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| WuXi PharmaTech CEO Ge Li |
The venture capital unit of China's WuXi PharmaTech said it has raised $290 million for a investment fund, which topped its initial target of $200 million and means WuXi Healthcare Ventures has now raised a total of more than $350 million that it plans to use to continue its "find in U.S. and build in China" expansion plans.
WuXi Healthcare Ventures has used previous investments to invest in companies like Juno Therapeutics ($JUNO), Agios Pharmaceuticals ($AGIO), Foundation Medicine ($FMI), Callidus Biopharma, Novira Therapeutics, Twist Biosciences, Hua Medicine, and Adagene, according to a company press release.
"China and the United States are the two largest and most dynamic healthcare markets in the world," Wei Li, managing partner of the new fund, said in the company's release. "The cross-border nature of our investment strategy and our appetite for early-stage innovation and entrepreneurship have aligned us well with the macro-trends in both countries."
The venture fund has offices in Shanghai and Boston and is focused on cross-border deals in life sciences. It tries to discover advanced technologies in the U.S. and conduct research and development in China.
"As the anchor investor and sponsor of this new fund, WuXi PharmaTech is excited about the vast opportunity ahead of us," Ge Li, chairman and CEO of WuXi PharmaTech, said in the company's release.
"This new fund will further advance our core mission of helping entrepreneurs in the global life sciences industry to realize their dreams of developing innovative products and services to benefit the world's patients."
The latest fundraising comes after WuXi PharmaTech went private in a $3.3 billion deal that management hopes will allow it make broader deals without the pressure of moving them to the public market in a rush.
- here's the release
- here's the story from China Money Network