AI-based Biotech Company Silexon Completes $1.4M Pre-A Financing

Nanjing Silexon Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. ("Silexon") has got tens of millions yuan (US＄1.4 million) in its Pre-A round of financing, led by MSA Capital, with participation from Turing Venture, Prosperico Venture, and Ascendin Fund. Proceeds of this financing will be used to further optimize and enhance the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithm technology platform in the development of new drugs, expand strategic cooperation, accelerate undergoing projects, and strengthen the construction of technical teams.

Founded in September 2018, Silexon is an AI-based biotechnology company, using artificial intelligence algorithms to discover disease targets and new indications for drugs, improve the efficiency of new drug screening, and accelerate the production of large molecules. 

The last round of funding came from the Turing Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, which is an incubator for artificial intelligence projects formed by Yao Qizhi, the only Chinese winner of the Turing Award. Regarding the financing of Silexon, Yao Qizhi said: "Professor Zeng Jianyang, the founder of Silexon, is one of the most outstanding young scientists who combine artificial intelligence with new drug development. It can be expected that Silexon will become a leading company in the biopharmaceutical industry."

The team of Silexon has nearly 20 people, and its members basically have cross-disciplinary backgrounds such as biology, pharmaceuticals, and artificial intelligence. Currently, Silexon plans to enter the field of drug research and development with "drug redirection" and "virtual high-throughput screening" as priority points.

The early research and development achievements of Silexon has been transformed into a toolbox, which can design personalized solutions for the specific needs of different drug development scenarios, deal with research and development problems by machine learning technology, and build machine learning models on the deep biological background to making them more effective.

Backing China's Leading Entrepreneurs, MSA Capital is a venture fund with over US$1 billion under management, focused on investing in AI, genomics, mobility, and SaaS companies.

Turing Capital is an early-stage venture capital fund founded by Dr. Zhong Xiaolin, a veteran of China's venture capital industry, focusing on early investment and incubation business in emerging technology fields such as AI, robotics, blockchain, intelligent financial technology, and AR/VR.