ByteDance’s drug discovery arm now stands alone and carries a $1.5B valuation, after a $290M first external round closed for Shanghai-based Anew Labs.
HSG, the firm formerly known as Sequoia China, IDG Capital and Hillhouse Investment led the round, with 5Y Capital co-leading, according to people familiar with the matter. Gaorong Ventures, Primavera Venture Partners, Boyu Capital, strategic investor SBP Group and the state-backed Shanghai Future Industries Fund also joined. ByteDance and the investors declined to comment.
The Chinese group keeps a 56% stake after the raise. People close to the deal said the drugmaking unit was separated because AI drug discovery runs on different industry logic and management than ByteDance’s core internet operations.
It ranks among the largest first external rounds for a Chinese AI biotech, and it lands as state funds and private investors in China push capital into AI-for-science work. Anew Labs enters a crowded global field where labs in the United States, Europe and China are all betting that models can shorten the search for candidate molecules.
The spin-out also gives ByteDance a route to outside capital for a long-horizon, capital-hungry business without carrying the cost inside an internet company’s profit and loss.
