Chalk up a second one for China-focused Decheng Capital in a month as U.S.-based BD Life announced it's buying Cellular Research, one of the portfolio companies of the venture capital firm.
Financial terms were not announced. BD is a global firm that sells services in cell sorting to hospitals, researchers and clinical laboratories, while Cellular Research is a Silicon Valley biotech that works on high-resolution investigation of single cells and limited samples, according to a press release.
The China angle however comes in through Decheng which earlier this month saw Roche ($RHHBY) buy into U.S.-based antibiotic diagnostic firm GeneWeave in a deal valued at $425 million.
Decheng Capital invested in a recent Series B round at GeneWeave, of interest because of the promise of fighting antibiotic resistance by making quick analysis of bugs and matching the right drug--a key need in China where the problem is most acute.
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| Decheng partner Victor Tong Jr. |
Victor Tong Jr., a partner at Decheng Capital, said the deal highlights how the firm can draw on links to U.S. companies that they hope to bring to China as well.
"Another one of our portfolio company was just acquired," Tong said in an email to FiercePharmaAsia. "Again, Decheng Capital provides access to innovative technologies and ability to bring proven Western products to China."
The firm is also an investor in Hong Kong-listed 3SBio, which returned to the capital markets this year after delisting from the Nasdaq in 2013 and is among diagnostic and device firms, such as GenapSys, "developing a disruptive DNA-sequencing technology," according to the Decheng website, and Ketai Medical, "focusing on registration and commercialization of innovative and FDA-approved prosthetic hip and knee joint implants for the China market."
In the BD-Cellular Research deal, the aim is to "provide researchers an integrated sample prep workflow to quantify and study gene expression in large numbers of individual cells, enabling higher resolution biology."
Other investors from China have eyed research and diagnostics as a focus this month with U.S.-based proton therapy system maker Mevion Medical Systems securing as much as $200 million in financing led by two Chinese Investors, HOPU Investments and YuanMing Capital.
- here's the release