HONG KONG, Dec. 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Great Bay Bio (GBB) is thrilled to announce the successful first close of its Series B financing round. This milestone was achieved with the round led by a syndication of a well-known strategic investment institution and its affiliate, Tiger Jade Pebble Accelerator. The financing also attracted participation from new investors, including a Hong Kong-based family office, the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Venture Fund, as well as continued support from an existing global life science strategic investor. The funds will be instrumental in advancing GBB's AI-enabled drug development ecosystem and accelerating the global adoption of its innovative solutions. This marks a significant step forward in transforming biologics development on an international scale.
GBB's commercialization efforts have been gaining momentum, fueled by technical breakthroughs and market-driven solutions. In the cell line development business, GBB's site-specific cell line development platform, AlfaCell, has enabled customers to secure clinical trial approvals from both China's National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These cell lines have also been successfully applied in multiple projects, with partners expressing satisfaction with improved yields and shorter development timelines, especially for multi-specific antibodies. Additionally, GBB has enhanced its cell culture capabilities by establishing its own ISO 9001:2015-certified cell culture powder manufacturing line, further ensuring a high-quality and secure supply chain for partners. These achievements have positioned GBB as a trusted partner for leading MNCs in the life sciences, specialty chemicals, and pharmaceutical CDMO sectors, meeting the global demand for faster and more efficient new product development.
Building on this foundation, GBB has recently launched an integrated ecosystem solution, combining its advanced technological platforms into a seamless workflow. This innovation enables customers to accelerate drug development from target identification to pre-clinical candidate (PCC) generation in as little as eight months. While GBB has just started collaboration with partners using this approach, early results are promising and highlight its potential to redefine efficiency and speed in drug development, delivering significant value to global partners.
Kingsley Leung, Co-founder and Chairman of GBB, commented: "GBB was founded with a global vision, and our benchmark for success has always been to develop technologies that are globally differentiated. We are confident in our ability to continue building an international footprint, particularly across the U.S., Europe, and Asia-Pacific, where we see significant opportunities for growth. The strong support from our series B investors reflects their trust in our vision and reinforces our commitment to driving innovation that transforms the biopharmaceutical industry worldwide."
Emmanuel Hui, CEO of the Tiger Jade Pebble Accelerator added: "The biggest challenges for applying AI in the biomedical space are scientific feedback and business model fit. Innovators often don't know whether or not their AI products work until after extensive animal and human testing, and even then, it is unclear who would be the paying party. GBB's deliberate strengths in cell line, culture media, and bioprocessing veer away from general AI drug discovery, and allows for immediate feedback, iteration, and client payment."
About GBB
Great Bay Bio (GBB), headquartered in HKSTP, is a biotech company that drives drug development using cutting-edge technologies such as AI, big data mining, and automation. GBB adheres to the corporate vision of "Global Bioprocessing Made Simpler and More Efficient," and aims to address the challenges of long timelines, high costs, and low success rates in drug development, with a long-term goal of enhancing human life, health, and value.
The core team of GBB comprises experts from medicine, synthetic biology, and artificial intelligence. The company operates a 3,000㎡ R&D laboratory and CMC platform, supporting customers in securing clinical trial approvals from China's NMPA and the US FDA. GBB has secured nearly 100 patents related to AI-enabled drug development and successfully commercialized multiple AI technology platforms. The company has established long-term partnerships with leading domestic and international enterprises.
GBB has passed the ISO 9001:2015 quality management system certification, been selected for Forbes Asia 100 to Watch 2024 List, and won numerous awards, including "Deloitte Technology Rising Star Company," "EY Entrepreneur Of The Year," "15th Shenzhen Innovation & Entrepreneurship Competition," "Gold Award for Hong Kong Global Innovation," "Excellence in Process Innovation Award," and "Excellence in Technology Adoption Award". The company has also been successfully selected for the Hong Kong Science Park Elite Enterprise Program.