ByteDance spin-off Anew Labs raises $290M as Zhipu AI secures $5B

ByteDance has spun off its AI drug discovery unit, Anew Labs, which secured $290 million in its first round of external financing, bringing its valuation to $1.5 billion. ByteDance maintains a 56% controlling stake in the new entity. Anew Labs, which operates in Shanghai, San Jose, and Singapore, focuses on integrating AI capabilities like molecular modeling and structural prediction with drug development pipelines, including candidates such as IL-17 and IL-4R.

Separately, Zhipu AI has announced a financing round of approximately $5 billion, consisting of $2 billion in share sales and $3 billion in convertible bonds. The company intends to use these funds to support model R&D and expand its computing power infrastructure. Zhipu has demonstrated rapid iteration of its GLM model series and reported significant revenue growth in its open platform and API business during the first half of the year.