Geneplus has carried out its Series B funding round led by Co-Stone Asset Management and its former investors, including BGI Genomics.
BGI has yet again invested in Geneplus Technology in its Series B funding round to support the development of Beijing-based startup's gene sequencing platform and early detection of tumour efforts. This round marked BGI's third capital injection into Geneplus Technology following the Series A in 2016, and CNY 50 million investment at the beginning of 2019.
Founded in April 2015, Geneplus is a biotech company focusing on precision medical treatment of cancer. Utilizing its Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) platform and tumour gene database, the company claims to provide cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment services.
Precision cancer medicine requires to use genomic data to provide the right treatment to the particular patient in a precisely tailored treatment schedule. At the bottom line of this type of treatment, there is genomic analysis, in which Geneplus has been developing into.
Currently, Geneplus is operating in four segments: clinical testing service, medical device manufacturing, R&D cooperation, and cancer prevention service. Geneplus has been accumulating its raw tumour data from more than 400 hospitals, scientific research institutions in China, according to the firm.
The fate of China's gene sequencing scene has long been in the hands of multinational corporations, such as Illumina Inc. (IMN: NASDAQ) and ThermoFisher (TMO: NYSE). Illumina, the most significant player in the industry, generated revenue of USD 3.33 in 2018. Geneplus claims to play a considerable role in China's sequencing field in the long term.
"Tumor genetic testing is changing the clinical status of cancer diagnosis and treatment. In the next two years, the industry will undergo tremendous changes. Yet, we need a clear CFDA green-light and solid clinical compliance to revolutionize the industry." Dr Yi Xin (易鑫), the CTO of Geneplus said to iyiou.com, the sister publication of EqualOcean.
The investor, Shenzhen-based BGI Genomics (300676, SZ) has been struggling with the sharp price declines since the Chinese regulators had regulated the generic drug prices in the mainland. BGI's latest investment is its yet another attempt to build its ecosystem and ramp up its efforts to develop novel drugs in the long term for the Chinese market.