appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Julie Zhang

China’s state-backed investors are stepping up funding for artificial intelligence-driven drug developers as Beijing pushes for technological self-reliance, with at least one company already advancing an AI-designed therapy into late-stage clinical trials.
Hangzhou-based METiS TechBio, founded in 2020, raised 400 million yuan (US$57.9 million) in series D financing in August last year, led by the Beijing Medical and Health Industry Investment Fund and the Daxing Industrial Investment Fund – both government-linked vehicles – according to the company’s website.
Using a proprietary AI platform focused on optimising drug delivery, the company has developed MTS-004, an oral treatment for neurological disorders that has completed Phase III trials, making it China’s first AI-designed drug candidate to reach that stage.
The company plans to seek regulatory approval in China this year.
In earlier funding rounds totalling about US$150 million in 2022, METiS attracted a broad mix of domestic investors, including state-linked insurers PICC Capital and China Life Private Equity, as well as venture firm HongShan, formerly known as Sequoia China before splitting from its US parent in 2023.
METiS is also considering a Hong Kong initial public offering that could raise about US$200 million, according to a Bloomberg report published last May.
The recent wave of investment aligns with Beijing’s drive for technology self-sufficiency and efforts to expand a nationwide biotech ecosystem as a new engine of economic growth, according to a November statement from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
Other AI-focused drug discovery firms have also drawn state-linked funding.
Beijing-based DP Technology raised US$114 million in a series C round in December, co-led by Fortune Venture Capital and the Beijing Jingguorui Fund, a municipal government-backed vehicle. Additional investors included the Beijing AI Industry Investment Fund and the Beijing Pharmaceutical and Health Industry Investment Fund.
DP Technology’s AI platforms are used in early-stage drug development, including target validation and molecular optimisation. Several of its candidates, mainly in oncology, are currently in preclinical development.
StoneWise, founded in Beijing in 2018, secured US$100 million in 2021 in a round led by the Greater Bay Area Homeland Development Fund, according to company disclosures.

XtalPi, which became China’s first Hong Kong-listed AI-powered drug discovery company in 2024, counts state-owned insurer China Life Insurance as a 7 per cent shareholder. Baidu-backed BioMap received funding from the Hong Kong Investment Corporation in 2024.
“China’s biotech fundraising cycle has started to recover over the past year, but remains below pre-pandemic levels after hitting a trough in 2022 and 2023, when many drug developers struggled to survive,” said Sun Chuan, managing partner of the Hong Kong and Shanghai offices at law firm Morrison Foerster.
He said a surge in out-licensing deals had helped support firms facing tighter funding conditions.
“China’s biotech industry now has a genuine voice on the global stage,” Sun said. “If investors see strong technology and credible intellectual property, they are willing to channel capital.”
Hangzhou-based MindRank, backed by venture investors including Green Pine Capital and Huagai Capital, has advanced a weight-loss therapy into Phase III trials, becoming China’s first AI-assisted Category 1 new drug to reach that stage.
Marc Horn, president of Merck China, said at the Asian Financial Forum on January 27 that China could approve its first fully AI-designed drug as early as next year.
Despite limited participation so far from global investors, competition in AI-driven drug discovery is increasingly being viewed through a strategic lens. Li Changhong, chief scientific officer at Hua Medicine, said the contest was evolving into a “bio-geopolitical” battleground between China and the US.
“Data sovereignty is the core conflict,” Li said. “High-quality biological data is the fuel for AI. Through measures such as the BioSecure Act, the US is seeking to ring fence genetic data as a strategic asset, similar to semiconductors.”
Global pharmaceutical groups are also building in-house AI platforms to accelerate pipeline development ahead of major patent expiries expected by 2030. In January, Nvidia partnered with Eli Lilly on AI-driven drug discovery tools, while AstraZeneca recently acquired Modella AI to strengthen its oncology capabilities.
Yang Huang, head of China healthcare research at JPMorgan Chase, said he expected “more large pharmaceutical companies to develop internal AI discovery platforms while continuing to keep a close eye on innovative external platforms”.


Chinese robots on the march despite tech war hurdles

For a China on the rise, soft power is vital

China’s EV brands have Europe’s luxury marques in their sights: Zeekr executive

China’s Innovent Biologics signs US$10.5 billion Pfizer deal for 12 cancer drug trials

Made in China 2025

Capital injection: China backs AI drug makers in self-reliance drive

The recent wave of investment in AI drug development aligns with Beijing’s drive for technological self-sufficiency. Photo: Shutterstock

METiS is also considering a Hong Kong initial public offering that could raise about US$200 million. Photo: Sun Yeung

China could approve first fully AI-designed drug next year, Merck executive says

AI will allow drug makers to pick better molecules, make better medicines and improve molecule design, Amgen executive says. Photo: Shutterstock

Drug industry executives take part in a discussion of trends in biomedicine at the Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong on January 27, 2026. Photo: Julie Zhang

Revealed: global funds, from BlackRock to Temasek, back China’s largest biotech firms

Global investors have reaped sizeable rewards from their investments in Hong Kong-listed biotech and pharmaceutical companies in the past year. Photo: Shutterstock

An employee checks a production line of a biotech company in Boxing County, in east China’s Shandong province. Photo: Xinhua

Harbour BioMed stake in US drug developer Spruce shows Chinese firms’ growing clout

Global drug companies no longer view Chinese firms as contract manufacturers, but as development partners, an analyst says. Photo: Shutterstock

Drugs originating from China could account for 35 per cent of approvals by the US Food and Drug Administration by 2040, according to Morgan Stanley. Photo: Handout

China challenges US in AI drug race, but rivals still reliant on each other

Leung Chuen-yan, partner for healthcare investment at Value Partners Group. Photo: Edmond So

Chinese biotech firms are working with global pharmaceutical firms to commercialise their drugs in international markets. Photo: Shutterstock

Business

Banking & Finance

China Business

Companies

Markets

Money

Markets & Investing

Money News

News

China

Money & Wealth

China Future Tech

Biomedicine

Tech

Big Tech

A wave of government-linked investment is boosting Chinese AI drug makers, underscoring Beijing’s drive to build its own biotech ecosystem


A wave of government-linked investment is boosting Chinese AI drug makers, underscoring Beijing’s drive to build its own biotech ecosystem.


Capital injection: China backs AI drug makers in self-reliance drive

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A wave of government-linked investment is boosting Chinese AI drug makers, underscoring Beijing’s drive to build its own biotech ecosystem

A wave of government-linked investment is boosting Chinese AI drug makers, underscoring Beijing’s drive to build its own biotech ecosystem