Another family! Capital increase layout synthetic biology
cbo.cn
2022-12-16
"Shenghe Wanwu" recently announced the completion of tens of millions of yuan of pre-A round financing, led by Yida Capital, followed by Zhongke Angel and Simple Capital. The financing transaction was completed in early October this year, and the funds raised will be used for the construction of a GMP-compliant natural product biomanufacturing demonstration line and the application research and development of products.
In the past year, 10 synthetic biology companies involved in cosmetic raw materials have completed a new round of financing, with a total of more than 1.6 billion yuan, and investors include Sequoia China, IDG Capital, Hillhouse Venture Capital and other well-known institutions. The new domestic beauty brands represented by these companies have also begun to gradually explore and try in raw material upgrades to integrate more "new ingredients" into brand building.
So, why should beauty companies rush to deploy synthetic biology at the upstream raw material end?
01
"Saponins" hold up big business
According to public information, Shenghe Wanwu was established in November 2021, and the core team is from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, jointly established by molecular microbiologist Academician Zhao Guoping and organic chemist Academician Yue Jianmin, who have rich experience in the synthetic biology research of natural compounds.
At the beginning of its establishment, Shenghe Wanwu obtained the incubation investment of Zhongke Advantage; In 2021, it obtained tens of millions of RMB angel round financing from Lingsheng Investment and Zerun Capital.
According to the CBO reporter, the core ingredient of all things is "saponins". Prior to this, the domestic beauty giant Juzi Biotech is also using synthetic biology technology to independently develop and produce rare ginsenosides, and it is also one of the largest companies in the world with rare ginsenoside production capacity.
The existing product pipeline mainly covers a variety of natural compounds such as ginsenoside monomer, including ginsenosides CK, Rg3, Rh1, Rh2, F1, Rg2 and rare ingredients such as Panax ginsenosides R1 and R2.
It is reported that through the preparation of de novo synthesis biosynthesis technology, Biosynthesis can achieve high yield, high purity and low cost production of various monomer components of ginsenosides. At present, the yield of ginsenosides has increased thousands of times, with a purity of more than 99.5%, and ginsenosides can be used in skin care products with anti-aging effects.
In addition, Biosynthesis has formed a complete biotechnology platform for pathway elucidation, design, reconstruction, and directed heterologous synthesis of natural compounds. Based on this platform, the team analyzed the synthesis pathways of more than 20 triterpene saponins, including rare ginsenosides, notoginseng saponins (R1, R2 and U) and gynostemma saponins (XIII, XVII and LXXV). In the future, it will combine big data and the biological components and databases built by the team in the early stage, and introduce AI technology to create a rational design of biological components and automatic casting technology for cell factories.
Luo Kun, project leader of the China Science and Technology Angel Fund, believes that synthetic biology is known as one of the key technologies to change the future of mankind. In terms of the development of natural compounds, the Chinese scientific community has accumulated a lot of academic progress at the laboratory level, and is gradually moving towards industrial development and application.
02
Capital bets on the "core" power of the industry
There is a saying that 60% of future products can be manufactured through synthetic biology, which will have a disruptive change in traditional production methods. The huge development prospects and market potential make synthetic biology the focus of capital favor.
In the international market, synthetic biology received a total of $7.8 billion in financing in 2020, about double the previous peak in 2018, according to SynbioBeta data. In 2021, the synthetic biology industry raised a total of about $18 billion, almost the total financing of the industry since 2009. According to data from Huajing Industry Research Institute, it is expected that from 2020 to 2025, the global synthetic biology market will maintain a high annual compound growth rate of 22.5%, exceeding 20 billion US dollars by 2025.
In the domestic cosmetics market, due to policy support, the synthetic biology market has also prospered.
In September 2020, the National Development and Reform Commission and other four departments jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Expanding Investment in Strategic Emerging Industries to Cultivate and Expand the Growth Poles of New Growth Points", supporting various detailed rules including the construction of synthetic biotechnology innovation centers to promote the vigorous development of biotechnology.
Since 2021, nearly 30 synthetic biology companies have announced financing, and almost all domestic leading investment institutions have entered the market.
In July this year, L'Oréal co-invested institutions and Lanjing Microorganisms jointly launched the "Tiangong Kaiwu" bioeconomy industry acceleration platform. Among them, the beauty companies that settled on the platform, in addition to L'Oreal, there is also the high-end beauty brand STEE HILL Traceware, whose parent company is "Meishen Bio".
