Contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) IntellectiveBio announced its completion of round-C financing on August 5, with a total amount exceeding 500 million yuan ($74.1 million). This round was led by Gaorong Capital and CTS Capital, followed by Fuho Capital, CNCB Investment Limited, Beijing Founder Securities and Win Harbor Capital. The raised funds will reportedly be used for commercial capacity expansion, technology platform upgrading, international operation strategic layout and team expansion.

Founded in April 2018, the company focuses on the field of macromolecular biopharmaceutical process development and large-scale commercial production. It also operates a technological R&D platform for cutting-edge processes.

The firm also has seven CDMO technology platforms, regarding GMP production, ADC, multiple-direction culturing, independent construction of cells, drug analysis, virus safety detection and preparation development. The company has local production bases in Xiangcheng’s high-tech district and industrial park as well as in Changshu’s high-tech Zone. At present, all the bases have started a flexible production lines expansion project, and it is expected that the total production capacity will reach 220,000 liters in 2023.

According to Chinese media outlet 36Kr, Li Zhi, the founder and CEO of the company, revealed that since its establishment, the company has signed agreements with hundreds of commercial customers. In 2021,the firm’s income was several hundred million yuan, with a profit of tens of millions of yuan. It is expected that this year’s income will double.

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In recent years, the number of new drugs approved by the FDA has been increasing continuously. With the encouragement of policies, the number of new drug applications in China has increased significantly. According to data from Frost & Sullivan, China’s biopharmaceutical market has grown from 183.6 billion yuan ($27.209 billion) in 2016 to 345.7 billion yuan ($51.232 billion) in 2020, with a CAGR of 17.1%.

The development of pharmaceutical outsourcing market and the pharmaceutical market itself complement each other. Industry data show that the global CDMO market has a CAGR of over 20%, while the CDMO market for Chinese macromolecular drugs has maintained a growth rate of 40%.