Bluepha

Bluepha (蓝晶微生物) is a Chinese synthetic biology company founded in 2016 by Dr. Zhang Haoqian and Dr. Li Teng — early FreeS Fund reporting describes it as born on Tsinghua's campus in October 2016, co-founded with Tsinghua professor Chen Guoqiang, while a later FreeS piece credits the two founders (Peking University and Tsinghua respectively) . Its core business is designing microbes to produce bio-based molecules and materials, with biodegradable PHA as its first commercialized pipeline; by late 2023 it was described as a leading PHA R&D and production player with cumulative funding exceeding RMB 2 billion and a first-phase 5,000-ton PHA line in operation . FreeS Fund led its 2017 angel round and has followed every round since — seven consecutive rounds of backing through its B4 round of over RMB 400 million in early 2023, led by Zhongping Capital, alongside RMB 500 million in bank credit lines . On the industrialization side, construction of a 25,000-ton-per-year PHA "super factory" began in Binhai, Yancheng, Jiangsu in January 2022, and per FreeS the PHA pipeline formally entered commercialization in 2023 . It has also made strategic investments along its supply chain, such as following on in modifier company Enabio Materials' angel round as a business partner .