ByteDance’s spun-off AI drug unit raises $290 million at a $1.5 billion valuation

Shanghai’s Anew Labs closed its first external round after leaving the TikTok parent, led by HSG, IDG, and Hillhouse, people familiar with the deal told Reuters.

This is a corporate-structure story as much as a biotech one. ByteDance is isolating an AI drug shop so it can take outside capital and a biotech valuation without dragging the whole consumer-internet balance sheet into a clinic timeline.

AI drug discovery has already been through a hype cycle. A $1.5 billion post-spin check does not prove a molecule. It does prove that large Chinese platform companies still want a biotech option, and that dollar-named growth funds are still writing those checks in 2026.

For operators, the tell is the spin: when a platform carves out a lab, it is usually because the lab’s capital needs, talent market, and regulatory clock no longer match the parent.

ByteDance has completed a $290 million fundraise for Anew Labs, the AI drug-discovery company it spun out of the group, two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

The Shanghai company is now valued at $1.5 billion after that inaugural external round. HSG (formerly Sequoia China), IDG Capital, and Hillhouse led the financing.