WuXi Healthcare Ventures

WuXi Healthcare Ventures was founded in 2011 as the corporate venture arm of WuXi PharmaTech, now WuXi AppTec, the China-based contract research and manufacturing giant. The firm was headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts with a second office in Shanghai, China, and ran an explicit cross-border 'find in U.S. and build in China' strategy, identifying promising life sciences companies in the US and supporting their development with access to the China market and WuXi's R&D platform, generally as a co-investor. WuXi Healthcare Ventures II, L.P. closed in December 2015 at $290 million, exceeding its $250M target. Founding leadership included Dr. Ge Li, founder of WuXi PharmaTech, and Edward Hu, CFO/CIO of WuXi AppTec, as non-operating partners, and operating partners including Managing Partner Wei Li. The portfolio spanned both US biotechs and emerging Chinese drug developers, including Twist Bioscience, Unity Biotechnology, Ideaya Bioscience, Syros Pharmaceuticals, CStone Pharmaceuticals, Hua Medicine, Antengene Corporation, Refuge Biotechnologies, XW Laboratories, LifeMine Therapeutics, Vivace Therapeutics and Forerunner Medical. The firm exited several landmark companies including Agios Pharmaceuticals in cancer metabolism, Foundation Medicine, later acquired by Roche, and Juno Therapeutics, later acquired by Celgene. On May 18, 2017, WuXi Healthcare Ventures merged with Frontline BioVentures to form 6 Dimensions Capital, an approximately $800M AUM biotech-focused VC chaired by Ge Li with Frontline founder Dr. Leon Chen as CEO. New investment activity is now conducted under the 6 Dimensions Capital brand. With its cross-border model, WuXi Healthcare Ventures bridged US life-sciences innovation and the China market.