDMO field. The investment will be used to build its clinical and commercial GMP manufacturing capacity at the PuDong WaiGaoQiao Free Trade Zone, Shanghai, China, including both process development and GMP production of plasmids, viral vectors, as well as cell products. A total of 14 GMP production lines are planned. In addition, the investment will be used for building up the Company’s viral vector and cell product clinical manufacturing facility in Maryland US.
 We greatly appreciate the trust and support of our investors. It offers the opportunity to apply the decades of accumulated expertise and experience from our team to the innovative pharma and biotech industry, and to provide outstanding service to the global and Chinese cell and gene therapy developers. Our immediate goal is to build up our GMP manufacturing capacity in US and China and to establish our proprietary technology platforms.” said Ms. Yingke He, co-founder and CEO of Forecyte Bio. The company’s mission is to accelerate patient access to cell and gene therapy with quality, speed, and agility.
“CGT is leading a renewed revolution in the pharma and healthcare market with great support from the investment industry and government agencies. An excellent CDMO is crucial to accelerate the progress of CGT industry, to control product cost, and to serve as a strategic foundation for the entire industry. Compared to traditional antibody biotech companies, CGT CDMO companies need to employ highly specialized and experienced personnel to develop and manage more complex GMP production processes, equipment, and facility, for manufacturing of cell and gene therapy products. Forecyte Bio cofounder has close to 30 years of CGT CMC experience, and it is our belief that with their highly experienced management and technical team, Forecyte Bio is well positioned to offer high quality, comprehensive, and cost effective service to domestic and international customers in the CGT field.” said Dr. Jianwei Yuan, partner in Vertex Ventures China who led the Round A financing.
About Forecyte Bio Limited:
Forecyte Bio Limited is a CDMO company established in 2021 to service the rapidly growing Cell and Gene Therapy (CGT) industry. Built on decades of experience from its core technical experts on CGT CMC processes, Forecyte Bio offers a “one-stop” holistic service package to accelerate clients’ projects from early concept to IND filing and eventual commercial manufacturing. It provides services in early process development/optimization, preparation of CMC documentations for regulatory filings such as IND, clinical manufacturing, support for BLA filing, and commercial manufacturing for a wide range of CGT products including plasmids, viral vectors such as Adeno-associated virus (AAV), Adenovirus (AdV), Lentivirus (LV), Oncolytic virus (OV), and Retrovirus (RV), as well as cell products (CAR-T, TCR-T, CAR-NK). Its facilities in US and China both offer process development and GMP production capabilities to provide coherent services for clients looking for multi-national studies.
About Vertex Ventures China:
Vertex Ventures is a global network of venture capital funds, backed by Singapore state investor Temasek. Vertex Ventures China, founded in 2008, has offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. It is currently managing both Dollar and RMB funds, with assets under management of over ¥10 billion. Vertex Ventures China invests in high-growth innovative start-ups across mainland China, covering the fields of deep tech, new digital economy and healthcare. The healthcare portfolios include Chipscreen, Harbour Biomed, Recbio, Edgemedical, Binhui Biotech, Rejoin, Inmagene, Infinovo, neoX, Regor, AnHeart, China Immunotech, Primelink Bio, VelaVigo, etc.
About Biotrack Capital:
Founded in 2017, BioTrack Capital is a dedicated healthcare venture capital firm focused on investing and incubating innovative life science companies in China. We are more than just capital providers. We invest in long-term partnerships with China’s leading healthcare entrepreneurs to build the next generation of world class companies.