EdiGene and its investors [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

EdiGene, a world-leading biotechnology company headquartered in Beijing, announced it has completed a nearly 100 million yuan ($15 million) financing, amid growing demand in the industry.

The pre-B fundraising was led by Lily Asia Ventures (LAV) and followed by new investor Huagai Capital and series A investors IDG Capital and WI Harper Group.

"Our genome editing therapies hold the key to a promising future," said, Dong Wei, CEO of EdiGene, "The investment will inject new momentum to our therapeutic projects."

With cutting-edge innovation achievements and accumulated intellectual properties, his team will probe into a wide range of integrative solutions for customers' genetic screening needs regarding drug sensitivity, drug resistance and synthetic lethality, according to Wei.

"We are very excited about our investment in EdiGene," Fei Chen, Managing Partner of Lilly Asia Ventures, said during an interview, "Gene editing is making evolutional breakthroughs in health care and medicine research."

Lilly Asia Ventures is looking forward to support EdiGene's global strategy as a reliable partner, Chen added.

"The fruitful pre-B financing will allow us to set eye on new objectives and move to the next stage," said Wensheng Wei, founder of EdiGene.

The triumphant fundraising is a proof of investors' interests and confidence in our mission of curing genetic diseases with creative solutions empowered by gene-editing, according to him.

"We expect to join hands with more investors like Lilly Asia Ventures and push the boundaries of gene-editing in the days to come," said Wei.

EdiGene was selected by Nature Biotechnology as biotechnology companies representing "the best (and most richly financed) science that was commercialized from academia".

Founded in 2015, the Zhongguancun-based company now has many elites in the fields of genome editing and stem cell modification, with its core members graduated from Stanford University, Michigan State University, Wharton School, Lowa State University, Beijing University, Chinese Academy of Science, etc.

LAV is a leading venture capital firm engaged in the biomedical, pharmaceutical and medical industries in China and the US. The firm provides startups with seed money, professional expertise and valuable resources. It has opened offices in northern California, Shanghai and Hong Kong.

Gong Hongjia, the most famous anger investor in China, also participated in this financing round.