China’s Neurophth Therapeutics, which develops in-vivo gene therapies for ophthalmic diseases, announced on Wednesday the completion of its Series C+ funding round at almost 700 million yuan ($97.7 million).
Neurophth plans to use the net proceeds to further the clinical trials of its core product candidates, enhance its R&D resources, and expand the product pipeline, said the startup in a post on its official WeChat account.
With offices in Wuhan, Shanghai, and Suzhou in China and San Diego in the US, the startup closed the new financing several months after it claimed to be near the commercialisation of a key product candidate, NR082.
Through the Series C+ deal, Neurophth roped in a group of investors largely with links to the Chinese government, adding to its existing investors including Chinese conglomerate Fosun International, genomics giant BGI Group, and the country’s early-stage tech investment bellwether HongShan, previously known as Sequoia Capital China.
Five investors led the Series C extension round, said the startup, including Changjiang CMB Industry Fund Management, a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Merchants Bank; state capital investors Guangzhou Finance Holdings Group, Optical Valley Financial Holding Group, Wuhan Hi-Tech Holding Group, and Wuhan Optics Valley Health Industry Investment.
Participating investors included TTGG Asset Management Group; Changjiang River Industrial Investment Group; and CMG-SDIC Capital, a private equity firm jointly launched by China Merchants Capital and SDIC Fund Management.
The investment marks the fifth equity financing in Neurophth since its inception in 2016. Its most recent funding round was a $60 million-plus Series C round co-led by CMG-SDIC Capital and HongShan in November 2021.
Prior to that, the startup raised 400 million yuan ($55.6 million) in a Series B round led by Guofang Capital and InnoVision Capital in February 2021. Its Series A round was a Fosun- and HongShan-led 130-million-yuan ($18.1 million) deal in 2020, following a BGI-led angel round in 2018.