Suzhou Yixi Biotech Co., Ltd.

Yixi Biotech was established in September 2019 and works in synthetic biology, with human milk oligosaccharides as its lead programme. The company states that its HMO biosynthesis project was the first of its kind to reach industrial scale in China. Food additives were chosen as the entry point for the business, and several research pipelines are run alongside the HMO work.

Development moved quickly through stages the company publishes as a timeline: a small-scale HMO trial in May 2020, investment cooperation with dairy companies in March 2021, a mid-scale trial in April 2021, the production base signing ceremony in May 2021, angel round financing in June 2021, production simulation in September 2021 and pre-A financing in November 2021. The Suzhou R&D centre was completed in January 2022, when the company moved to Suzhou Industrial Park.

The HMO production base covers roughly 100 mu and is described as one of the earliest in China. It houses an industrial research centre, an automated fermentation centre, a purification centre and a quality inspection centre. The head office is at 2.5 Industrial Park, 88 Dongchang Road, Suzhou Industrial Park, Jiangsu. The site does not publish capacity figures, headcount or certification detail.