Westlake Therapeutics Secures ￥100 Million in Series Pre-A+ Funding

(VCBeat) Jan. 23, 2021-- Half a year after Westlake Therapeutics announced its Series Pre-A round in June last year, the company recently announced that it has extended that investment round by an additional, led by CD Capital with participation from Sequoia Capital China.

The fresh round of funding will be used to improve Westlake Therapeutics' technology platform, advance pipelines in the preclinical stage, and build GMP compliant manufacturing facilities. The company will also develop new red blood cells (RBC) drug delivery technologies, RBC-encapsulated drug production processes, and products in the fields of immunity, metabolism, and antitumor. The first pipeline is expected to begin clinical trials and IND application in the near future. Besides, the company will expand new pipelines based on existing platforms.

Drug development of cellular medicines from RBC is a very innovative and challenging frontier technology, Westlake Therapeutics is the first enterprise in China to focus on red cell therapeutic (RCT) products. The company now owns the international leading technology platform -- REDx. The company has developed a number of innovative therapies for rare diseases, cancers, immunology and metabolism, taking advantage of the natural characteristics of RBC that are capable of loading large amounts of drugs, good biocompatibility, low immunogenicity, entire biodegradability, and a long-term circulation for nearly 120 days.

CD Capital is a venture capital firm specialized in life sciences and medical technology. They are currently managing both RMB and USD funds with total size of $600M. The company has made over 50 investments with high growth potential and earned a reputation as a premier venture capital firm with main focus on China healthcare industry. 

Sequoia Capital China, as the "entrepreneur behind entrepreneur", focuses on investment in four directions including technology/media, healthcare, consumer goods/modern services and industrial technology. Over the past 15 years, Sequoia Capital China has invested in nearly 600 enterprises with distinctive technical characteristics, innovative business models, and high growth and development potential.