Worg Pharmaceuticals, a Chinese clinical-stage biopharmaceutical firm with a focus on immunotherapies, has raised over 1.1 billion yuan ($151.7 million) in a Series C round of financing from domestic and overseas investors, according to a statement on Thursday.

The Shanghai-based startup secured the new funding from investors such as Detong Capital, a China-focused private equity (PE) firm that manages nearly 20 billion yuan ($2.8 billion); and Baron Capital, which primarily invests in healthcare and biotech industries.

Bayland Capital, a biomedicine industry fund launched by China’s Legend Capital and Hong Kong-listed life sciences contract research organisation (CRO) Pharmaron, injected capital into this deal alongside a few other Chinese investment firms. Existing shareholders and a European financial institution also participated.

Founded in 2018, Worg develops immunotherapies based on its two proprietary technology platforms including PCFiT for patients with allergic rhinitis, allergic conjunctivitis, and allergic asthma; and the Apitopes for the treatment of autoimmune diseases including multiple sclerosis (MS) and Graves’ disease.

With an operating centre in Basel, Switzerland, the startup is led by a management team from China, Europe, and the US with expertise spanning life sciences, pharmaceutical development, clinical trials, regulatory affairs, and commercialisation.

Its founder, chairman & CEO Andrew Xu was previously with Porton Pharma Solutions, a Chinese contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) where he led the firm’s equity restructuring and initial public offering (IPO) in 2014 on the Shenzhen stock exchange.

Worg will use the new capital for the development and commercialisation of its existing pipeline of products globally. The startup plans to keep improving its technology platforms, introducing new projects, and recruiting new talent as it looks to speed up its global expansion.

The Series C round comes less than a year after Worg secured nearly 400 million yuan ($55.2 million) in a Series B round from five institutional investors including Kaitai Capital, Puhua Capital, and Lapam Capital.

The startup acquired all assets of Belgium-based clinical-stage biotech firm Apitope International for an undisclosed sum in August 2021. Apitope’s platform and pipeline consist of clinical, pre-clinical, and discovery-stage assets for the treatment of a range of autoimmune diseases.