11 AI-Powered Biotech Firms Secure New Funding in March, NVIDIA Among Key Investors

According to the data monitoring of Zhiyao Bureau, in March 2024, a total of 11 AI pharmaceutical-related companies worldwide completed new rounds of financing, with a disclosed total amount of approximatelyRMB 2.728 billion, a decrease of approximately 16.6% in financing compared to the previous month.

Financing Overview

In March, two AI pharmaceutical-related companies in China received new rounds of financing, respectively incubated by the Small Molecule Innovative Drug Innovation Center of Guangdong Province.TheNewDEL Biotech, completed round A financing worth tens of millions yuan; and the new company established in October last yearYanyin Technology, securing tens of millions of yuan in angel round funding support.

NewDEL Biotech has currently built a full industrial chain team for new drug development, constructed the DEL+X technology platform, and established dozens of R&D pipelines; Zephyr AI, located in Zhangjiang, is committed to building a new generation of digital scientific research collaboration platform for biopharmaceuticals.

From a global perspective, the peptide drug track remains highly popular.Two companies in the U.S. raised over 100 million dollars, one of which completed a Series A funding round of 111 million dollars.Zephyr AIThe company is committed to AI drug discovery and precision medical technology, and is currently developing improved data collaboration tools and various machine learning algorithms in the fields of oncology and cardiometabolic diseases.

Another clinical-stage biopharmaceutical companyFogPharmaAnnounced the completion of a $145 million Series E financing round, FogPharma is developing super-stable α-helical peptide drugs named Helicon polypeptides. After this round of financing, the company now holds nearly $500 million in funds, with Google Ventures (GV) having invested consecutively for the fourth time.

This month's event has gathered numerous top investment institutions. Among them, NVIDIA has made another bet on an AI pharmaceutical company this year, which is from the UK.Relation TherapeuticsIts primary goal is to develop drugs related to osteoporosis, securing $35 million in seed funding, bringing the total seed funding to $60 million — the highest amount in a seed round so far this year. Additionally, in the over $100 million financing events, the presence of Eli Lilly, RA Capital, and Novo Holdings was also noted.

In March, the companies that completed financing covered multiple fields, including clinical trials, protein synthesis, peptide drugs, osteoporosis treatment, oral macrolide drugs, and protein design.

The following is a summary of financing:

Financing Event Details

Relation Therapeutics

Round: Seed Round

Amount: 35 million US dollars

Relation TherapeuticsHas been increased$35 millionFunding was provided by NVentures, DCVC, Deerfield Management Company, Khosla Ventures, Jonathan Milner (founder of Abcam), ARK Invest, and Magnetic Ventures.

Relation TherapeuticsHeadquartered in London, the company willMachine Learning, genomics and other tools are integrated into a dry-wet combined laboratory. The largest single-cell bone atlas derived from human tissues has been established.

Orbis Medicines

Round: Seed Round

Amount: 26 million euros

Orbis Medicines Announces €26 Million (Approx. $28.1 Million) Seed Funding Round Led by Novo Holdings and Life Science Venture Capital Firm Forbion

Orbis Medicines is a biotechnology company founded by Novo Holdings, dedicated to pioneeringOral Macrocyclic DrugsA New Era of R&D.

The nGen platform of the company aims to utilizeHighly AutomatedThe chemical platform systematically explores the macrocyclic chemical space and provides orally available macrocyclic candidates for both intracellular and extracellular targets—nCycles.

Van Heron Labs

Round: Seed Round

Amount: 1.1 million US dollars

Van Heron Labs, headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama, has raised $1.1 million in seed funding led by FoodLabs.

Van Heron Labs utilizes genomics, bioinformatics,Artificial IntelligenceAnd nanotechnology to improve the methods of cell culture and utilization, with the mission of using biotechnology to address critical industrial and global challenges.

Initially launchedCell-Centric Platform, to support the response to COVID-19. The company's cell-based applications also include cancer treatment as well as food and material production.

Yanyin Technology

Round: Angel Round

Amount: Tens of Millions of Yuan

Shanghai Yanin Technology Co., Ltd. announced the completion of an angel round of financing worth tens of millions of yuan, with this round of investment provided by Qiming Venture Partners.

Yanyin Technology was founded in October 2023 and is committed toBuild a New Generation ofDigital Scientific Collaboration Platform for Biopharmaceuticals，making biopharmaceutical R&D more efficient.

Yanyin Technology will build a systematic online and offline marketing network and sales channels to more accurately serve innovative pharmaceutical companies and research institutions, helping biomedical researchers conduct scientific experiments and data analysis more efficiently, and improving the efficiency and quality of research.

