Hong Kong-headquartered Value Partners Group has announced a plan to establish a yuan-denominated corporate venture capital (CVC) fund focused on artificial intelligence and life sciences.

Value Partners, which was a lead investor in biotechnology firm Insilico Medicine’s Series E financing round, is partnering with Insilico alongside Shanghai Pudong Development and Shanghai Pudong Construction to establish the fund.

Value Partners Private Equity Investment (Shenzhen), the firm’s onshore licensed private fund manager, will act as the fund’s general partner and fund manager.

The firms said they plan to integrate industrial capital and focus on collaborative industrial investments across the “AI + Life Sciences” ecosystem.

Chuen Yan Leung, PhD, partner, private investments, Value Partners Group, said: “Artificial intelligence is transforming the way scientific discoveries are made.”

“The opportunities unlocked by AI for Science (AI4S) extend far beyond the boundaries of any single industry, and life sciences stands out as one of the fields with the highest data density, the most complete validation cycles, and the clearest path to commercialization.”

Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, founder, co-chief executive officer and chief business officer of Insilico Medicine, said: “Since its founding, Insilico Medicine has built a global operating network and accumulated exploratory experience and practical achievements across multiple AI-enabled life sciences verticals, including small-molecule drugs, biologics, longevity technology, chemistry, brain-computer interfaces (BCI), agriculture, energy and sustainability.”

“Each of these fields holds enormous growth potential and could give rise to the next multi-billion-dollar industry opportunity within AI4S. With the launch of this fund as a starting point, we are initiating a series of incubation and acceleration mechanisms.”

Li Junlan, party committee secretary and chairperson of Pudong Development Group, said he hopes the collaboration will help build a globally influential AI and Life Sciences industrial cluster in Pudong.