We are a quantum physics-based, AI-powered, and robotics-driven, innovative R&D platform. We adopt a combination of quantum physics-based first-principles calculation, AI, high performance cloud computing, and scalable and standardized robotic automation to provide drug and material science R&D solutions and services to global and domestic companies in the pharmaceutical and material science (including agritech, energy and new chemicals, and cosmetics) industries and beyond.
In 2014, cloud-based computing power started growing exponentially, when our Co-founders immediately realized that would make large-scale high precision and fast computation a reality. Established in 2015 by three postdoctoral physicists at MIT, underpinned by our quantum physics-based first-principles calculation and AI capabilities, we seek to transform the way drugs and new materials are designed and discovered at a pace and scale beyond traditional alternatives. In 2016, we participated in a global crystal structure prediction (“CSP”) blind test held by Pfizer and achieved accurate prediction, which led to our long-term strategic master partnership in technological innovation and drug R&D with Pfizer. Since then, we gradually became a global leader in terms of technological advantages in providing computational solid-state R&D services. Our CSP capability and long-lasting cooperation with Pfizer eventually enabled us to help shorten the time needed to confirm the optimal crystalline drug form for use in the development and production of Paxlovid, the world’s first FDA-approved oral treatment for COVID-19 at a critical juncture of the global fight against SARS-CoV-2.
As CSP and drug design and discovery share similar fundamental methodologies and problem-solving patterns where target functions are deployed to search for solutions within a vast array of possible outcomes, we naturally expanded into the drug R&D industry driven by our customers’ evolving needs. To validate the compounds generated from our drug R&D activities, we built our wet lab experimental capabilities. Along with our rapid business growth, we had increasing customer demand for compound synthesis, which is one of the most time-consuming and costly parts of the entire drug R&D process. To expedite our synthesis process and further scale our business, we further developed robotic automation in our wet lab to enable scalable, flexible, multi-project, faster, and more cost-efficient experiment cycles. As we function as a molecular search engine, we have been able to explore the applicability of novel molecular-level material design and discovery in a wide array of industries.
We have established a proprietary integrated technology platform, which integrates high performance cloud computing-powered in silico tools, including quantum physics-based first-principles calculation and AI, for dry lab calculation and evaluation, and wet lab experimentation with robotic automation. Our platform is designed to improve dry lab calculations with experimental data generated by our wet lab and to enhance the efficiency of our wet lab by insights derived from dry lab calculations. In the meantime, our wet lab accumulates large-scale, high-quality and consistent data to provide the foundation for the formation of our closed-loop large models, containing perception, generation, prediction, decision-making, planning and execution. We are one of the few drug and material science R&D companies in the world with quantum physics-based first-principles calculation, AI technologies, and automated wet lab capabilities, according to Frost & Sullivan. As such, we believe that we are well positioned at this moment to capture the opportunities arising from the increasing importance of the combination of AI, computing power, data analysis, and scalable and standardized automation for the design and discovery of novel drugs and materials. We believe that quantum physics-based computation, AI, and robotic automation technologies will play indispensable roles as basic infrastructure components underpinning drug and material science R&D in the AI-age, like water and electricity in the industrial age.
We have made significant contributions in the field of drug design and discovery by improving speed, scale, novelty and success rate since 2018. We have recently expanded our business into the field of material science (such as the design and discovery of bio-based materials, novel chemical compounds for agritech applications, new chemical surfactants and catalysts, and cosmetics products) and automation (such as automated chemical synthesis) and are focused on continuing to expand this business going forward.
We have a diverse customer base, ranging from start-ups to global biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Our customer base includes 16 of the top 20 global biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies ranked by revenue in 2022 according to Frost & Sullivan, which we believe is an indicator of the caliber of our solutions and services. With operations in both China and the U.S., we strive to take advantage of the best capabilities and resources available to us in each region to meet the evolving needs of our customers and collaborators and academic partners. We have well-established and longstanding relationship with many of the world’s leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical conglomerates, such as Pfizer Inc. (“Pfizer”), Johnson & Johnson, and Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, many of which are our repeat customers. Since our founding, we have received substantial investments and support from world-renowned private equity and strategic investors, including HongShan, Mirae Asset, Google, Tencent, China Life Chengda, and 5Y Capital. We believe our blue-chip shareholder base and prominent customer base is a testament to our capabilities and prospects.
As of December 31, 2023, we had more than 500 scientists and technologists, including engineers, medicinal chemists, and programmers, with experience in leading global academic institutions and well-recognized industry participants, a majority of whom have a master’s degree or above. We also had more than 160 granted patents, approximately 39 ongoing drug discovery programs, and four R&D facilities with more than 10,000 sq.m. of lab space, as of the same date. Our talents, operational infrastructure, and scientific and commercial achievements have contributed to, and in turn demonstrated, our strong R&D capabilities.
During the Track Record Period, we generated revenue from providing drug discovery solutions to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies and intelligent automation solutions to companies in the pharmaceutical industry and beyond. Our revenue experienced rapid growth from RMB62.8 million in 2021 to RMB133.4 million in 2022, and further to RMB174.4 million in 2023, representing a CAGR of 66.7%. The substantial increase in our revenue and our rapid business growth during the Track Record Period demonstrates our commercialization capability and business sustainability. Although we generated meaningful revenue during the Track Record Period, we are a Pre-Commercial Company as defined under Chapter 18C of the Listing Rules. We recorded net loss of RMB2,137.3 million in 2021, RMB1,438.6 million in 2022, and RMB1,906.3 million in 2023. As of the Latest Practicable Date, we had served more than 300 biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies and research institutions globally; at the same time, centering on our key upstream and downstream industry chains and technologies, we have incubated and invested in a number of innovative companies, including Geode Therapeutics Inc. (“Geode”), META Pharmaceuticals Inc. (“META”), Signet Therapeutics (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. (希格生科(深圳)有限公司) (“Signet”), and Leman Biotech Co., Ltd (深圳萊芒生物科技有限公司) (“Leman”).
Source: QuantumP (02228) Prospectus (IPO Date : 2024/06/04) |