Wuxi Jichen Bio-technology Co., Ltd ("Jichen Bio") has recently completed an angel round of financing of tens of millions of yuan, led by Dao Tong Investment and followed by the team of Tin Venture Capital Zhiyuan. This round of financing will be mainly used for new product research and development, core technology improvement, product iteration, as well as domestic and overseas marketing capabilities and brand influence.

Established in 2017, Jichen Bio is a specialized bioreactor design and production company, focusing on the research and development of bioreactor laboratory equipment, production equipment and related automation control technology. Jichen Bio not only forms in-depth cooperation with top German universities in R&D, but also establishes long-term technical cooperation with large German biopharmaceutical companies and automation control companies. Ltd. has been awarded the titles of Specialized, Specialized and New Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), National Science and Technology-based SMEs, and Science and Technology-based SMEs} of Hebei Province, among others. It has won the first prize of the Sixth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition of Hebei Province in the Biomedical Industry Competition, the second prize of the 2018 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition of Hebei Province, the second prize of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Competition of Hebei Province, and the company became a provincial-level innovation method application (pilot-type) enterprise in 2021.

Bioreactors are high-end equipment for biopharmaceuticals used in biopharmaceutical research and development and cell culture links, and they are also a key technology to support the large-scale production of biologics. However, as the production equipment for the core of the upstream process of the pharmaceutical industry, the current import substitution rate of bioreactors used for cell culture is still less than 30% . At present, the domestic commercial use of stainless steel cell reactor almost all from imports, China's bioreactor market as a whole presents the situation of monopolizing the market by overseas giants. At the same time, With the market's growing concern for supply chain security, autonomy and control, effectiveness, cost control and other issues, to accelerate the development of the upstream "neck" of the localization of pharmaceutical equipment has become a trend, and the domestic bioreactor market will usher in the domestic alternative to the rate of increase, to high-end Biopharmaceutical equipment, a huge opportunity.

Jichen large-scale stainless steel bioreactors

Jichen Bio, as an innovative company specializing in reactor design, has outstanding advantages in process and automation design. The core team members all have a deep background in automation and control from the Technical University of Dresden, Germany, and have participated in system control and process data processing projects for large-scale pharmaceutical equipment at Siemens Labs. It is worth mentioning that the dual background team of automation control and biopharmaceuticals is extremely rare in China, the unique team background of the company in the field of bioreactors provides a strong technical support for the development of the company. In terms of pharmaceutical process, Jichen Bio fully masters the key process parameters of each cell culture, and is able to provide customers with a full range of services from the laboratory end to the production end, Currently, the company has successfully delivered several sets of large-scale stainless steel reactor systems of more than 1000L , and get good user feedback, this achievement not only proves the reliability and stability of the company's products in practical applications, but also for the company to further expand the market has laid a solid foundation. It is reported that under the same culture conditions, the cell yield and live cell density of Jichen's biological large-scale reactor equipment are similar to the data of foreign reactors, and the repurchase rate of the customers is up to more than 90%.

On this round of financing, Hou Bin, the general manager of Jichen Bio, , said, "We will maintain the team concept of being prudent in our efforts to continue to strengthen cooperation with our partners, and adhere to the direction of innovation and breakthrough technology. We will continue to strengthen the cooperation with our partners, adhere to the innovative and breakthrough technology direction, continue to increase R&D efforts, and launch more competitive products to meet the diversified needs of the market. With the mission of "becoming the most trustworthy bioreactor expert and pharmaceutical process partner", we will strengthen the cooperation and communication with domestic and foreign enterprises, and jointly promote the progress and development of the bioreactor industry.

Jichen Biological Laboratory Glass Bioreactor

DaoTong Investments stated that: With the development of the biopharmaceutical industry, the market has been growing. development of the biopharmaceutical industry, the market demand for domestic high-end cell bioreactors is also growing. With its profound technical accumulation in bioreactor design, automation system control and industrial manufacturing, Hou's team has successfully broken through a number of technical barriers and basically realized the localization of high-end bioreactors. We are optimistic about Jichen's product competitiveness and long-term development potential, and we expect the company to become a headline company in this track in the future.

Zhiyuan Capital said: the road to domestic substitution of high-end cellular bioreactors is long and thick, and the traditional bioreactors have the problems of insufficient stability of automation and control, and lack of digitalization of the system. Based on high-end cellular bioreactor, Jichen Bio is committed to provide one-stop solution for pharmaceutical companies through in-depth R&D and innovation of basic control module, advanced control system, accurate flow simulation process, and innovative stirring paddle design and other core aspects. We believe that scientific instruments represented by high-end cellular bioreactors are a good track worthy of long-term investment, and great companies are bound to emerge, and we look forward to growing with the company in the future.

About DaoTong Investment

DaoTong Investment focuses on forward-looking medical innovative technologies, and is the exclusive early-stage investor in a number of first-of-its-kind domestic technology projects. It covers both VC funds and angel funds in the Yangtze River Delta and the Greater Bay Area. Our core team comes from the healthcare industry and has successfully incubated early-stage startups, as well as founded and managed tens of billions of market capitalization listed companies. We insist on being not only a value discoverer, but also a value creator. We have been honored as one of the top 100 VCs and one of the top 20 medical device companies in the VC list. Some of our investment cases: Lundin Medical, Deepwell Medical, Hanno Medical, Sandieki, He Yuan Biology, etc.

About Zhiyuan Capital

GUOFJI Zhiyuan (Jiangsu) Private Equity Fund Management Co., Ltd. is the main body of the Wuxi Innovation and Investment Group after the market-oriented reform. By combining the advantages of the Group's long-term in-depth coverage in the Yangtze River Delta region, the company focuses on technological innovation opportunities in national strategic emerging industries, serves outstanding startups and entrepreneurs, and continuously strengthens its brand influence. Up to now, the team has managed a fund size of RMB 14 billion, invested in more than 180 projects with a cumulative investment of RMB 7.6 billion, with a portfolio covering major strategic emerging industries such as new-generation information technology focusing on semiconductors, medical healthcare focusing on medical devices, new energy and new materials focusing on photovoltaic energy storage, and advanced manufacturing focusing on intelligent equipments. Among the invested companies, 27 companies have been listed on major domestic and international capital markets, and nearly 20 companies are under review by the stock exchanges or at the stage of IPO process initiation. {The other 20 companies are in the process of IPO and are in the process of reviewing and starting the IPO process.