US-based drug discovery platform developer Metis Therapeutics announced $150m in funding on Wednesday across two rounds co-led by insurers China Life Insurance and People’s Insurance Company of China.
Sequoia Capial China, 5Y Capital, CMB International, Lightspeed China Partners, Monolith and FreesFund also took part in the rounds. The lead investors were represented by China Life Private Equity Investment and PICC Capital respectively.
Metis is developing an artificial intelligence (AI) and data-driven software platform that helps users carry out molecular dynamics simulations in the therapy discovery process. It is headquartered in Boston, in the United States, and has operations in Chinese cities of Beijing and Hangzhou.
Chris Lai, co-founder and chief executive of Metis, said: “We are proud to be able to work with both domestic and international partners.
“We are also proud to establish friendly partnerships with large pharmaceutical groups and academia at home and abroad to jointly apply more excellent technologies to small molecule and nucleic acid drug development, and jointly advance better drugs to the clinic for the benefit of patients.” (Translated from Chinese by Global Corporate Venturing)
Metis emerged from stealth in December 2021 when it revealed an $86m series A round co-led by China Life and PICC PE that also featured Sequoia Capital China, Lightspeed, 5Y Capital, Frees Fund and CMB International Capital Corporation’s CMBI Zhaoxin Wuji Fund.
The startup had secured in excess of RMB100m ($15.7m) through an angel round led by Sequoia China and a pre-series A led by Lightspeed China in late 2020. It was initially incubated by XtalPi, an AI drug discovery group sponsored by internet and telecommunications firm SoftBank.
