Investors have put $290M into Anew Labs, the drug discovery arm ByteDance spun out this summer. The deal values the young company near $1.5B.
Anew took shape inside ByteDance five years ago under Liu Kai, who ran AI for life sciences there. The June spinout carried the algorithms, platforms and pipeline with it. ByteDance kept roughly a 56% stake and still supplies compute.
HSG, IDG Capital and Hillhouse Investment led the round, Reuters reported.
Three models and a pipeline
The toolkit spans three areas. AnewFold handles protein and molecular complex structures. AnewDesign covers antibody engineering. AnewMind acts as a reasoning assistant for discovery calls.
Its most advanced disclosed program targets IL-17F, an inflammatory driver that has long resisted small molecules. Anew researchers described the work in Boston in April, reporting orally available pan-IL-17 inhibitors designed with the company’s generative platform. That project has reached lead optimization, alongside undisclosed targets.
Why it matters
Anew keeps a core team of 36 across Shanghai, Singapore and San Jose. China’s AI biotech sector has drawn heavy venture interest this year, and ByteDance funding a spinout while shrinking its own stake offers a template other Chinese technology giants may copy.
