Chinese mRNA Vaccine Maker Abogen Seeks $300 Million in Funding
Chinese mRNA Vaccine Maker Abogen Seeks $300 Million in Funding
(Bloomberg) -- Chinese mRNA vaccine developer Suzhou Abogen Biosciences Co. is raising about $300 million in fresh capital, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The vaccine maker’s latest funding round is being led by SoftBank Vision Fund and joined by other investors including Mirae Asset Securities Co., said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information isn’t public. An announcement is expected as soon as next week, they said.
Deliberations are ongoing and details such as fundraising size and timing may change, the people said. A spokesperson for the SoftBank Vision Fund declined to comment, while representatives for Abogen and Mirae Asset didn’t respond to queries or couldn’t immediately comment.
Abogen announced in August that it had raised over $700 million in a series C funding round led by Singapore’s Temasek Holdings Pte and Invesco Developing Markets Fund to support clinical development of its potential Covid-19 vaccine and expand pipeline of other vaccines and treatments. The company based in Suzhou, a city near Shanghai, also received $600 million in series B financing in April, with participation from Qiming Venture Partners, according to Qiming’s press release.
Established in 2019, Abogen focuses on developing messenger ribonucleic acid, or mRNA vaccines. The company, together with Walvax Biotechnology Co. and researchers from the Chinese military are developing China’s first homegrown mRNA Covid-19 vaccine. They received approval to begin testing a booster shot of the vaccine in fully immunized adults as part of phase III trials.
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