ByteDance completed a $290 million first external funding round for Anew Labs, its newly spun-off Shanghai-based AI drug-discovery unit, valuing the business at $1.5 billion. The round was led by HSG (formerly Sequoia China) and IDG Capital, with Hillhouse Investment, 5Y Capital, and several other China-focused funds also participating; ByteDance retains a 56% stake. Anew Labs has developed structure-prediction and protein-design models such as Protenix and PXDesign and is working on early drug candidates, though the spin-off gives it independent management separate from ByteDance’s core businesses.
