5Y News | Portfolio Company PAM2L Biotechnologies Closes Pre-A Round of Over 100 Million RMB
Leveraging synthetic biology and machine learning as dual engines to drive bio-based materials and product development.
PAM2L Biotechnologies, a company focused on the R&D and application of innovative biomaterials, announced today that it has raised over RMB 100 million in its Pre-A round. The round was co-led by Woyong Fund, Yunqi Capital, and Fuhua Capital, with Cornerstone Capital and Yayi Capital participating, and Lighthouse Capital serving as the exclusive financial advisor. Following this financing, PAM2L will further strengthen its R&D platform upgrades and capacity expansion.
Founded in March 2021 by Dr. Chao Zhong of the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and his university classmate Junfeng Cui, PAM2L leverages a dual-engine approach combining synthetic biology and machine learning (BT-IT) to drive the development of bio-based materials and products. Its core team includes multiple PhDs with world-class academic achievements and seasoned experts with extensive experience in process engineering. The company is primarily developing pipelines for protein and polysaccharide raw materials, with applications spanning pharmaceuticals, medical aesthetics, cosmetics, food, and other sectors.
5Y Capital invested in PAM2L's angel round in December 2021. Xutian Jing, Managing Director at 5Y Capital, commented: "The convergence of new technologies is dramatically accelerating progress in the bio-manufacturing industry, which holds unlimited potential for material prosperity in the next cycle. We are pleased to see PAM2L rapidly translating multiple novel molecules from concept to reality through its technical capabilities, and look forward to the company meeting emerging consumer demands across personal care, pharmaceuticals, food, and other fields."
As a frontier technology in modern biology, synthetic biology has become a strategic high ground contested by nations worldwide. In September 2022, the U.S. government formally unveiled the "National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative" to ensure American leadership in biotechnology. In May 2022, China's National Development and Reform Commission issued the "14th Five-Year" Bioeconomy Development Plan, explicitly calling for efforts to strengthen and expand the bioeconomy, with emphasis on accelerating original and pioneering technological innovation and orderly promoting its application across multiple fields. That June, Shenzhen introduced Opinions on Developing and Expanding Strategic Emerging Industrial Clusters and Cultivating Future Industries, designating 20 strategic emerging industries and 8 future industries for prioritized development, with synthetic biology topping the list of future industries.
Boston Consulting Group predicts that by the end of the 21st century, synthetic biology methods will be widely applied in manufacturing sectors accounting for over one-third of global output, creating $30 trillion in value. McKinsey & Company estimates that, in principle, 60% of global products could be produced through biological methods, with synthetic biology generating approximately $2–4 trillion in direct annual economic impact by 2030–2040, and at least 20% of global petrochemical products potentially replaceable by bio-based alternatives within the next decade.
Driven by bioeconomy policies and low-carbon economic development, the synthetic biology industry has arrived at a historic inflection point. Riding this wave, Dr. Chao Zhong returned to China from MIT in 2014. In 2020, he joined the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology's Institute of Synthetic Biology (hereafter "the Synthetic Biology Institute"), establishing the Center for Materials Synthetic Biology. With over a decade of dedicated research, Dr. Zhong holds 10 domestic and international patents, was named Chief Scientist of the National Key R&D Program's Synthetic Biology Special Project by the Ministry of Science and Technology, and received the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars. To accelerate technology commercialization, Zhong founded PAM2L Biotechnologies in 2021, focusing on advancing the R&D and commercialization of core product pipelines including adhesive proteins, bacterial cellulose, and mucopolysaccharides.
The company's core team comprises PhDs from top research institutions worldwide alongside industrialization and commercialization veterans from leading domestic and international companies, ensuring an effective integration of scientific capability in synthetic biotechnology with manufacturing capability for commercial delivery. Its advisory team includes renowned scientists from MIT, UCSB, Cornell University, and other institutions, as well as clinical experts from Ruijin Hospital, Changzheng Hospital, Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital, and Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital.
Drawing on interdisciplinary deep research and long-term accumulation, PAM2L has established an efficient innovation R&D platform powered by its BT-IT dual-engine approach, combining academic research with high-throughput synthetic biology capabilities from major synthetic biology facilities, AI methodologies, and accumulated experience in optimization pathway design. The company has gradually developed industry-leading systematic capabilities for novel molecules, new materials, and living materials, significantly accelerating R&D efficiency for innovative synthetic biology materials in biomedical applications, cosmetic ingredients, and functional materials. Focusing on high-value, high-growth markets, PAM2L has built core pipelines around proteins, polysaccharides, and other materials, enabling innovative multi-scenario applications and substitutions while providing customers with green, efficient solutions.
Since its founding, PAM2L has grown rapidly on the strength of its robust scientific capabilities and earned broad recognition: in December 2021, it jointly established the "Materials Synthetic Biology Industrial Translation Center" with the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences; in March 2022, it received "Synthetic Biology Enterprise" certification from Guangming District; in July 2022, it was named to the Shenzhen Venture Capital Association's "Greater Bay Area High-Growth Enterprises Top 50" list; in August 2022, it moved into Hengtaiyu Tower and began building its pilot-scale workshop; and in November 2022, it participated in "Shenzhen Venture Capital Day" as a major project invited to sign on-site.
Under the "upstairs-downstairs innovation and entrepreneurship complex" model pioneered by the Shenzhen Guangming District government and the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, PAM2L has achieved physical proximity with the Synthetic Biology Institute — offices and research facilities stacked vertically in the same building. This allows the company's R&D staff and institute researchers to interact closely, creating tight coupling between "zero-to-one" original innovation and "one-to-ten-to-one-hundred" engineering development and translation, thereby enabling efficient conversion of scientific achievements into industrial applications.
This spatial integration of basic research and industrial application breaks down temporal barriers in the "zero-to-one-to-ten" incubation process, effectively addressing bottlenecks facing startups in facilities and technology platforms, shortening the cycle from original innovation to industrial translation, and establishing a full-chain enterprise cultivation model spanning "research — translation — industry."
Supported by the "upstairs-downstairs" model, PAM2L's adhesive protein pipeline has advanced rapidly. Related products have completed product validation for wound closure and care, combining adhesive and hemostatic functions that will enable functional and domestic substitution of existing products.
With the vision of becoming a global leading producer and application expert in biomaterials, PAM2L's ambitions extend further. Against the backdrop of global consensus on "dual carbon" goals, synthetic biology will serve not only as an important force in China's bioeconomic development but also as critical underlying support for achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality objectives. Going forward, the company will leverage its platform R&D advantages and industrialization capabilities to continuously expand its business boundaries and multi-domain applications, leading industry development.
Dr. Chao Zhong, founder of PAM2L Biotechnologies, stated: "The founding team is deeply grateful for the recognition and support from both new and existing shareholders. PAM2L will continue to be market-demand-oriented, adhering to a three-dimensional strategic layout of BT-IT technology-driven innovative raw materials, innovative products, and an efficient R&D platform. We will deepen the application development of innovative raw materials across multiple fields, focus on medical product solutions with unique clinical value, and insist on driving platform development and commercial application through products, becoming a global leading innovative biomaterials enterprise!"
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