ByteDance Spins Off AI Drug Discovery Division, Targets $10 Billion Valuation with $200 Million Series A Round in Shanghai

ME AI News, according to monitoring by Beating, ByteDance’s AI-driven drug discovery division has initiated its spin-off and independent fundraising. The new company is valued at approximately $1 billion, with its first round of financing nearing $200 million and set to be headquartered in Shanghai. Following the spin-off, ByteDance will retain controlling ownership of the new entity. The core AI drug discovery team, key algorithms, technology platforms, and existing early-stage drug pipeline assets will be fully transferred to the new company. The new entity is led by ByteDance’s AI drug discovery team, established in 2021, with Liu Kai, former Managing Director of Huoshan Stone Investment, at the helm. Liu Kai leads a 50-person team distributed across Shanghai, Singapore, and San Jose, USA. To align with the rhythms of biotech R&D, the company has assembled an elite Scientific Advisory Board, including industry experts such as Liu Yongjun, former President of Innovent Biologics, and Ji Ma, former Chief Scientist at Amgen, covering the full spectrum from target validation to clinical development. On the technology front, the team released the molecular structure prediction models Protenix and Seedfold in 2025, iterated them to Protenix-v1/v2 in 2026, and launched the protein binder design tool PXDesign. During drug pipeline validation, the team built the AI drug discovery platform Anew Labs and disclosed at the 2026 Annual Meeting of the American Association of Immunologists its IL-17 small-molecule project—the first globally successful demonstration of using a small molecule to block all three dimers (AA/AF/FF) of the IL-17 family. Post-spin-off, the new company will enjoy greater operational flexibility to better attract top talent and advance R&D at a pace aligned with biotech industry norms. After the spin-off, the new company will continue to receive underlying computing power support from Volcano Engine. The lead investors for the first financing round have not yet been finalized, but several existing ByteDance shareholders and leading U.S.-based venture funds in China are already in discussions. (Source: MLion)