Biortus Announces Round A Financing and Launches Global Cryo-EM Innovation Center

Wuxi Biortus Biosciences Co. Ltd. (“Biortus”), a global leader in structural biology service for drug discovery, recently closed round A financing with US$15 million investment led by Bayland Capital, and the fund will be used to establish a global cryo-EM innovation center.

In 2018, Biortus launched the very first commercial gene-to-structure one-stop-shop cryo-EM platform. Since then Biortus’s cryo-EM team has witnessed the transformative power of cryo-EM in breaking the barrier of traditional structural biology methodologies by delivering atomic resolution information on membrane proteins and large protein complexes. With the support from round A fund, Biortus is upgrading its cryo-EM platform to a research hub named “Biortus Cryo-EM ” (Biortus Cryo-EM Global Innovation Center for Structural Biology). The research hub is under construction at Wuxi International Life Science Innovation Campus (I·Campus) in collaboration with Wuxi Municipal Government, Wuxi New District and global biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. Phase one construction of the hub will be completed in January of 2021 with first 3 sets of newly purchased cryo-EM instruments including a fully loaded Titan Krios 300kV electron microscope. In the next 3 years, Biortus Cryo-EM will add at least 5 units of high-end electron microscopes to further expand its capacity.

Biortus Cryo-EM will be an open platform for both industrial and academic users with flexible business models to meet the diverse needs of global clients.

Biortus is a full-scale contract research organization (CRO) for lead generation in drug discovery, offering services in critical aspects including target protein, in vitro assay, and structural biology. Biortus’s core capabilities include target protein production, biochemical / biophysical / cellular assay development, compound screening and characterization, X-ray crystallography, cryo-EM for protein structure determination (SPA), and MicroED for small molecule crystal form and structure characterization. Biortus’s service is highly recognized by clients with co-authorship in more than 10 publications in prestigious journals including Science, Cell, Cell Research, Nature Communications, and JACS etc.

Bayland Capital, founded by Pharmaron and Legend Capital, is a leading investment firm with a focus on innovative life science companies globally. Pharmaron (300759.SZ/3759. HK) is a premier R&D service company supporting the life science industry. Founded in 2004, Pharmaron has invested in its people and facilities and established diverse drug R&D service capabilities. With operations in China, US and UK staffed by over 10,000 employees, Pharmaron has an excellent track record in the delivery of R&D solutions to its global partners in North America, Europe, Japan, and China.