Suzhou, China, Aug 19, 2021 - Suzhou Abogen Biosciences Co., Ltd. (“Abogen”) announces today that it has raised more than $700 million in series C funding, led by Temasek, Invesco Developing Markets Fund, Loyal Valley Capital (LVC), GL Ventures, Yunfeng Capital, Lilly Asia Ventures (LAV), and Boyu Capital. New investors participating in this round also include Youshan Capital, Gaorong Capital, Firstred Capital, Octagon Capital, Kaiser, 5Y Capital, MSA Capital, Alwin Capital, YINGKE PE, Tiger Jade Capital, AIHC Capital, Winfast Holding, Oriental Spring and Legend Capital. Existing investors including Qiming Venture Partners, HighLight Capital (HLC), PICC Capital Equity Investment Company Limited (PICC PE), BioTrack Capital and CTS Capital continued to participate in this round. Since its establishment in early 2019, Abogen has completed four rounds of private financing, including its series B financing of RMB 600 million completed in April earlier this year.

This round of funding will reinforce Abogen's leading position in the field of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) therapy in China, help drive the company's continued execution of its mRNA vaccine candidate against COVID-19, and advance more vaccine and oncology programs into clinics. Meanwhile, Abogen will continue to develop its mRNA platform technology and improve on large-scale production capability, accelerating the transformation of mRNA technology into more therapeutic modalities.

Michael Yi, Partner and Co-CIO of Hillhouse said, “We have been invested in Abogen since its Series A round, and are excited to continue our support in Abogen, as a pioneer among Chinese companies to bring its mRNA vaccine candidate against COVID-19 to phase III clinical trials. It is part of GL Ventures' mission to support innovative companies like Abogen to continuously develop and advance the clinical research of mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines and to contribute to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.” 

Dr. Albert Huang, Executive Director at Yunfeng Capital noted, “mRNA technology as a new approach to medicine has great long-term prospects in global markets. Once the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Abogen rapidly designed and implement the first domestic mRNA COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial, with great potential to bring breakthrough to the mRNA market in China. We believe that with Abogen's strong executive force, it is well positioned to build a leading mRNA technology platform, improving technology innovation in the biomedical industry and contributing to building a stronger public health system.”

Roy Xie, Partner of Loyal Valley Capital also commented that “Abogen is a platform company of mRNA technology. Since the outbreak of the epidemic, Abogen's team has rapidly promoted the research and development of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine with rapid directional judgment and in-depth accumulation of mRNA technology. We expect that Abogen's products can provide vaccine with solid protection, high safety and extensive accessibility for epidemic prevention in China and even the world. In addition, we also look forward to the further application of mRNA in other disease fields. In the future, Loyal Valley will support Abogen to become a global leading company in the mRNA field continuously.”

Dr. Fei Chen, Managing Partner of Lilly Asia Ventures noted, “Abogen is a leading company in mRNA vaccines in China market and has a top-class R&D and manufacturing platform for nucleic acid drugs. We are pleased to be a part of Abogen, and have a full conviction that Abogen will complete the mRNA vaccine's Phase III MRCT against COVID-19 and bring the product to global market on time. We look forward to Abogen's future progresses in the development of its multiple new pipeline products as well. LAV is committed to support Abogen sustainably going forward, and we believe Abogen will become a world-class nucleic acid drug company in the future.”

“We are grateful to the strong support from all of our investors, and I would also like to thank my team and collaborators for their incredible work and vigorous efforts in fighting COVID-19.” Said Dr. Bo Ying, Founder and CEO of Abogen. “We are leaders in mRNA therapy, harnessing the potential of this powerful and complex technology to create medicines that fulfill the unmet medical needs in an effort to enhance the health and extend the lives of patients with both rare and common diseases. With this new round of financing, we look forward to helping the world fight the rapidly changing global pandemic by accelerating our COVID-19 vaccine product development to improve its adaptiveness, and to recruiting the best industry talents to support our growth at all levels.”

About Abogen 

Abogen is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on advancing mRNA-based therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and other infectious diseases. Since its establishment in January 2019, Abogen has developed its own mRNA technology platform and proprietary delivery system which empowers the development of a series of drug product candidates including vaccines for infectious diseases and therapies for cancer. 

About Temasek 

Temasek is a global investment company with a net portfolio value of S$381bn (RMB1.86t) as at 31 March 2021. Headquartered in Singapore, we have 13 offices in 9 countries around the world. Our Temasek Charter defines our three roles as an Investor, Institution and Steward, and shapes our ethos to do well, do right, and do good. As a provider of catalytic capital, we seek to enable solutions to key global challenges. Sustainability is at the core of all that we do. We actively seek sustainable solutions to address present and future challenges, as we capture investible opportunities to bring about a sustainable future for all.

About Invesco Developing Markets Fund

Invesco Developing Markets Fund is a US registered investment company which as of June 30, 2021, has approximately US$53.2 billion assets under management. Invesco Advisers, Inc. serves as the Fund's investment adviser. Invesco Advisers, Inc. is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Invesco Ltd.

About Loyal Valley Capital (LVC) 

Loyal Valley Capital (LVC) was founded in 2015 by Andy Lin, an experienced investor and accomplished entrepreneur. He is the founder of China Universal Asset Management (“CUAM”), one of China's largest equity investor and asset manager with over US$100B in AUM. LVC is a thematic, research-driven private equity firm with strong entrepreneurial culture that invests in companies positioned to benefit from the secular industry transformations in China. With over US$3.2 billion of assets under management, LVC mainly focuses on the following segments: New Consumer, Healthcare, and Advanced Manufacturing. We employ a thorough top-down fundamental research method to gain a deep understanding of the industries we invest in, and the inflection points they are going through. We seek to uncover insights to identify the companies benefiting the most from those fundamental changes, and help them solidify their leadership positions. 

We manage capital on behalf of international institutional investors such as sovereign wealth funds, funds of funds, private banks, and family offices, as well as elite entrepreneurs and founders of China's Fortune 500 enterprises.

About GL Ventures 

GL Ventures focuses on early-stage innovative companies in healthcare, software services, consumer Internet, emerging consumer brands and services. The GL Ventures team is passionate about partnering with visionary entrepreneurs to create industry leaders that stand the test of time. GL Ventures is the venture capital arm of Hillhouse Group, and we have been investing with innovators across the world since 2005.

About Yunfeng Capital 

Founded in 2010, Yunfeng Capital is a leading private equity firm in China founded by successful entrepreneurs and industry leaders. Yunfeng Capital has formed deep sector expertise and industry insights in its focused sectors, including internet plus new forms of consumption, technology and enterprise services, healthcare, accompanied and participated in the growth of a number of new economic enterprises.

About Lilly Asia Ventures (LAV) 

Lilly Asia Ventures (LAV) is a leading biomedical venture capital firm, with offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Palo Alto. Our vision is to become the trusted partner for exceptional entrepreneurs seeking smart capital and to build great companies developing breakthrough products that treat diseases and improve human health.

About Boyu Capital

Founded in 2011, Boyu Capital is a leading Greater China-focused alternative asset management firm with offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Singapore. Comprised of a team of experienced investors and business operators, Boyu Capital provides growth capital and strategic support through long-term partnerships with leading entrepreneurs and enterprises, and its portfolio includes some of the largest, best-managed and most innovative companies across the media/technology, consumer/retail, financial services, and healthcare industries in the Greater China region.