Dec 6, 2022

What it does: CellVoyant is using AI to create cell-based therapies, specifically for chronic diseases. Its AI technology is deployed for live cell imaging, which helps scientists in the process of stem cell differentiation — turning a stem cell into a more specialized type of cell. In turn, human cells can be manufactured at scale, more accurately. "The result is a closed-loop, data-driven Google Maps-like navigation system for scalable precision cell and tissue engineering," said Uzma Choudry, biotech investor at Octopus Ventures. It's also tapping into the growing cell therapeutics market, which "allows personalized therapy through activating and harnessing the patient's own cells and immune system," she added. Backers: BoxOne Ventures, Milad Alucozai  What it does: Oxford-based Coding.bio uses AI and synthetic biology to design new CARSs — chimeric antigen receptors that are collected using T cells and re-engineered to fight cancer. The startup uses machine learning to speed up its discovery process, which it combines with its screening platform so it can find the best CARs to power cell therapy. "Currently we are at the intersection of knowing how to utilize omics data (the breadth of data which spans a range of biological molecules) and the application and possibilities of CARs in respect to the cell therapy boom to provide curative therapeutics to as many patients as possible," Albion VC partner Christoph Ruedig told Insider. Haya Therapeutics is based in Switzerland Launched: 2017 Backers: Apollo Health Ventures, Bernina BioInvest, Schroders Capital, Broadview Ventures What it does: Swiss startup Haya Therapeutics is focusing on how RNA — a molecule that's key in coding and decoding genes — can be used to drive treatments for serious health conditions from cancer to heart disease. Its technology focuses on how the 'dark matter' in human genes, which includes the tissues and the cell-based drivers behind these diseases, can be used to map targets and drug candidates. "The company has completed their pre-clinical studies and is preparing to enter clinical trial phase for FIM," said Rabab Nasrallah, PhD, investment specialist at Earlybird Health. It's set to take off as "it has significant potential in the targeted therapy space for disease with high unmet need — fibrosis," she added. Healx is speeding up the drug-discovery process for rare diseases Healx founders Dr. Tim Guilliams and Dr. David Brown. Healx Backers: Atomico, Balderton Capital, Btov Partners, Intel Capital What it does: Cambridge-based Healx — which was cofounded by the inventor of Viagra, Dr David Brown — is taking a different approach to AI-driven drug discovery. The startup applies an algorithm to existing treatments for rare diseases, and finds alternative applications of drug treatments that are already in use. Since these drugs have already secured regulatory approval, bringing them to market for alternative uses is a quicker process. As opposed to many of its competitors in the AI drug discovery space, Healx is focusing on rare genetic diseases, cofounder and CEO Dr. Tim Guilliams told TechCrunch . As many of these diseases have a small patient size, finding new treatments from scratch is less economically viable when tailored to these cases. Healx's model is a more efficient and cost-effective way of bringing these treatments to market, Guillams added. The startup has raised around $71 million to date, per PitchBook. "Healx has been gaining a lot of traction in the market and the timing of the field is in their favor" as a result of "the accelerating demand for their kind of ability with computational power and use of AI in a clear and concise way (or as much as we can at the moment)," Ruedig told Insider. ImCheck Therapeutics is pioneering development in a fast-growing area of cancer research ImCheck Therapeutics CEO Pierre d'Epenoux. ImCheck Therapeutics Backers: Earlybird Venture Capital, Andera Partners, Eurazeo, EQT Ventures  What it does: Based in Marseilles, France, ImCheck Therapeutics raised $103 million in Series C funding in June 2022 to power its research into cancer therapy. The startup is developing antibodies used to treat cancer and other immune-related conditions. Specifically, it uses a key immune cell — gamma-delta T cell, which is tipped to be a promising breakout basis for cancer therapies according to biotech investors — as a basis for its treatment. Using gamma-delta T cells can be expensive, and the process by which it treats tumors is not refined. To counter this, ImCheck applies a cheaper antibody drug to these cells, to activate T cells in the body, as Insider previously reported . Rabab Nasrallah, PhD, investment specialist at Earlybird Health, which invested in the startup's Series C, told Insider that the startup is poised to take off because of its development of an antibody therapy which "drives immunomodulation by targeting gamma-delta T cells". Kuano is analyzing enzyme reactions using quantum technology Vid Stojevic, cofounder and CEO of Kuano. Kuano Backers: AI Seed Fund, Innovate UK, Meltwind, Cambridge Angels  What it does: London-based Kuano is combining AI with quantum computing in a bid to refine its understanding of drug structures, and its identification of new therapeutics. A lot of traditional drug designs don't take enzyme reactions — which are affected by quantum mechanics — into account. The startup has designed a 'Quantum Lens' to better understand these reactions, so that they can be factored in as templates for effective drugs. "Enzyme inhibitors account for 40% of all FDA approved drugs, yet it only represents 20% of potential enzyme targets," said Ala Alenazi, principal on the Ascension Life Fund. "Kuano is the first platform in the world that can predict transition state dynamics and design drugs against them." Labstep is building a library of experimental procedures Jake Schofield, CEO of Labstep. Labstep Backers: Seedcamp, Oxford Accelerator  What it does: London-based Labstep is a digital platform which helps scientists to record experimental procedures, which they can build into a library on the company's app. This can include a timeline of the experiment, as well as details about its procedure, in a bid to move away from the "archaic way in which science experiments are recorded," according to cofounder and CEO Jake Schofield . Its software also helps to increase experiment reproducibility, from 48% to 83%, which in turn abets the drug discovery process, said biotech accelerator Harbr's founder Omar Daniel, who put the startup forward. Its technology provides drug discovery companies such as Exscientia with the infrastructure to collect and collaborate on experiments. "Labstep captures data in real time, stopping the three-week average delay in retroactive writeup of experiments," added