Tencent, Google-backed AI pharma startup secures $400m in series D round

AI pharmaceutical company XtalPi secured US$400 million in a series D financing round led by OrbiMed and Hopu Investment. Investors including Sequoia Capital, Sino Biopharmecutical, and 5Y Capital also participated in the deal.

Photo credit: XtalPi

The new funds come less than a year after XtalPi raised US$300 million in a series C round, bringing its valuation to over 13 billion yuan (US$2 billion).

XtalPi uses computational physics, quantum chemistry, and cloud computing to provide smart drug development for pharmaceutical companies. The company’s ID4 (Intelligent Digital Drug Discovery and Development) platform can accurately predict the important characteristics for new drugs by measuring various chemical indicators, enhancing drug research and development efficiency.

ID4 has enabled hundreds of pharmaceutical companies to accelerate their research pipelines, leading to dozens of new discoveries, according to XtalPi.

The startup has partnered with a number of major pharmaceutical companies in China. Its AI technology encompasses machine learning, deep learning, and natural language processing to improve drug development outcomes and drive clinical research. Advances in computing power have enabled AI algorithms to discover new drugs more effectively than human researchers and reduce risk.

“Due to increases in computing power, traditional drug discovery methods have been subverted. In the future, AI pharmaceutical companies have the opportunity to become giants like water or power companies, and create immense social value,” an investor said, adding that XtalPi is well placed to explore a number of verticals within drug development.

The company has the support of some of the biggest players in tech, counting Google, Tencent, and SoftBank as investors.

Currency converted from Chinese yuan to US dollar: US$1 = 6.48 yuan

This report was first published on KrAsia.

Update (September 2, 4:01 p.m.): Clarified that Hopu Investment co-led the financing round with OrbiMed, not RRJ.