Zephyr AI

Round: A Round

Amount: 111 million US dollars

Zephyr AI Announces Successful Completion of $111 Million Series A Financing Round, with Participation from Revolution Growth, Eli Lilly and Company, Jeff Skoll, and EPIQ Capital Group

Zephyr AI is committed to developing fast, interpretableArtificial Intelligence(AI) solutions to achieve precision medicine, the companyDeveloping enhanced data collaboration tools and various machine learning algorithms in the fields of oncology and cardiometabolic diseases.。

NewDEL Biotech

Round: A Round

Amount: Tens of Millions of Yuan

ShenzhenNewDEL BiotechShenzhen NewDEL Biotech Co., Ltd. announced the completion of a multi-million RMB Series A round of financing, with this round of investment coming from existing shareholder and Cheng Capital.

NewDEL Biotech isThe first biopharmaceutical company incubated by Guangdong Small Molecule New Drug Innovation Center, owning DEL live cell screening technology, continuously building the DEL+X technology platform, namely SMART DEL, DEL+protac, and DEL+molecular probes, etc.

Currently, a full industrial chain team for new drug development has been established, the DEL+X technology platform has been built, dozens of R&D pipelines have been developed, 4 clinical trial approvals for dual IND submissions in China and the US have been obtained, and the first clinical dosing was completed in early February.

Tierra Biosciences

Round: A+ Round

Amount: 11.4 million US dollars

Tierra Biosciences Completes $11.4 Million Series A+ Financing, with Investments from Material Impact Fund, Social Capital, Prosus Ventures, In-Q-Tel, Hillspire, Freeflow Ventures, and Creative Ventures.

Tierra Biosciences is a company in the United StatesCombinatorial Protein Synthesis Provider, Focusing on the Deployment of Proprietary Cell-Free SystemsAutomation and Artificial Intelligence, to achieve fully in vitro combinatorial protein synthesis.

FogPharma

Round: E Round

Amount: 145 million US dollars

Clinical-stage biopharmaceutical companyFogPharmaAnnounces Successful Completion of $145 Million Series E FinancingThis round of financing was led by Nextech Invest, with other new investors including RA Capital Management, Rock Springs Capital, General Catalyst, Marshall Wace, Samsara Biocapital, Foresite Capital, Symbiosis, Catalio Capital Management, Sixty Degree Capital, and Alex Gorsky, former chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson. Existing investors provided strong support.

FogPharmaIt is a biopharmaceutical company that pioneered the discovery and development of Helicon™ therapy, a peptide capable of effectively entering cells and modulating interactions between protein-protein and protein-DNA.

Integrating ultra-diverse, tunable, and stable helical peptides with customized computational physics andArtificial IntelligenceCombined with technology, it can discover and develop novel solutions for a large number of intracellular targets that have never been treated with drugs before.

FOG-001It is the company's first TCF-blocking β-catenin inhibitor., and is currently being evaluated in a phase 1/2 study for patients with advanced solid tumors, including colorectal cancer.

Profluent Bio

Round: Undisclosed

Amount: 35 million US dollars

Profluent Announces $35 Million Financing Completed. This round of financing was led by Spark Capital, with participation from existing investors Insight Partners and Air Street Capital, as well as a consortium of angel investors, including Jeff Dean, Chief Scientist of Google DeepMind, OpenAI, Salesforce, Octant Bio, and others.

Profluent Focuses on Designing and Validating Novel Functional Proteins by Developing Deep Generative Models to Learn "Biological Language."

Unlike traditional methods, Profluent will generateAI Models Applied to Design New Proteins, which not only improves the efficiency and accuracy of design but also shortens the R&D cycle and reduces costs. Similar to the text language model ChatGPT, Profluent's model is also trained on large-scale data; it’s just that instead of human language, it uses the "language of proteins."

Century Health

Round: Undisclosed

Amount: 2 million US dollars

Century Health Announces Completion of $2 Million Financing Round Led by 2048 Ventures, with Participation from LifeX, Everywhere, Alumni Ventures, and Angel Investors including Datavant Founder Travis May and Evidation Founder Alex Iskold.

Century Health willIntroduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the Pharmaceutical Field, providing data support for new drug research and development to pharmaceutical companies. The company recently announced cooperation with pharmaceutical companies and researchers, focusing on diseases such as Alzheimer's disease that affect tens of millions of patients.

InvenireX

Round: Strategic Financing

Amount: £500,000

InvenireX Raises £500,000 in FundingBackers include DSW Ventures and XTX Ventures.

InvenireX is a biotechnology R&D company that has developed aA platform that combines artificial intelligence and programmable DNA or "nanites", enabling scientists to rapidly test biomarkers in raw materials without preprocessing. It can have broad applications in early disease detection, personalized medicine, and environmental monitoring.

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