Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala co-leads Hasten Biopharma’s $315m funding round

Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company and CBC Group co-lead a $315m funding round in innovation-driven pharmaceutical Hasten Biopharmaceutic Company.

CBC said that the fundraising attracted participation from other institutional investors. Hasten Biopharmaceutic plans to use proceeds from the fresh funding round to fund future acquisitions and business development of innovative pipeline assets.

“We are excited to partner with CBC and Hasten to build a leading biopharma platform focused on providing high quality, reputable and accessible healthcare products to critical care patients in China,” said Mohamed Albadr, head of the China Investment Program at Mubadala.

Founded in 2020, Hasten focuses on developing drugs to treat chronic, age-related and acute diseases, according to its website. The latest round of fundraising follows the biopharma startup’s acquisition of the Chinese-mainland exclusive rights for five cardiovascular and metabolism drugs from Takeda Pharmaceutical Company for $322m in March 2022.

Summer Xia, CEO of Hasten, said “The proceeds raised will catalyse our growth and expansion plans to become China’s leading healthcare company in chronic and age-related diseases, and acute and severe diseases, and realise our vision of providing patients with advanced treatments to improve their life quality.”

Hasten is backed by CBC, Hefei Industry Investment Group and the Feidong county of Hefei city. The company has been building a robust innovative late-stage business development pipeline, creating synergies with its current commercial platform to further support the company’s growth.

Mubadala’s healthcare investments

Meanwhile, the funding round is Mubadala’s latest investment in the medical aesthetics and life sciences sectors as the state investor has been stepping up its healthcare investments to diversify its portfolio.

Read: M42 acquires Bridgepoint’s dialysis firm Diaverum

Earlier this week, M42, a Mubadala healthcare venture, acquired Bridgepoint Group’s European dialysis clinic chain Diaverum to create the largest healthcare firm in the Middle East. Though the financial details of the transaction were not disclosed, sources told Bloomberg that the deal values Diaverum between $2bn and $2.5bn.

The acquisition of Diaverum significantly expands M42’s global geographic footprint, enabling it to introduce relevant healthcare services and health-tech solutions in new markets while further enhancing its renal care offering in the GCC.

Mubadala created M42 earlier this month by merging its healthcare assets with those held by Abu Dhabi artificial intelligence firm G42 Group. M42’s sprawling portfolio includes Imperial College London Diabetes Centre, Danat Al Emarat, HealthPoint Hospital, Omics Center of Excellence and The National Reference Laboratory among others.

With $284bn assets under management, Mubadala is among the parties considering backing Singapore-based healthcare investment firm CBC as it sets up a new fund targeting healthcare assets in the Middle East. The region’s sovereign wealth funds more broadly have also shown themselves keen to invest in the healthcare sector.

Read: Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala, G42 launch tech-enabled healthcare firm