Sequoia leads Series B for China's Deep Intelligent Pharma

The China and US-based company was founded in 2017 by CEO Xing Li, who previously spent 11 years working on new drug development for the likes of Pfizer, Sanofi, and Johnson & Johnson. It runs a project management platform that enables pharmaceutical companies to move through the drug development process, from basic medical research to marketing, with greater efficiency.

Services cover risk management, quality control, tabulated data analysis, document reviews, regulatory advice, and automated medical writing and translation services using AI-enabled writing tools.

The company has offices in Beijing and Boston that focus on R&D. Its major target markets are China, North American and Japan, with global expansion expected to come at a later stage. DIP currently has more than 50 clients ranging from multinational pharmaceutical companies to top Chinese drug makers to start-ups. ZhenFund provided the company’s pre-Series A and Series A rounds.

PE and VC interest in AI-enabled healthcare services has grown in recent years. For example, Sequoia and ZhenFund are both investors in XtalPi, a Chinese start-up that uses AI to predict characteristics of small-molecule drugs, thereby providing time-saving insights into the safety, stability, and efficacy of drug candidates. Other activity has focused on AI-based medical imaging to speed up diagnosis. VC-backed Huiyi Huiying, Beijing Infervision, and 12 Sigma are specialists in this area.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Healthcare
• Technology
• Early-stage
• China
• Sequoia Capital
• ZhenFund