ByteDance spins out AI drug startup AnewLabs with $290M raise at $1.5B valuation
创业邦 · wechat · 2026-09-18
ByteDance has spun out its five-year-old AI drug discovery team as AnewLabs, which closed a $290M first external round at a $1.5B post-money valuation, led by HSG (Sequoia China), IDG Capital, and Hillhouse, with ByteDance retaining 56% control. The core team of 50 was formed in 2021 by Liu Kai.
Key points:
- Platform: AnewFold (protein/complex structure prediction), AnewSampling (molecular dynamics), AnewOmni (all-atom modeling), AnewDesign (antibody design), and AnewMind (LLM scientific reasoning), built on ByteDance Seed's open-sourced Protenix.
- Pipeline: Four disclosed programs; the most advanced is AN-5162, a preclinical small molecule hitting IL-17AA/AF/FF simultaneously, unveiled at the AAI meeting in April, with IND filing planned.
- Rationale: Drug timelines clash with ByteDance's internet-style iteration cadence; the carve-out mirrors DeepMind's Isomorphic Labs spinout (which raised $2.1B in May 2026).
- Competitive landscape: Insilico Medicine's Rentosertib is in Phase III; XtalPi grew 2025 revenue 201.2% to RMB 803M and turned profitable; BioMap runs a foundation-model-to-experiment route. The real test for AnewLabs is converting model capability into validated drug assets.
Related event: ByteDance Spins Off AI Drug Discovery Unit Anew Labs with $290M Raise(3 posts)→
More from Venture
- Anthropic targets $1.5-2T IPO that could mint employee millionaires — but asks candidates what if stock hits zero — ArtificialOther · 2026-11-02
- Indie Dev's Founder Lifts Leaderboard Hits 101K Impressions After 2-Hour Build — denisyurchak · 2026-11-02
- Post Bridge Loses 20% of Customers Monthly; Founders Workshop the ICP Narrowing Dilemma Live — tibo_maker · 2026-11-02
- Enterprise AI's real game: getting companies to spend far more, not less — inductionheads · 2026-11-02
- Marvell and Lumentum to merge, targeting $550B AI connectivity market — BenBajarin · 2026-11-02
- OpenAI has raised less than half of its $30B target in latest funding round, WSJ reports — pstAsiatech · 2026-11-02