China’s Burning Rock raises $125.5mn in Series C funding round

The Chinese biotech company, Burning Rock, has announced the completion of a Series C funding round.

The company held a signing ceremony on 14 February, closing the round at RMB850mn (US$125.5mn).

The round was led by GIC, the Singapore-based sovereign wealth fund. LYFE Capital, CMB International Capital, Lilly Asia Ventures (LAV), Sequoia Capital China, and T&Brothers Capital also contributed to the financing.

The business will use the investment to fund for early cancer detection product development and sales, as well as expanding its marketing force for its companion diagnostics unit.

“Thanks to the development of epigenetics and NGS, Burning Rock was able to develop early detection technology using DNA methylation assay based on NGS platform more than two years ago, and some promising progress has been made since,” stated Han Yusheng, Founder and CEO of Burning Rock.

“Meanwhile, due to the big data generated from precise cancer companion diagnostics, as the leader of this industry, Burning Rock has established a genome big data ecosystem that connects doctors and pharmaceutical companies.”

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“The ecosystem will be likely to connect patients in the future. The new financing provides a financial guarantee for Burning Rock's rapid expansion in the above three areas. We appreciate the recognition from our investors.”

In 2016, Burning Rock completed its Series B funding round with RMB300mn ($44.3mn) from Sequoia Capital, LYFE Capital, CMB International Capital, and Legend Star.

“As a long-term investor, we believe in the adoption of precision medicine in the future of cancer treatment and seek to work with leading players in the field to provide better treatment for cancer patients,” noted Choo Yong Cheen, Chief Investment Officer of Private Equity at GIC.

“Since its inception, Burning Rock has built a strong team with extensive experiences in R&D, sales and marketing. We hope Burning Rock to continue to uphold its standards and achieve more breakthroughs in cancer screening and diagnostics.”