ATLATL closed fundraising & launched the Pioneering Project Aseed+ along with Hillhouse, co-founding an innovative ecosystem in life sciences

Press release – Business Wire

January 2023, The ATLATL Innovation Ltd.(“ATLATL”), founded by the Langrun Group, closed fundraising with hundreds of millions USD, exclusively invested by Hillhouse. ATLATL will be the platform to pioneer the Aseed+ Plan, aiming to support 50 new cutting-edge life science innovation projects over the next five years. The ATLATL R&D ecosystem will provide entrepreneurs with high-quality infrastructure and operations, multi-dimensional comprehensive R&D services, and early-stage funding. ATLATL expects to further invigorate discovery and innovation in the frontier life sciences.

The Pioneering Project Aseed+ will focus on the hottest fields in the life sciences, including RNA therapy, biomacromolecule degradation, drug delivery, spatial multiomics, neuroscience, gene and cell therapy, and life science instruments. The plan will support high-risk projects with increased efficiency by reducing the cost and time frame of proving concepts. Initially, the plan will focus on Beijing and the Yangtze River Delta region, bringing together the areas’ wealth of multilateral resources including scientific research institutions/universities, well-known global pharma, life science instrument companies, R&D service companies, and technology platforms. With ATLATL’s global standard laboratory and R&D sharing platform, Aseed+ looks to address challenging key issues in life sciences for better biotechnological innovation.

In September 2022, Hillhouse launched Project Aseed+ to create an open, collaborative R&D ecosystem with a dedicated team that will link services in pre-investment, mid-investment, and post-investment stages of development into one platform. Project Aseed+ integrates services covering entrepreneurial incubation, market verification, start-up acceleration, industry docking, and continuous fundraising. The collaboration between ATLATL and Hillhouse is to implement Aseed+ in the life sciences.

ATLATL’s first site is located in the core area of Zhangjiang, Shanghai, co-founded by Langrun Group with Dr. PC Zhu, an entrepreneur from Boston, and his team with funds infused by Langrun Group in 2017. ATLATL has inherited the valuable experience and essential services from the founder’s high-quality shared laboratory in Boston, and improved upon incorporated local advantages and resources in subsequent years. ATLATL has provided a large number of innovative biotech start-ups and multinationals with a world-class R&D ecosystem and high-quality services.

Armed with the experience gathered thus far, ATLATL has integrated high-quality laboratory space, professional operation management system, interactive CRO services, comprehensive support for entrepreneurship, and venture capital for new ventures. ATLATL provides early stage projects and fast growing companies with a multitude of resources, including experimental verification services. ATLATL also provides turnkey labs that meet high-end management standards while also allowing for flexibility and customization. Aside from start-up and early projects, ATLATL also provide support for many multinational organizations. As of December 2022, ATLATL has served more than 150 companies, assisted research teams in raising more than CNY 12 billion, and the members served have received more than 80 patents, obtained more than 25 clinical approvals, and 3 products are already approved for marketing. Beginning in 2021, ATLATL has accelerated its strategic growth in China, successively launching centers in Shanghai Lingang, Suzhou BioBay, and Beijing. Collaborating with Hillhouse accelerates ATLATL’s domestic and global expansion, fostering more high-potential companies with international capacity and potential.

With Hillhouse’s investment, ATLATL will focus on shaping and strengthening four core capabilities. Firstly, ATLATL will build more state-of-art laboratories to enhance and diversify the growing R&D ecosystem. Deploying these labs in cities with critical resources, growing entrepreneurial teams will be provided with a high-quality R&D environment comparable to that of leading global standards. In addition, this will offer global firms an innovative incubation platform of equal quality to their headquarters.

Secondly, ATLATL’s evolving R&D ecosystem continually improves comprehensive and interactive R&D services for startups. Internal as well as external resources are organized to be as accessible as possible to all levels of innovation. ATLATL has partnered with leading instrument developers such as Miltenyi, Tecan, Danaher, and ThermoFisher, world-leading R&D service organizations like IQVIA, Charles River, and GoBroad HealthCare Group, and drug screening platforms and gene editing companies. Coupled with ATLATL’s interactive CRO service and on-site project management, the perfect grounds for fresh biomedical innovation have been established.

Thirdly, ATLATL’s strategic partnerships with global pharmaceuticals like Novo Nordisk and Boehringer-Ingelheim allows an opportunity for startups to interact with the wider biotech industry as well. Through these partnerships, ATLATL helps early-stage companies connect with a wider range of external resources, and fosters technological exchange at all levels.

Lastly, ATLATL recognizes the emerging and rapid development of emerging biotechnological techniques and breakthroughs that subvert traditional concepts and methods in drug R&D. For these revolutionary ideas, technology transformation, a key factor in the rapid growth of innovative enterprises, is often the bottleneck of technological breakthroughs. To better serve the emerging technology landscape, ATLATL is to collaborate with partners to enhance its capabilities and offer more comprehensive solutions. The systematic framework will support the rapid and continuous development of original innovations on the ATLATL platform, accelerating the transition from initial discovery and technological breakthroughs to industrial transformation and commercialization.

In this four-in-one innovation acceleration ecosystem, ATLATL provides comprehensive solutions to face challenges often encountered in technological innovation. This enables enterprises to focus on the essence of innovation and speed up the process of achieving results. With its partners, ATLATL aims to facilitate novel R&D for both entrepreneurial scientist teams and multinational institutions, more efficiently than ever before. By integrating upstream and downstream resources, promoting interaction between original innovation and industrial resources, ATLATL aims to create a world-class life science innovation hub.