ByteDance spin-off Anew Labs raises US$290m as AI drug developers enjoy fundraising boom
China is seeing a fresh fundraising boom for AI drug developers, with start-ups including a ByteDance spin-off raising hundreds of millions of dollars this week as investors rush to back domestic challengers to Anthropic and Isomorphic Labs. Anew Labs, a Shanghai-based AI drug discovery firm that was formerly a unit of Chinese tech giant ByteDance, has raised US$290 million at a valuation of…
ByteDance spin-off Anew Labs has raised $290 million in a US$1.5 billion valuation, marking a fresh fundraising boom for AI drug developers in China. The Shanghai-based firm, which was formerly a unit of ByteDance, operates AI models for biomolecular structure prediction and design, including its foundation model AnewFold and open-source AlphaFold 3 reproduction Protenix.
With four drugs in development, including an oral small-molecule drug for immunological diseases, Anew Labs maintains a 56% stake in the company. Prominent venture capital firms such as HSG, IDG Capital, and 5Y Capital participated in the funding round. The Chinese AI drug discovery sector is experiencing rapid growth, with companies like Novo partnering with Anthropic to accelerate drug development using AI.
Written by urgent.news from South China Morning Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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