XtalPi, a China-based developer of life sciences research technology, has completed a $46m extension to its series B round led by China Life Healthcare Fund, a vehicle for insurance firm China Life.
The series B-1 round included trading and technology firm Susquehanna International Group and Yael Capital. The $15m first tranche, closed in January 2018, was led by venture capital firm Sequoia China and included internet group Tencent and internet technology provider Google.
XtalPi has created a software platform that uses technologies such as artificial intelligence and cloud computing to predict the physiochemical and pharmaceutical traits of small-molecule drug candidates.
The extra series B funds will go to strengthening the company’s technology and algorithmic tools as it looks to expand its use into other areas of medicinal research.
Shuhao Wen, XtalPi’s co-founder and chairman, said: “XtalPi has gained approval and endorsement from pharmaceutical clients as we continue to help them cut cost, time and risk in pharmaceutical research.
“For the next step, we want to open our base solution platform to support other developers of drug research and development algorithms. Through this, we will help global pharmaceutical companies connect with a wide range of the latest AI research tools in an easily accessible way, and thereby further improve the efficiency of drug discovery and development.”
Social network operator Renren reportedly invested $310,000 in the company in 2015, before XtalPi added $5m in a series A round led by Tencent later the same year. Its earlier backers also include ZhenFund and Frees Fund.
