China’s Alwin Capital closes new dual-currency fund at $281m to invest in life sciencesThe firm is focused on R&D, medical devices, molecular diagnost…

China’s Alwin Capital has closed an oversubscribed dual-currency fund at over 2 billion yuan ($281.1 million) to raise its stakes in the life sciences industry.

The new fund secured capital commitments from a wide range of limited partners including large-scale funds of funds (FOFs), government-guided funds, healthcare corporates, insurers, commercial banks, and other financial institutions, Alwin Capital announced in a statement.

The firm said that more than 50% of its existing RMB-denominated LPs subscribed to this dual-currency fund, whose US dollar LPs range from FOFs and global asset management companies to industry professionals and family offices.

The fundraising will help Beijing-headquartered Alwin Capital double down on its investments in early-stage life sciences startups across innovative pharma R&D, medical devices, molecular diagnostics, gene editing, gene therapy, nucleic acid drugs, artificial intelligence (AI) applications, and more.

The firm was founded in 2015 by Sun Yana and Shi Huijing, former executives at financial services conglomerate China International Capital Corporation (CICC). Its total assets under management (AUM) crossed 1 billion yuan ($140.5 million) in July 2019 after the closing of its oversubscribed RMB Fund III.

Alwin Capital has registered a total of nine active funds under its management in China as of date, according to information on the website of the Asset Management Association of China (AMAC), the country’s self-regulatory association of fund management companies.

Alongside investors like Matrix Partners China and DT Capital Partners, Alwin Capital had in 2018 participated in the $50-million Series B round for clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Adlai Nortye. In the following years, the pre-revenue startup moved on to raise another $200 million in its Series C round and then filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong. But its listing application lapsed this January, six months after it was filed in July 2021.

Alwin’s portfolio includes mRNA-based therapeutics developer Abogen Biosciences, AI-enabled microbiome drug development firm Xbiome, as well as gene editing startups HuiGene Therapeutics, EdiGene, and Reforgene Medicine.

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