If any proof was needed that big money is still available for AI drug development, look no further than the ten-figure series B hauled in by Isomorphic Labs.
The London-based AI drug discovery firm was founded by Google parent company Alphabet in 2021 with a mission to develop a number of AI models that together will form its unified drug design engine. Since then, Isomorphic brought in $600 million via its first external funding round a year ago and has now followed up with a $2.1 billion series B.
Thrive Capital led today’s series B, joined by Alphabet and Google’s GV. New backers included MGX, Temasek, CapitalG and the U.K. government’s AI fund.
Isomorphic designs potential drugs with AI models such as AlphaFold 3, a Google DeepMind-partnered model that can predict the structures and interactions of molecules. The new money will be used to develop and deploy Isomorphic’s AI drug design engine, dubbed IsoDDE, as well as accelerate its in-house drug pipeline into the clinic.
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Isomorphic’s platform has led to deals with the likes of Eli Lilly and Novartis. Both Big Pharma firms tasked Isomorphic with using AlphaFold to discover small molecules for undisclosed targets.
Isomorphic founder Demis Hassabis said the series B “allows us to build out our drug design engine at scale, driving us forward in our mission to solve all disease.”
“This funding round is a massive vote of confidence from a diverse group of top-tier international investors in our AI-first approach to drug design and development,” Hassabis added in the May 12 release. “Now that we have shown our approach is fundamentally sound, our focus is on scaling our technology to its full potential.”
Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Alphabet and Google, said Isomorphic has “already made extraordinary progress in harnessing AI to accelerate drug discovery.”
“This trajectory is encouraging, and this funding will be used to accelerate the work and bring important interventions to market with greater speed,” Porat added.
