Cygnus Biosciences Raises ￥100M in Series C, Developing Gene Sequencing Machines

According to Yiou.com, on June 11, 2020, Cygnus Biosciences (Beijing) Co., Ltd. ("Cygnus Biosciences"), a biotechnology company focused on R&D of gene sequencing machines, has raised hundreds of millions in Series C round, led by Guangzhou High-tech Zone Science and Technology Holdings Group, a financial platform of GDD Financial Holdings Group, with participation from Jinhe Capital. 

At the same time, Cygnus Biosciences announced the cooperation with Guangzhou Development Zone that its technology achievements in gene sequencing will be launched in Guangzhou High-tech Zone.

Proceeds from the latest round will be used to build an industrial base, an R&D center and a sales headquarter in Guangzhou Development Zone, said Wu Lei, the co-founder and CEO of Cygnus Biosciences.

Founded in 2015, the core team of Cygnus Biosciences is led by the international famous scientist Xie Xiaoliang and CEO Wu Lei. The team includes Peking University Professor Huang Yanyi, who once served as the chief scientist for the development of the sequencing instrument for the National 863 Program, CTO Dr. Chen Zitian; Chemist Dr. Duan Haifeng, and Dr. Luo Kaiqin, a well-known Chinese scientist in the gene-sequencing field who has just joined the team.

Cygnus Biosciences is committed to developing innovative gene sequencing machines based on fluorogenic sequencing and error correction coding (ECC) technology, aiming to improve the NGS sequencing technology for lower cost and higher accuracy.

Based on the principle of NGS sequencing and the concept of "code check" in the field of information and communication, Cygnus Biosciences has created a high-precision sequencing method. After the completion of the sequencing, it uses the error-correcting decoding algorithm with high accuracy, to automatically detected trace sequencing errors in the process of sequencing and correct them, thus improving the accuracy with a certain length of reads.

This method can greatly reduce the application cost of sequencing of the same sample, and the error rate to one over ten thousand at the same time, which is on a par with the first generation sequencer and fits better in line with the high-standard sequencing demands of the clinical testing market.

Founded on November 27, 1998, Guangzhou High-tech Zone Science and Technology Holding Group is a second-class wholly-owned subsidiary of GDD Financial Holdings Group, a wholly state-owned company established in Guangzhou Development Zone to accelerate the economic development in there. 

Jinhe Capital is engaged in industrial investment, investment management consulting and other businesses, focusing on medical and other fields.