By Phuong Nguyen and Yantoultra Ngui

HANOI/SINGAPORE, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Vietnam-founded biotechnology firm Gene Solutions plans to raise $100 million through a pre-IPO round and a potential listing as soon as 2026, capitalising on growing demand for genetic diagnostics and a regional revival in initial public listings, the company and its lead investor Mekong Capital said.

The company, which offers prenatal and cancer screenings using Next-Generation Sequencing and AI, plans to raise up to $50 million in the pre-IPO and another $50 million at the listing in either Hong Kong or Singapore, its Chief Financial Officer Keng Hsu told Reuters.

China International Capital Corp 601995.SS is acting as the adviser for the pre-IPO round, Hsu added. CICC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Chris Freund, founder and managing partner of Mekong Capital, said in a separate email that the two fundraising tranches could be combined and that the firm is open to a dual listing on both the Singapore and Hong Kong exchanges.

"The company is already profitable in Vietnam," Freund said. "The money raised would essentially be used to accelerate growth, especially in Asian countries outside of Vietnam."

Mekong Capital, a Vietnam-focused private equity firm, initially invested $15 million in Gene Solutions in 2021 via its $246 million Mekong Enterprise Fund IV and followed up with an additional $21 million in a Series B round in 2023.

Hong Kong and Singapore, with favourable regulatory frameworks, have emerged as leading hubs for biotech listings, providing companies such as Gene Solutions an appealing platform for raising capital to fund expansion across Asia.

Mekong Capital did not disclose Gene Solutions' valuation, but Freund cited Singapore-based MiRXES, a developer of miRNA-based diagnostic tools for early disease detection, as a comparable peer.

MiRXES, which listed in Hong Kong earlier this year and is pursuing a secondary listing in Singapore, reached a market capitalisation of HK$16.4 billion ($2.11 billion) and generated $21.34 million in revenue over the past year, which Freund said is smaller than Gene Solutions.

Asia's IPO market has seen a strong recovery this year, with Hong Kong raising $23 billion in the first nine months of 2025, an annual increase of 226%, according to a report by consulting firm Ernst & Young. The surge has been attributed to regulatory reforms and a rise in dual listings.

Meanwhile, Asia's genetic testing sector is expanding rapidly, bolstered by increasing demand for early cancer detection and personalised medicine.

($1 = 7.7796 Hong Kong dollars)

(Reporting by Phuong Nguyen and Francesco Guarascio in Hanoi and Yantoultra Ngui in Singapore; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

((Phuong.Nguyen@thomsonreuters.com; +84-24-3852-9623;))