5Y News | 5Y Capital Portfolio Company "Laimang Biotech" Raises 50 Million Yuan in New Funding
Accelerating the clinical translation of ultra-low-dose CAR-T.
Recently, Shenzhen Laimei Biotechnology Co., Ltd. ("Laimei Bio"), a biotech company focused on the R&D, manufacturing, and commercialization of novel tumor immunotherapy drugs, announced the completion of two new funding rounds — an angel+ and angel++ round — totaling RMB 50 million. New investors include Fuhui Venture Capital, Yunfan Technology Investment, and private individual investors, while existing shareholders Tiantu Capital and XtalPi continued to increase their stakes. Additionally, Laimei Bio and its metabolism-enhanced CAR-T program have received approximately RMB 20 million in various grants. To date, Laimei Bio has raised approximately RMB 150 million in angel funding and project grants combined. The proceeds will be used primarily for IND filing of its metabolism-enhanced CAR-T cell therapy drug, and to accelerate clinical development of metabolism-enhanced cell therapies for solid tumors.
Laimei Bio was co-founded in July 2021 by Professor Li Tang's team at EPFL (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne) and XtalPi, and began formal operations in February 2022. The company's core technology, Meta 10, has demonstrated significant potential for curing solid tumors, with related findings published in top international journals Nature Immunology (2021) and Nature Biotechnology (2024). Building on this foundation, Laimei Bio has established proprietary technology platforms for the discovery, development, and manufacturing of biological macromolecule drugs and novel immunotherapeutic cell therapies. Meanwhile, the company leverages cutting-edge AI technology to iteratively upgrade existing drugs, forming three core R&D pipelines: metabolic reprogramming biological macromolecule drugs, anti-exhaustion cell therapies, and super-cytokine drugs.
Laimei Bio's proprietary metabolism-enhanced CD19 CAR-T cell therapy is currently undergoing IIT (investigator-initiated trial) clinical studies at the First Affiliated Hospital of University of Science and Technology of China (Anhui Provincial Hospital) and the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine. The program has successfully enrolled and treated over 20 adult patients with relapsed/refractory leukemia/lymphoma, all of whom achieved complete remission (CR) and were discharged. Additionally, the metabolism-enhanced CD19 CAR-T IIT clinical study was launched in March 2024 at the Children's Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, marking the expansion of this therapy's indication to pediatric relapsed or refractory CD19-positive B-cell hematologic malignancies.
Notably, in IIT clinical studies, the metabolism-enhanced CD19 CAR-T cell therapy not only achieved CR in all 20+ late-stage relapsed/refractory leukemia/lymphoma patients, but did so at extremely low drug doses — as low as 1% of commercial CAR-T dosing levels. This breakthrough will dramatically shorten drug manufacturing cycles and significantly reduce CAR-T production costs, potentially bringing down the price of what has been an exorbitant cell therapy and creating a path for inclusion in China's national drug reimbursement list.
Laimei Bio's clinical research achievements have garnered significant attention from domestic and international peers, earning recognition through late-breaking oral presentations at AACR 2024, ASGCT 2024, oral presentations at EHA 2024 and CSCB 2024, and other top-tier academic conferences across China, the US, and Europe. This new funding round will further advance the clinical translation of the company's metabolism-enhanced CAR-T cell therapy.
The financing includes follow-on investments from existing shareholders XtalPi and Tiantu Capital. XtalPi, a global leader in AI and robotics-driven innovation platform technology, has been actively seeking out and supporting startups with breakthrough innovation and significant market potential, empowering the accelerated translation of advanced biomedical research into clinical applications. The continued investment from XtalPi, Tiantu Capital, and other existing shareholders reflects investors' full recognition of Laimei Bio's research progress in immunotherapy and confidence in the company's future development.
Dr. Shuhao Wen, Chairman of XtalPi, stated: "Drawing on the team's deep expertise in tumor immunology research and highly efficient execution, Laimei Bio has rapidly built out a comprehensive drug development platform for immunometabolic reprogramming technology and established a rich product pipeline in just two years. Through continued technological innovation, Laimei Bio is well-positioned to substantially reduce the manufacturing and commercial costs of immune cell therapies. Making high-tech achievements accessible to ordinary people and creating genuine social value — this is precisely why we invested in Laimei Bio."
Professor Li Tang, Co-founder and Chairman of Laimei Bio, stated: "We are deeply grateful for the recognition and support from all our new and existing investors. It is this support that has made it possible to turn laboratory 'ideas' into life-saving 'medicines.' We are also tremendously grateful to our clinical research experts and their teams for their dedication and execution, which have enabled continuous breakthroughs in the clinical development of our metabolism-enhanced CAR-T immunotherapy. We especially want to thank the patients and their families for their trust and support, which has greatly strengthened our confidence in developing breakthrough anti-tumor drugs. This funding will help us accelerate the advancement of our core pipeline into the clinic, speed up the development and储备 of new technologies, and further expand the application scope of our Meta 10 technology platform — bringing safe, effective, and accessible immunometabolic reprogramming drugs to cancer patients sooner."
5Y Capital seeks out, supports, and inspires entrepreneurs who are going it alone, providing everything from moral support to operational backing. We believe that if the world starts believing in the "crazy" you that others see, things will get interesting.
BEIJING · SHANGHAI · SHENZHEN · HONG KONG