In early August, Japanese beauty giant Shiseido invested nearly 100 million yuan in a recombinant collagen raw material company, the first investment in Shiseido's Ziyue Fund in China.
In addition, more Chinese beauty companies have also begun to compete in the Central Plains on this new track. Although many domestic beauty giants such as Bloomage Biologics and Bethany have set up their own synthetic biology laboratories. The synthetic biology companies that provide them with technology and raw material support are also the sweet potato in the eyes of capital.
Just a few days ago, Jinbo Biotechnology, which focuses on "recombinant collagen", resumed its listing review on the Beijing Stock Exchange, and Juzi Biotech was successfully listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on November 4. Prior to this, the unnamed light that cooperated with the new domestic brands "Book by Book", "Skin See" and "Flower Cardow", received an investment of more than 150 million yuan in less than two years after its establishment.
It is worth mentioning that not long ago, the cutting-edge beauty brand launched two new products one by one, namely the "First Sight Breathing Essence" featuring anti-aging and the "Non-stained Jasmine Small Healing Bottle" focusing on repair. The CBO reporter found that both products are supported by "Unnamed Light". This means that from the establishment of "Unnamed Light" in May 2021 to the launch of two new products by this brand in October 2022, the scientific research results of "Unnamed Light" have moved from the laboratory to the market in just 17 months.
First sight of respiratory essence
No stained jasmine small healing bottle
In this process, synthetic biology technology has greatly accelerated the product development cycle. Because in biological fermentation, synthetic biology method is the use of DNA synthesis, gene editing and other tools to modify strains, and through high-throughput screening of the most efficient strains as "chassis cells", compared with traditional biological fermentation, artificial directional design and screening will greatly improve productivity.
At present, Bloomage Biotech uses synthetic biology technology to produce hyaluronic acid, which can achieve a "qualitative breakthrough" of hyaluronic acid, and the fermentation yield that can be achieved in the laboratory can reach 74 grams / liter, which is more than 24 times higher than before.
In addition, a number of synthetic biology companies are actively cooperating with local domestic brands.
03
Opportunities and challenges coexist
Why has synthetic biology received a lot of attention from the beauty market recently?
First of all, mainly because synthetic biology provides a way to obtain raw materials from cell factories and engineering biotechnology, the yield cost and time cycle of raw materials may be greatly shortened.
Secondly, synthetic biology provides substances that cannot be provided by existing chemical synthesis or synthetic means, which can produce new substances, new components or new structures, which in turn lead to new research and development and products.
Finally, synthetic biology can also provide beauty companies with green solutions in terms of sustainability.
Although synthetic biology has shown great potential and broad application prospects in the field of cosmetics, as a new track, it is still full of many uncertainties.
The first is the problem of quantifying the scale of production. At present, active biological raw materials are inherently unstable, whether it is its commercial value or its own raw material characteristics. This also poses certain challenges to the stability of its large-scale mass production.
Second, the safety and effectiveness of the new raw materials produced also require long-term market verification. With the implementation of the new regulations, the publicity and evaluation of efficacy have been tightened, and higher requirements have been formed for enterprises' efficacy evaluation capabilities and verification input costs. Moreover, from R&D-side output to product-side application, and obtaining good market feedback, it is not achieved overnight.
It is worth noting that although the approval of new cosmetic raw materials in China was particularly strict. However, since the promulgation of the Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Cosmetics and the Regulations on the Administration of Registration and Filing Materials for New Cosmetic Raw Materials, new raw materials have become another springboard for enterprises to break the situation.
The new regulations stipulate a dual-regulation management system of "registration system" and "filing system" for new cosmetic raw materials, which means that the classification of cosmetic raw materials is more detailed and the filing requirements are clearer. The filing period of non-high-risk cosmetics new raw materials is greatly shortened, and the setting of a three-year safety risk monitoring period can protect the interests of applicant enterprises. Therefore, the benefits of the new policy have undoubtedly promoted industrial innovation and development.
Although facing challenges, under the dual benefits of this economy + policy, as well as the guidance and demonstration of leading enterprises, the independent development of high-end raw materials in China's cosmetics industry is undoubtedly worth looking forward to.
Disclaimer: ECHEMI reserves the right of final explanation and revision for all the information.
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