Singlera Genomics, which focuses on non-invasive genetic diagnostics, on Tuesday announced it has raised nearly 1 billion yuan ($152.6 million) in a Series B round.

The financing was co-led by an RMB-denominated biomedicine fund launched by CICC Capital, the private equity (PE) arm of Hong Kong-listed investment banking firm CICC. Chinese PE firm DT Capital Partners and Shanghai-based Fu Rong Investment were the other lead investors in the round.

Other backers included Huamei International Investment Group; Asia-focused equity investment firm Linden Asset Group (LAG); Chinese state-owned Wuxi Capital; growth equity fund manager FutureX Capital; and Shanghai’s Free Trade Zone Equity Fund Management (FTZ Fund).

The firm’s existing venture capital investors, including Shenzhen-based Green Pine Capital Partners (GPCP) as well as healthcare-focused Prosperico Ventures and Proxima Ventures, also re-upped in the latest round.

Proceeds will be used to expand the firm’s R&D pipeline of early-stage cancer detection products and to finance the registration, production, and commercialisation of its existing offerings.

Founded in July 2014 in San Diego, California, Singlera Genomics specialises in the application of next-generation sequencing to diagnose genetic diseases and disorders.

The firm develops non-invasive genetic tests using proprietary technologies including single-cell sequencing, DNA methylation sequencing, and machine learning. Its products address the needs for early-stage cancer detection, personalised cancer treatment, prenatal diagnosis, and pre-implantation genetic screening.

Additionally, Singlera Genomics provides customised next-generation sequencing services to pharmaceutical companies and medical research institutions. It has R&D centres and business operations in both La Jolla, California, and Shanghai, China.

The new financing will also fund a planned prospective cohort study and clinical trial of Singlera’s PanSeer assay. In July, the company had partnered with Fudan University’s Taizhou Health Science Institute to announce the initial results from a study, which shows that the PanSeer assay can detect five types of cancer up to four years before conventional diagnosis with a single blood draw.

Before the Series B round, Singlera Genomics had raised $60 million in a Series A+ round led by GPCP and Prosperico Ventures in March 2018. It also secured $20 million in a Series A round led by life sciences-focused VC firm Lilly Asia Ventures (LAV) in August 2016.

Originally published by Deal Street Asia