Mojia Biotech Completes Series B Financing to Advance Manufacturing of Bio-based Materials

SHANGHAI, June 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Mojia Biotech, a Shanghai-based leading bio-manufacturing company dedicated to sustainable development and carbon neutrality, announced the completion of an $80 million Series B Financing. The funds will be used to commercialize its Viridimin™ brand of animal-feed additives, scale up manufacturing capacity for Aliphane™ series of bio-based materials, advance its product pipeline and expand its global R&D capabilities.  

Temasek led the round, with participation from LYZZ Capital, Sento Investment, existing investors Bits x Bites and Asia Green Fund, and other investors. 

For over a century, the petrochemical industry has created an abundant chemical universe for daily life and industrial applications. While significantly enhancing our living conditions, the petroleum-based manufacturing processes have also caused tremendous environmental and social challenges, such as greenhouse gas emissions and environmental pollutions. To promote sustainable development, the world is under pressing needs to embrace a much greener and safer supply of chemical and materials, either by feed-stock switch toward renewable carbon sources, or by manufacturing process redesign incorporating the latest advances in synthetic biology.

With its proprietary platform for enzyme and metabolic engineering, Mojia Biotech is committed to transforming the chemical and polymer space.  In the past few years, Mojia Biotech has developed innovative pathways to produce Viridimin™ brand of Vitamin B5. Compared to the prevailing approaches, Mojia’s patented bio-process not only consumes less energy and emits less wastes, but also ensures a more stable supply of Vitamin B5 because of frequent production disruptions caused by tightening environmental regulations in China.  Mojia is planning to bring this state-of-art facility into commission in June 2022.

The second product that Mojia Biotech aims to bring to the market is Aliphane^™ series of biopolymer products, which is extremely versatile and has great potential in coating and adhesive applications. 

Ansen Chiew, co-founder of Mojia Biotech, says: “Over the last decade, we have established a comprehensive R&D platform combining biology, chemistry, engineering and polymer sciences,

accumulated hands-on experiences in large-scale bio-production and built strong global commercialization capabilities. Our green technology is a prove that it is possible to address environmental pollution associated with traditional chemical industry yet achieving cost advantage and performance supercity.  We greatly appreciate visionary and like-minded investors like Temasek, Asia Green Fund, Bits x Bites and LYZZ Capital in supporting our mission for sustainable development and carbon neutrality.”

Joseph Zhou, managing partner of Bits x Bites, says: “Sustainable ingredient manufacturing is a pillar  for a thriving green economy. And with the recent delays and shortages in the global supply chain highlighting the importance to reduce reliance on raw material imports, we see huge potential for Mojia Biotech to apply its technology across different chemical ingredients , and to become a leader for next-generation green chemical production. ” 

Bo Bai, Chairman and Founder  of Asia Green Fund, says: “Chemical bio-manufacturing is one of today’s most dynamic fields in the chemical industry. With its R&D activities and cross-disciplinary innovations, Mojia Biotech has effectively tackled issues such as long processes, high energy consumption and environmentally polluting by-products. We are pleased to work with Mojia Biotech to promote green and cost-leading innovation in chemicals and new materials.”

About Mojia Biotech

Mojia Biotech is a fast-growing, product-focused bio-manufacturing company dedicated to the production of food ingredients and chemical materials using renewable carbon sources and green processes.  It has R&D activities and partnerships across the world and manufacturing facilities in China.  Learn more at www.mojiabio.com.

About Temasek

Temasek is a global investment company with a net portfolio value of S$381 billion (RMB1.86t) as at 31 March 2021. Headquartered in Singapore, it has 13 offices in 9 countries around the world. The Temasek Charter defines Temasek’s three roles as an Investor, Institution and Steward, which shape its ethos to do well, do right, and do good. As a provider of catalytic capital, it seeks to enable solutions to key global challenges. With sustainability at the core of all Temasek does, it actively seeks sustainable solutions to address present and future challenges, as it captures investible opportunities to bring about a sustainable future for all. Learn more at www.temasek.com.sg.

About Bits x Bites

Bits x Bites is China’s pioneer agrifood tech VC, investing in early-stage startups with transformative technologies to address the most critical challenges in the food system in China. It invests across the agrifood supply chain, from precision agriculture, crop and animal health to protein alternatives and human nutrition. Learn more at www.bitsxbites.com.

About Asia Green Fund

Asia Green Fund (“AGF”) is a private equity firm, with approximately $2.0 billion in assets under management, that specializes in the industrials and business services sectors with a focus on technology-enabled green impact investments. Founded in 2016 as Asia’s pioneer in impact investing, AGF backs talented entrepreneurs and management teams as they commercialize innovative technologies with localized business models, thus generating both attractive financial returns for investors as well as a positive ESG impact on society. Learn more at www.asiagreenfund.com.

About LYZZ Capital

LYZZ Capital is a leading biotech investor focusing on supporting biotechnology development to solve humanity’s unmet needs in healthcare, pharmaceuticals, food supply and sustainable materials. It invests globally with offices in San Diego, US and Shanghai, China. Learn more at www.lyzzcap.com.

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GeneOnline