Adagene Raises $50 Million in Series C Funding

Adagene Inc., a leading antibody discovery and development company, today announced a $50 million Series C financing, led by Sequoia China, and backed by New World TMT, AVIC Trust, King  Star Capital, Gopher Asset Management as well as other investors. The round was oversubscribed.

"Adagene is built on a proprietary discovery engine that we have leveraged to discover highly differentiated portfolio of agonist and antagonist therapeutic antibodies," said co-founder and CEO, Dr. Peter Luo, "The funds from this round of financing will be used to advance novel antibody therapeutics into human trials across the globe. The antibodies discovered from our Dynamic Precision Library [DPL] platform enable translational research of our therapeutic leads on the intact immune system of highly predictive preclinical models."

"Adagene's portfolio of core technologies and R&D team allows it to leverage its in-house DPL platform to fuel substantial value inflection in the near term. Its asset reflects the innovation originated from China," said Neil Shen, Founding & Managing Partner of Sequoia China, "By leading the investment round, Sequoia China aims to help provide Adagene with the ability to drive long term growth, as well as better the discovery of novel antibodies and next generation therapeutics through the continued productivity of its discovery engine."

"Adagene has successfully transformed from a platform to a biopharmaceutical company with drugs entering clinical trials. The entrepreneurial and seasoned management team has made major progress in R&D, which has left a deep impression on us. We are eager to see its drugs benefit patients around the world," said Albert Wong, CEO of New World TMT Ltd. a member of the New World Group (one of Hong Kong, S.A.R., China's blue chip conglomerates listed on the HK Stock Exchange, code: 17), was also a participant in the Series C. "New World TMT Ltd, had previously participated in the Series B round financing and we are honored to continue our investment by participating in the C round as well."

"Eight Roads Ventures have been early investors in Adagene, and we continue to enthusiastically support Adagene as it is now realizing its promise of delivering differentiated and novel therapeutics invented in China for the World," said Daniel Auerbach, Senior Managing Partner, Asia, at Eight Roads Ventures.

About Adagene

Adagene was co-founded by two serial entrepreneurs to power antibody discovery. Its aim is to become the leading player in antibody discovery and engineering. It has developed a proprietary dynamic precision library (DPL) and is showcasing the power of the library with a unique pipeline of innovative antibody therapeutics that is advancing into clinical trials. Adagene previously has raised two series of financing with over $36 million. Investors include F-Prime Capital (formerly Fidelity Biosciences), Eight Roads Ventures China (formerly Fidelity Growth Partners Asia), 6 Dimensions Capital, GP Healthcare Capital and New World TMT. 

About Sequoia China

The Sequoia team helps daring founders build legendary companies. In partnering with Sequoia, companies benefit from our unmatched community and the lessons we've learned over 46 years working with Apple, Cisco, Oracle, Google, Alibaba, Airbnb and JD.com among many others. As "The Entrepreneurs Behind The Entrepreneurs", Sequoia China focuses on four sectors: TMT, healthcare, consumer/service, and industrial technology. Over the past 13 years we've had the privilege of working with more than 500 companies in China. 

About New World TMT Ltd

New World TMT Ltd (NWTMT) is the telecom, media and technology business management arm of the New World Group, one of Hong Kong, S.A.R., China's blue chip conglomerates. Comprising three operational areas - Telecom, Media and Technology - NWTMT invests and operates in innovative telemedia enterprises in China and the Asia Pacific region.

New World TMT is positioned to benefit from regional liberalization initiatives and technological advancement. By way of providing management support, strategic partnerships and capital, the company aims to maximize returns and create shareholder value for a portfolio of enterprises in which NWTMT has significant equity interest.

About AVIC Trust

AVIC Trust Co., Ltd is a joint-stock and non-bank financial intermediary approved by the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), and a foreign-investment enterprise authorized by Commerce Department. The company was jointly set up by the large-scale state-owned enterprise, Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), and overseas strategic investor, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Ltd (OCBC), etc. Company's registered capital is 4.657 billion Yuan.

About Gopher Asset Management

Gopher Asset Management Co., Ltd. was founded in March 2010 as a subsidiary of Noah Holdings Limited (NYSE: NOAH), and has become one of the leading alternative asset managers in China, specializing in fund-of-funds management in the private equity, real estate, hedge funds, credit products and family office businesses. Total assets under management as of December 31, 2017 were RMB148.3 billion (US$22.8 billion).