China-headquartered artificial intelligence (AI)-powered drug developer XtalPi received nearly $319m in a series C round today co-led by telecoms group SoftBank, insurer PICC Group and VC firm Morningside Venture Capital, according to DealStreetAsia.
SoftBank and PICC Group participated through respective investment units Vision Fund 2 and PICC Capital.
Internet group Tencent, quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group (SIG)’s local outfit SIG China and insurance provider China Life Insurance’s investment arm China Life Private Equity Investment also contributed to the round.
CICC Capital, a unit of investment bank China International Capital Corporation, financial services firm Mirae Asset and an unnamed fund of financial services firm China Merchants Bank’s CMB International, CITIC Capital, Shunwei Capital, Oceanpine Capital, Foursquare Capital, IMO Ventures and undisclosed backers filled out the round.
Founded in 2014, XtalPi exploits AI and cloud computing technologies to facilitate therapy development by predicting the physicochemical and pharmaceutical properties of small-molecule drug candidates. The money will drive further platform development.
XtalPi obtained $46m in series B1 financing in late 2018 led by China Life’s vehicle China Life Healthcare Fund, with contributions from SIG and Yael Capital. It had raised a $15m series B round in early 2018 co-led by Sequoia, with participation from Tencent and internet technology producer Google.
Tencent led a $5m series A round in 2015, after social media company Renren had injected $310,000 in seed funding earlier the same year. XtalPi’s early backers also include ZhenFund and Frees Fund.
