News & Events

Over 300 times of financing from more than 600 investors raised more than 7.4 billion dollars: in the latest CB Insights AI100 list in 2020, the world’s top 100 AI start-ups have made achievements. As one of the most authoritative lists in the global AI field, CB Insights has selected the 100 most promising AI start-ups in the world in 2020. It is also the fourth consecutive AI100 list released by CB Insights. A total of 8 Canadian enterprises have been selected, including 2 Canadian enterprises in the medical and health field. Cyclica, a Canadian biotechnology company invested by China Canada Angel Alliance (CCAA for short) managed by Zhongguancun Dahe Capital, became one of the two successful Canadian medical and health enterprises.

Figure | CB Insights Releases the 2020 AI 100 Global Entrepreneurship List (Image Source: CB Insights)

According to CB Insights, this AI100 list is selected by the research team from nearly 5000 start-ups (non listed companies that have been established for less than 10 years). Specific evaluation criteria include patent layout, investment and financing overview, Mosaic algorithm independently developed by CB Insights, market potential, media attention, partnership, competition pattern, team strength and technological novelty, and public technical achievements in the last year.

It is understood that the AI 100 finalists come from 13 countries, and they are jointly promoting the boundaries of AI research and business applications, covering 15 industries and cross industry applications. The 100 selected enterprises are at different stages of development, and have raised more than 7.4 billion US dollars from more than 600 investors in more than 300 times of financing.

As one of the two Canadian medical and health enterprises successfully selected, Cyclica is committed to using biophysics and artificial intelligence (AI) to help the pharmaceutical industry carry out faster, safer and lower cost drug research and development. It is the first biological company to use a structure based AI platform to conduct multiple pharmacological research.

The company has gathered a world top team with profound industry experience, and strengthened cooperation with world leading enterprises through innovative cooperation mode. Up to now, Cyclica has established cooperation with well-known research institutions and pharmaceutical enterprises in North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, South America and other places, and has been publicized to the public, including WuXi AppTec, Yuhan Pharmaceutical of South Korea, Eurofarma of Brazil, Bayer, Merck of Germany, etc., and has been highly recognized by its partners.

As a typical representative of overseas projects related to the Chinese market invested by CCAA, with the promotion of Zhongguancun Dahe Capital, Cyclica carried out international cooperation with the Institute of Materia Medica of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences at the beginning of this year to jointly promote the drug screening process of COVID-19 and become a typical example of international collaborative epidemic resistance. At the same time, the enterprise completed the round B financing of 23 million Canadian dollars in June this year, which confirmed the strength of Cyclica.

The successful inclusion in the annual AI100 global list of CB Insights is another witness to the strength of Cyclica. In the future, the company will carry out drug discovery more quickly and effectively through its advantages and innovative business model in the field of artificial intelligence and protein biophysics.