MindRank AI Closes $45 Million Angel Round of Financing

(VCBeat) May. 21, 2021 -- Recently, Hangzhou-based MindRank AI, a startup focused on AI-powered new drug development, has announced an angel round of $45 million led by Sherpa Medical Fund. Proceeds from this round will be used for team building, business expansion, and pipeline development.

The team and technology of MindRank AI originated from the global AI pharmaceutical center in London, UK. Currently, three of the top 10 international AI pharmaceutical companies are based in London, and the MindRank AI team also includes members from these companies. As early as 2018, the team has started technology research and development, improving and proving the capability of its self-developed platform. In November 2020, the team returned to China and established MindRank AI in Hangzhou, hoping to bring the mature one-stop AI drug research and development technology and development mode back to China, so as to quickly start the commercialization cooperation and pipeline development based on the platform.

MindRank AI has a one-stop AI-driven drug discovery platform -- PharmKG^TM and Molecule Pro^TM, a drug design platform. Within a few months of its establishment, the company has carried out commercial cooperation with a number of listed pharmaceutical companies and has been recognized. Niu Zhangming, the founder, said, "In the past three years, we have completed the technology verification and published many top international academic papers. Currently, MindRank AI focuses on pipeline development and business expansion, and the technology has been recognized by many domestic and foreign pharmaceutical companies and institutions." In a paper published earlier this year by AstraZeneca's computational chemistry team, the PharMKG^TM is one of the world's top five knowledge maps for drug discovery.

Dr. Cai Daqing, the founding managing partner of Sherpa Venture Capital, said, "In this new segment, we are optimistic about MindRank AI's original AI technology, a solid understanding of biology and pharmacology, as well as their reverence for the application of AI in drug development. This area is not a simple model innovation but requires a lot of patience, creativity and execution. I believe that the MindRank AI team can tap into the treasure under the iceberg of 'AI+ new drugs' and make a great contribution to innovative therapies. "