Chinese Tech Giant Tencent Invests in RTP’s Locus Biosciences

Last week, Locus Biosciences announced that the company secured a $5 million convertible note, an investment led by Chinese tech giant Tencent with participation from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. As a first-time entrepreneur, Paul started seeking investment for the startup in December 2015. CED captured his story and fundraising lessons learned.

Never heard of Tencent? “Best known for super-app WeChat and its relentless pace of startup investment… Tencent is one of the most acquisitive companies on China’s tech scene.” (Maybe you remember their $1.8B investment in Tesla earlier this year.) According to a recent Bloomberg article, “Tencent’s ‘Chief Exploration Officer’ David Wallerstein is tasked with finding moonshots: big ideas with indeterminate short-term returns that could in theory usher in monumental changes.”​

Locus Biosciences is a moonshot. Read more.