Shanghai Matwings Technology (Matwings) has completed its Series A funding round to advance the development of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven protein design.
The funding round, which raked in tens of US dollars, was led by Qiming Venture Partners.
Matwings specialises in protein engineering innovations with its proprietary, pre-trained AI-driven general protein design platform, AccelProtein.
This proprietary technology predicts protein functionality beyond structural data, offering a new approach to acquiring high-functioning proteins.
AccelProtein is powered by the Pro-PRIME model, developed by Professor Liang Hong and his team at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
The team created the Pro-series AI framework for protein design based on research in data collection, curation, and optimisation.
AccelProtein has demonstrated significant impact in various applications. It was used in developing a specialised glycosyltransferase enzyme for producing EPS-G7, a key material in pancreatitis screening.
In just four months, Matwings boosted the enzyme’s glycosylation activity by seven times, improved product specificity from 60% to 98%, and reduced hydrolytic activity by 33%, cutting EPS-G7 production costs by 90%.
In another case, Matwings engineered a super alkali-resistant affinity ligand for affinity chromatography, tripling alkali resistance, increasing binding capacity by over 100%, and improving heat stability by 8°C.
According to the AI protein models-focused firm, this innovation saved millions in chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC) costs for a client and successfully scaled up production to 5,000l.
This advancement makes low-cost affinity chromatography purification a viable option for biologics, offering more cost-effective solutions for drug production, Matwings said.
Since 2021, Matwings has completed over 30 protein-engineering and enzyme-mining projects. These include proprietary enzymes like Enterokinase, Carboxypeptidase B, KEX2 Protease, Maltogenic Amylase, Subtilisin, Protein A, PETase, T7 RNA Polymerase, and phi29 DNA Polymerase.
These projects, both proprietary and co-developed with stakeholders, span a wide range of applications, including drug innovation, in vitro diagnostics, nutrition and healthcare, food and beverage, and green energy.
Furthermore, the Chinese firm is seeking global partnerships to co-develop and commercialise new products.
