Anew Labs
Also known as ByteDance AI drug discovery team
ByteDance's former AI drug-discovery team, spun out in 2026: structure, affinity and design models plus its own antibody, small-molecule and peptide programs.
Money and evidence
Latest round, First outside round, 2026-09-16: the record then held 2 research entries, highest level 4. The first research entry is dated 2026-03-15; the highest level so far is 4 (Tested in the physical world).
Rounds and research, on one timeline
- 2026-09-17Research
Level 4 · Tested in the physical world
Anew Labs publishes an agentic drug discovery engine with a wet-lab-validated antibody campaign
The loop ran twice: first-round SPR data guided the optimization that produced these clones. But it is one undisclosed target, and SPR measures binding, not function.
- 2026-09-16First outside roundRound
$290M$1.5B post · stated by Reuters via The Next Web
For: first independent round after the spin-out; team, algorithms and pipeline moved into the new company
Models and platformHiring
Sources call it the first outside round, not a lettered series; ByteDance keeps about 56%. The company's own site has not announced the round.
Co-lead · HSG (formerly Sequoia China)Co-lead · IDG CapitalCo-lead · Hillhouse5Y Capital (co-lead)Gaorong VenturesPrimavera Venture PartnersBoyu CapitalShanghai Future Industry FundSino Biopharmaceutical (SBP Group, strategic)
By this date the record held 2 research entries, highest level 4
Reported by Reuters via The Next Web · thenextweb.com ↗On the timeline →
- 2026-04-16Research
Level 4 · Tested in the physical world
Anew Labs presents AI-designed oral small molecules against all three IL-17 dimers
IL-17 blockade is an injectable-antibody market; what is new is a small molecule reaching the F/F dimer. This is conference data: no paper, no structure, no dose.
- 2026-03-15Research
Level 4 · Tested in the physical world
One model from Anew Labs and Tsinghua designs small molecules, peptides and nanobodies against a KRAS pocket, and peptides and small molecules against PCSK9
Design tools are usually built one per modality: a model for small molecules, another for peptides, another for antibodies. Here one model covers all three on the same pocket, and the designs went to assay a few dozen at a time rather than through a modality-specific screen. The co-crystal is the firmest part: the pose the model drew for a PCSK9 compound sits 0.92 angstrom from the measured structure, so the model put the molecule in roughly the place it actually binds.
Research entries are the timeline's graded entries that name this company. A level grades one claim, not the company, and a blank can mean the record has not caught up rather than that nothing was published.
Its investors also backed
Other companies on this page whose rounds name the same investor.
- HSG (Sequoia China)MoleculeMind, METiS TechBio, Insilico Medicine
- 5Y CapitalMETiS TechBio, Helixon (Earendil Labs)
- Gaorong VenturesBioGeometry, Helixon (Earendil Labs)
- Shanghai Future Industry FundRhinovate