ByteDance spin-off Anew Labs raises US$290m for AI drug discovery models
核心洞察
Shanghai-based Anew Labs (搜索), a former ByteDance (搜索) unit, has raised US$290 million at a valuation of US$1.5 billion, according to an informed source.
Investors in the round included HSG (搜索), formerly Sequoia China, IDG Capital (搜索) and 5Y Capital (搜索), with ByteDance (搜索) retaining a 56 per cent stake.
Anew Labs (搜索) develops AI models for biomolecular structure prediction and design, including its in-house AnewFold (搜索) foundation model and the open-source Protenix (搜索).
Anew Labs (搜索), a Shanghai-based artificial intelligence drug discovery company and former unit of ByteDance (搜索), has raised US$290 million at a valuation of US$1.5 billion, according to an informed source. The financing places the company among a wave of Chinese AI drug developers attracting hundreds of millions of dollars this week.
Investors in the round included venture capital firms HSG (搜索), formerly Sequoia China, IDG Capital (搜索) and 5Y Capital (搜索), the source said. ByteDance (搜索), the Chinese technology group from which Anew Labs (搜索) was spun off, maintains a 56 per cent stake in the company. Anew Labs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Computational platform
Anew Labs (搜索) operates a range of AI models for biomolecular structure prediction and design. These include AnewFold (搜索), its in-house foundation model, and Protenix (搜索), an open-source reproduction of AlphaFold 3 (搜索), described as the most advanced biomolecular prediction AI model from Google DeepMind (搜索) and its Isomorphic Labs (搜索) spin-off.
The company's model portfolio positions it in the same technical territory as international AI biology groups, with Protenix (搜索) offering an open-source route to AlphaFold 3 (搜索)-class structure prediction.
A domestic challenger wave
The financing is part of a fresh fundraising boom for AI-powered drug developers in China, with start-ups raising hundreds of millions of dollars as investors back domestic challengers to Anthropic (搜索) and Isomorphic Labs (搜索). The scale of the Anew Labs (搜索) round, at a US$1.5 billion valuation, indicates continued investor appetite for computational approaches to drug discovery in the Chinese market.