Mekong Capital invests additional $21 mln in Vietnamese gene startup

The Mekong Enterprise Fund IV (MEF IV) has completed $21 million series B investment in Gene Solutions to help the startup expand in Southeast Asia, Mekong Capital announced Wednesday.

The latest investment in Gene Solutions, a Vietnamese growing biotechnology startup, which follows MEF IV’s initial investment in 2021, will support Gene Solutions’ expansion plan in Southeast Asia, especially for providing early detection tests of multiple forms of cancer, the company said in a release.

“Our initial investment in Gene Solutions has been performing very well over the last two years, and of course we expect this will continue as Gene Solutions emerges as model of a successful and sustainable biotechnology company in Southeast Asia," said Chris Freund, founder and partner of Mekong Capital.

According to the Vietnam-focused Private Equity firm, the key to Gene Solution’s successful expansion is in its lower cost structure than its competitors, and its efforts to continuously lower the cost per test, making such tests more affordable for a wider range of end-users throughout Southeast Asia.

"Gene Solutions achieves this in part by running its own labs with a strong in-house research and development team," the release noted.

Nearly 1 million genetic tests have been provided by Gene Solutions, making genetic testing available to more people in Southeast Asia countries where its services operated.

Gene Solutions specializes in detecting the presence of certain diseases based on DNA markers of those diseases. Their success was initially built on prenatal tests such as helping expecting parents to screen for disorders during their pregnancy or prevent genetic problems and assist with the conception of a child. They are currently the market leader for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT) in Vietnam.

In 2022, Gene Solution validated a liquid biopsy technology called SPOT-MAS that can detect circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in the bloodstream as signals for multiple common types of cancers in the early stages, typically before they are easily detectable by traditional methods.

The accessibility of a multi-cancer early detection test in the region has been well adopted by private hospitals and wellness centers in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), Manila (Philippines), Jakarta (Indonesia), and Bangkok (Thailand). They also expect to open its oncology laboratory in Tai Seng Exchange, Singapore by November this year to fulfill growing cancer testing needs in the region.

Mekong Capital was established in 2001. Some of their well-known investments are Mobile World, Phu Nhuan Jewelry (PNJ), ICP, Golden Gate, Vietnam Australia International School (VAS), Masan Consumer, Traphaco, and F88.

Mekong Capital’s fifth fund, MEF IV, is a private equity fund with a fund size of $246 million that will continue Mekong Capital’s strategy of investing in growth-equity investments in Vietnamese companies and exclusively in proven consumer-driven sectors that benefit from the growth in Vietnamese consumer demand and the adoption of modern business practices.

The fund will focus particularly on retail, education, restaurants, consumer services, FMCG, and health care including Entobel, Marou, Mutosi, HSV Group, LiveSpo Global, Rever, and Gene Solutions.