Daniel. "It's a problem that competitors are not solving." Ladder Therapeutics is backed by Y Combinator Rabia Khan, founder and CEO of Ladder Therapeutics. Ladder Tx. Backers: Y Combinator, Hummingbird Ventures What it does: Ladder Therapeutics is taking a novel approach by combining machine learning and RNA biology, which examines the molecules that hold and carry genetic information, to open up new avenues for drug discovery. While much of drug discovery has centered on working with proteins, Ladder Therapeutics targets RNA to help increase "the chances of identifying druggable targets and thereby improving phase-2 clinical trial success," said Uzma Choudry, biotech investor at Octopus Ventures. Based in Canada, the startup is tapping into Europe's evolving tech bio landscape by "working on key initiatives to help position Europe as a leader in this space," added Choudry. The startup will soon rebrand as Serna Bio, and aims to "expand the target universe for small molecule drugs and aiming to treat the complex diseases," founder and CEO Rabia Khan told Insider. Molecule aims to be a Web3 marketplace for pharma research The cofounders of Molecule. Backers: Backed VC, Boost VC, Healthspan Capital, Speedinvest What it does: Based in Switzerland, Molecule wants to establish a more collaborative platform through which scientific research and development processes can be digitized. It bills itself as a "Web3 marketplace for research-related IP" and acts as an avenue to connect academics and biotech researchers. The startup is "decentralizing access to R&D funding and creating collaborative ecosystems connecting academics and biotech companies" — while also "enabling patient, researcher, and investor communities to govern and own research-related IP," said Estelle Botbol, health investor at Speedinvest. Often, academia can be biased towards more prestigious institutions when granting funding, which in turn can hinder the level of research conducted within these respective institutions. Molecule wants to close the gap through its platform by enabling direct investment into research teams. The hope is that this will help bring products to market more quickly, and create a more equitable process for scientists. In July 2022, the startup raised a $12.7 million seed round led by Northpond Ventures. By "turning IP and its development into a liquid and easily investable asset, lowering costs and risks for current stakeholders", the startup "is delivering on its mission to bring novel therapeutics to patients," Botbol added. Pangea Botanica is building a nature-based drug discovery platform Lars Wilde, cofounder of Pangea Botanica. Pangea Botanica Backers: Undisclosed  What it does: UK-based Pangea Botanica is tapping into existing natural remedies to power its drug discovery research. Some 50% of approved drugs stem from natural products, said Estelle Botbol, health investor at Speedinvest, but "they also present challenges in screening, isolation, and manufacturing which contributed to a decline in their pursuit by the pharma industry." Indigenous communities have also been using natural remedies for much of their history, and academic studies have highlighted the untapped power in, and pharmacological advances made from exploring these natural ecosystems. Pangea is making use of this by developing an in-house AI discovery engine, in the hopes that it will identify successful nature-based treatments more efficiently. The startup "is on track to unlock nature's therapeutic potential at scale," added Botbol. Qubit is accelerating drug discovery through quantum physics Robert Marino, CEO of Qubit. Qubit Backers: EIT Health, Quantonation, Omnes Capital What it does: French startup Qubit aims to cut the cost and time usually required in drug development trials at the pre-clinical stage. It works at a quantum level, by designing potential drug treatments atom by atom. Its in-house modelling system — Atlas — then creates digital twins of these molecules, to analyze its effectiveness in the real world, per FinSMEs . The technology taps into the capabilities of supercomputers, and aims to find the safest drug candidate in a short space of time. The startup raised $16 million from a host of deep tech investors such as Quantonation, Xange, and Omnes Capital in June 2022. It also has a professional partnership with Nvidia and AWS. "Qubit is accelerating drug molecule simulation and modeling with hybrid quantum computing, to reduce time and investment needed to identify promising treatments in oncology, inflammatory diseases, and antivirals," an Nvidia representative told Insider. Relation Therapeutics is using machine learning to examine genomics data The Relation Therapeutics team. Backers: OMERS Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Firstminute capital What it does: London-based Relation uses machine learning to analyze cells. It wants to better understand the biology behind drug discovery, which is often gridlocked by a lack of understanding of the biological factors behind diseases. The startup tackles this through its active graph machine learning platform, aiming to give scientists a better understanding of how genes interact with drugs. Its technology also creates genomics data, according to AI Techpark , which is integrated into the machine learning systems, and can be used to request new experiments to better hone its predictive insights. It's currently working with semiconductor giant Nvidia, and has access to its supercomputer technology. "Relation Therapeutics uses graph-based recommender system technologies to reveal causal relationships in diseases," a representative from Nvidia said. "Its platform can identify the areas of biology to focus on for drug discovery and accelerate research efforts for diseases that have not yet been widely studied." Tailor Bio is using AI to develop biomarkers for cancer Jason Yip, cofounder at Tailor Bio Jason Yip Backers: Illumina Accelerator, Innovate UK What it does: Tailor Bio, based in Cambridge, UK, is using an AI-driven approach to create new diagnostic tools for cancer patient care. The startup won a £650,000 grant from Innovate UK, which it will use towards its diagnostic test for a treatment for ovarian cancer, according to Business Weekly . Around 50% of patients who undergo treatment for ovarian cancer don't benefit from the chemotherapy drug that's prescribed to patients. Tailor Bio's research aims to identify which patients are suited to this treatment. In addition to this, the startup is using its AI platform to "identify specific mechanisms of action for Chromosomal Instability (CIN) tumors, which account for 80% of tumours," said Ascension Life Fund investor Ala Alenazi. Vivan Therapeutics is a spinout from Mount Sinai, New York Laura Towart, founder of Vivan Therapeutics Vivan Therapeutics