causalitya technology company using AI to interpret large datasets and literature, announced the close of a $60 million Series B round led by ICONIQ Growth.
Marathon Venture Capital, Index Ventures, Pentech Ventures, BERD and Visionaries Club also participated in the round, as did former Johnson & Johnson Chairman and CEO Alex Gorsky and Datadog CEO and co-founder Olivier Pomel.
WHAT HE DOES
Causaly offers life science researchers a generative AI platform for drug discovery and development.
The London-based company will use the funds to scale its product and grow its business relationships.
“Our recent funding round is a significant milestone for Causaly. This capital allows us to strengthen long-standing customer relationships and invest in our technology to gain invaluable insights from scientific data. By harnessing the power of AI and our platform, we will drive transformative breakthroughs in therapeutic innovations, accelerating the shift from bench to bedside.
“This funding fuels our mission to make knowledge more accessible and impactful as we scale our infrastructure, expand our operations and grow globally,” said Yiannis Kiachopoulos, co-founder and CEO of Causaly. MobiHealthNews in an email.
MARKET OVERVIEW
Causally secure $4.8 million in Series A funding in 2019 and $17 million in 2021 to grow their team and expand their reach.
In 2020, the company announced it would assist the Global University of London (UCL) with research into COVID-19, including assisting in the development and delivery of low-cost respiratory aids, testing of antiviral candidates and rapid sequencing of the disease .
Another company working on drug discovery using AI is based in Israel AION Laboratoriesa company created through a government tender that includes pharmaceutical giants AstraZeneca, Merck, Pfizer and Teva, alongside venture capital firm Israel Biotech Fund, strategic partner Amazon Web Services and the German independent research institute Bio Med X.
In February, AION announced the launch of its second startup, DenovAI, which will develop an AI-based computational biophysics platform capable of discovering potential antibodies directed against specific epitopes (the part of an antigen molecule recognized by the immune system to which an antibody binds). The company said the platform will design antibodies from scratch and then suggest which candidates are likely to make effective drugs.
