Today (September 16), Jiangsu Trautec Medical Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as Trautec) announced that its B-round financing has been successfully signed, with a financing amount exceeding 200 million yuan ($27.5 million). The round was jointly led by L Catterton, the world’s largest consumer-focused private equity firm, and CLSA Capital Partners, the global USD private equity fund investment platform under CITIC Securities. It is reported that this round of financing will mainly be used for industrialization promotion, innovative technology research and development, and overseas market expansion.
According to public information, L Catterton was formed by the merger of L Capital and Catterton, two private equity firms, in 2016, with L Capital being a private equity firm under LVMH. Currently, it is understood that L Capital and Catterton’s partners jointly hold approximately 60% of L Catterton’s shares, with the remaining 40% belonging to the family of Bernard Arnault, Chairman of the LVMH Group.
It is worth mentioning that this investment in Traute is the first Chinese recombinant collagen company invested by L Catterton’s RMB fund since its establishment.
Regarding this investment, Chen Yue, Managing Partner of L Catterton Asia Fund, stated, “The Chinese domestic beauty and personal care market is in a high-growth stage. Trautec not only understands consumers’ desire for beauty and their high requirements for product effectiveness, but also with its strong R&D foundation and business acumen, it is at a leading level in the commercial layout of the synthetic biology industry.”
According to Trautec’s official website, the company was founded in 2015 and is a technology innovation enterprise specializing in the research, production, and sales of new bio-materials and innovative protein/nucleic acid drugs. The company has long been dedicated to the field of life and health new materials, such as tissue repair and regeneration, aiming to create a globally leading synthetic biology industry platform.
According to public information, Trautec Medical has already completed the scale and standardization production of recombinant collagen types I, II, III, and XVII. Among them, recombinant type XVII collagen is the first self-developed transmembrane collagen protein successfully produced on a large scale by Trautec worldwide, and it can be applied in the cosmetics and personal care field. On January 6th of this year, Traute’s recombinant type XVII collagen received the INCI (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients) name and was included in the international catalog of cosmetic ingredients.
Regarding the financing, Qian Song, CEO of Trautec Medical, stated, “Trautec Medical aims to target the global market and will continue to rely on leading technology to strengthen its research and development capabilities in the field of synthetic biology, develop new bio-material reserves, establish overseas sales networks, and promote the internationalization of synthetic biological materials in China.”
It is worth mentioning that in August of last year, Shiseido, a Japanese cosmetics giant, invested nthrough its beauty innovation fund Ziyue Fund in Trautec. Shiseido stated that this investment aims to proactively position itself in the field of new beauty bio-materials, exploring cooperation opportunities in product development, raw material supply, and channel resources, and also helping Trautec Medical further solidify its leading advantages.
