China-based immunotherapy developer Hrain Biotechnology has raised RMB200m ($29.3m) in a series B-plus round featuring conglomerate K Wah Group’s investment subsidiary, Qianhai Wanhui Equity Investment Management.
The round included Guangdong Chongye Holdings, Hengzhen Investment, Junchenda Capital, NSR Financial, Shanghai Pudong Innovation Technology Group, Sino-Singapore Connectivity Private Equity Fund Management and Xinyi Capital.
Founded in 2015, Hrain is developing oncology treatments and drugs. It conducts research and development surrounding chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) technology, which artificially generates T-cell receptors, which are a group of proteins found on white blood cells called lymphocytes that destroy cancer cells.
The series B-plus funding will go to clinical testing for CAR-T drugs under development, domestic medicine commercialisation and product innovation especially for solid tumours.
Hrain had raised $28m in a series B in September 2019 led by Shenzhen Capital Group, investing alongside Junchenda Capital, Qianhai Capital, Shanghai Yongrun, Yangming Capital, Zhanglong Haifa and Zeyu Investment.
The company said it had closed a series A round in March 2018 before adding series A-plus financing four months later but did not disclose the size or the investors. Business data aggregator Tianyancha shows Shenzhen Capital and Anjie Medical had participated in the July 2018 round.
