China Bridge Capital, a financial services firm closely linked to adventurous Chinese Internet company LeEco, has invested RMB300 million (US$45 million) in artificial intelligence-enabled health data mining start-up iCarbonX.
Alongside the strategic investment, China Bridge Capital says it plans to establish a special purpose investment fund targeting RMB10 billion (US$1.5 billion) to acquire precision healthcare assets, an area iCarbonX is expanding into.
Established by the former chief executive of genome sequencing giant Beijing Genomic Institute (BGI) Wang Jun in October 2015, iCarbonX completed a RMB1 billion (US$155 million) series A round led by Tencent Holdings Ltd. in April at a whopping valuation of RMB6.5 billion (US$1 billion) for a six-month-old start-up.
In January, Shanghai-listed cell and gene engineering firm Vcanbio Cell & Gene Engineering Corporation, Ltd. disclosed in a filing that it was investing RMB100 million (US$15 million) as part of the start-up's funding round.
Similar to LeEco, which has made big moves into smart cars, smartphones, virtual reality, films and sports in the past few years, iCarbonX has ambitious plans.
It aims to establish a healthcare related big data platform, then use artificial intelligence to mine the data in order to allow individuals to better manage their health.
The company's founder Wang Jun disclosed a few months ago in an article that iCarbonX's first commercial product would be in personalized cosmetics and skincare products.
"We favor the healthcare sector and the leading biotech and artificial intelligence team led by Wang Jun," says Zeng Qiang, founder of China Bridge Capital. "We are also optimistic about iCarbonX's synergy with Tencent on users, big data and cloud computing."
China Bridge Capital, a newly established financial services firm providing financial advisory, private equity, real estate and Internet finance services, led a RMB300 million (US$46 million) round in LeVR, an virtual reality (VR) affiliate of LeEco, last month.
Before that in October 2015, LeEco's founder Jia Yueting sold 100 million of his own LeEco shares to China Bridge Capital, which acquired a 5.39% stake in the Shenzhen-listed company.
In March, China Bridge Capital teamed up with several financial institutions to invest RMB1 billion in LeTV's cloud computing unit, and to jointly establish a RMB10 billion M&A fund with LeEco.
The investment firm's management team include founder Zeng Qiang, who established a Chinese e-commerce firm in the 1990s, and a former executive at Continental Capital.