Redesign Science Secures $15 Million in Funding to Advance Structure-Based Computational Drug Discovery

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) has learned at the earliest opportunity thatPlatform-based drug development company Redesign Science announced today the completion of two consecutive funding rounds totaling $15 million.

The initial $5 million financing round was led by Collaborative Fund, with participation from Preface Venture, Acequia Capital, Hawktail, and existing investor 5Y Capital. The subsequent $10 million add-on round was led by Cathay Capital, with participation from ZhenFund and investors from the previous round. Life Capital facilitated the successful completion of the financing.

The funds from this round of financing will be primarily used to continue advancing the integrated innovation of statistical physics, computational science, and biotechnology in the field of drug development targeting dynamic protein targets.Furthermore, the company will expand Redesign’s cloud computing framework and apply it to the research and development of multiple new targets. Moving forward, Redesign will continue to drive collaborative development with other biotechnology companies as well as advance its internal pipeline.

Redesign Science, founded in 2017, is a biocomputing and innovative drug R&D enterprise. The company’s mission is to apply cutting-edge protein dynamics simulation technologies to precise structure prediction, thereby expanding the boundaries of drug development. Redesign Science boasts the world’s leading molecular dynamics team for new drug research and development.

Redesign Science’s computational platform leverages cutting-edge technologies, including long-timescale molecular dynamics simulations, statistical physics, and machine learning, to facilitate drug discovery for protein targets with limited data availability, such as novel and hard-to-drug targets.Leveraging this computational platform, the company has successfully identified hit compounds across multiple therapeutic areas, including precision oncology and inflammatory bowel disease.

Traditional drug development is facing numerous challenges, including high capital requirements, lengthy timelines, and elevated costs. The pace of new drug development lags far behind the rate at which novel drug targets are discovered, significantly limiting the potential for developing a diverse range of innovative therapies. In response to this,Redesign Science has established a comprehensive framework for virtual drug design and screening to evaluate the druggability of novel pockets on protein targets.

Founder Li Haotian stated:“To meet the demands for rapid virtual screening and scientific discovery, we have reimagined a new underlying computational architecture and foundational algorithms.”

Co-founder David Rooklin stated:“Our core understanding of proteins lies in the fact that multi-dimensional physical simulations can help us discover unique protein conformations that are undetectable through traditional experimental methods, thereby providing novel opportunities for innovative drug development.”

Collaborative Fund, established in 2010, is a venture capital firm primarily focused on two macro themes: the creative class and the collaborative economy.

Acequia Capital is dedicated to advising early-stage founders and teams who are passionate about and believe in the power of software development to create business value.

Yuan Capital is one of the earliest institutions in China to engage in early-stage venture capital investment. Its limited partners include internationally renowned sovereign wealth funds, family offices, funds of funds, and university endowments. Its portfolio companies include Sohu, Ctrip, YY, Xunlei, and Xiaomi.

Hangzhou Kaitai Capital Management Co., Ltd., established in 2009, is a professional venture capital management firm primarily engaged in innovation investment, industrial investment, and wealth management. Its investment sectors encompass biopharmaceuticals and healthcare services, biomedicine and precision medicine, biotechnology and precision agriculture, community-based models and innovative consumption, as well as information technology and digital science. Currently, the total assets under management by Kaitai Capital amount to RMB 50 billion.

ZhenFund is an early-stage investment firm co-founded by Mr. Xu Xiaoping and Mr. Wang Qiang in partnership with Sequoia Capital China in 2011, with total assets under management exceeding $1 billion. Since its inception, ZhenFund has been actively seeking out the most exceptional entrepreneurial teams and epoch-defining investment opportunities in sectors such as the internet, mobile internet, future technologies, artificial intelligence, enterprise services, healthcare, mass consumer goods, and education.

Life Capital specializes in investment banking services, providing financial advisory solutions to life science and broad healthcare enterprises in China. Guided by its mission to “empower leaders in the health industry,” the firm has long delivered comprehensive capital solutions to healthcare clients, including private equity financing, mergers and acquisitions, and restructuring. Since 2017, the team has completed dozens of financial advisory and M&A transactions in the healthcare sector, with a cumulative value reaching tens of billions of RMB.