Enveda raises $311 million to develop AI-discovered drugs
Biotech company Enveda raised $311 million in a Series E round at a $2 billion valuation. The round was led by Catalio Capital Management, with participation from Iconiq. The company is testing drugs derived from plants and microorganisms in clinical trials.
Enveda, a biotech startup that uses AI to discover drugs in natural substances, has raised a Series E round of $311 million at a $2 billion valuation. The round was led by Catalio Capital Management, with participation from Iconiq and other investors. According to the source, the company's valuation has doubled compared to its state 12 months ago.
Enveda's underlying principle is that effective drugs can be obtained from plants and microorganisms instead of being synthesized from scratch in a lab. The company was founded in 2019 by Viswa Colluru, a former employee of Recursion Pharmaceuticals, with the goal of accelerating the discovery of such drugs using AI and other techniques.
AI has not yet produced a drug approved by the FDA, but Enveda is among the companies advancing AI-discovered candidates into clinical trials in humans. The company is currently testing several drugs in patients, including one targeting a serious skin condition and another designed to maintain weight loss after discontinuing GLP-1-type medications.
Why it matters
The funding shows that investors are willing to commit large sums to AI approaches to drug discovery even before such a drug receives FDA approval. For the industry, it is a signal that the model of searching for drugs in natural substances using AI is moving from the research phase into clinical trials in humans.
Relevant practical impact
What this means
For a business
Companies in the biotech and pharma sector can observe that AI-driven drug discovery is attracting hundreds of millions of dollars in capital and advancing into the clinical phase, which is changing the competitive landscape as well as potential partnerships or acquisitions in the field.
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