Persist AI, a Sacramento-based pioneer in AI-driven robotics for pharmaceutical formulation development, announced the launch of its innovative Cloud Lab platform following the successful closure of an oversubscribed $12 million Series A financing round. The platform represents a significant breakthrough in pharmaceutical development, allowing companies to develop drug formulations remotely through state-of-the-art robotic laboratory facilities.
The funding round was led by Spero Ventures with participation from multiple investors including MBX Capital, Shimadzu Future Innovation Fund, Eli Lilly & Company, SignalFire, and others. Existing investors 2048 Ventures, Innospark, and YCombinator also contributed to the round.
"Every drug that reaches the market depends on an optimal formulation. While the industry has heavily invested in AI and predictive tools across the drug development pipeline, formulation has remained a blind spot—until now," said Sara Eshelman, General Partner at Spero Ventures. "Persist dramatically reduces both the time and cost at every stage of development, ultimately lowering the hurdle for investment in next-generation therapeutics like long-acting injectables."
AI-Powered Formulation Prediction
At the core of Persist AI's technology is the ability to predict formulation recipes and performance using sophisticated AI models, which are then built and tested using robotic systems. The company has already demonstrated impressive results with a major pharmaceutical client, identifying an optimal long-acting injectable formulation in just two months—a process that traditionally takes a year or longer.
The platform's efficiency is remarkable: it can build and test 700 formulations in two months, compared to the industry standard of 10-15 formulations per month. This acceleration addresses a critical bottleneck in bringing new drugs to market.
"AI is enabling pharma to discover new molecules faster than ever. But a molecule that has poor shelf life cannot become a drug product that sits on a shelf," explained Karthik Raman, CEO of Persist. "Our mission is to convert these novel molecules into products, such as tablets and injections that patients can use. If you can find a new drug molecule, you can predict its formulation and use our robotic platform to build and test it in the real world."
Cloud Lab: Remote Access to Robotic Formulation Testing
The newly launched Cloud Lab enables pharmaceutical scientists to test formulations by remotely controlling Persist's robotic lab through a website interface. This approach combines miniaturization with seamless automation of formulation testing instruments, resulting in unprecedented speed advantages.
One of the most significant innovations is the dramatic reduction in material requirements. Traditional testing instruments often require large volumes of liquid and significant amounts of formulation material per test. For example, a standard dissolution testing apparatus requires 1000 mL of liquid and several grams of formulation. In contrast, Persist's miniaturized systems deliver results with just 1 mL of liquid and a few milligrams of material—conserving valuable drug compounds while enabling higher throughput testing.
"Persist AI has assembled a talented chemistry, engineering, and software team that develops exceptional automated solutions for formulation development workflows," said Chris Shelner, COO of Persist. "We continue to improve our automation in addition to expanding capacity and workflow scope."
Broad Applications Across Pharmaceutical Development
Through the Cloud Lab, pharmaceutical companies worldwide can now remotely develop:
- Long-acting injectables
- Tablets and capsules
- Topical formulations for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals
- Injectable formulations
The platform supports multiple modalities including peptides, small molecules, antibodies, and anti-sense oligonucleotides. Persist AI is currently serving multiple top 10 pharmaceutical clients and several smaller biotechs developing next-generation treatments for chronic diseases.
Expansion Plans Following Series A Funding
The $12 million in Series A funding will support several key initiatives for Persist AI:
- Building a GMP manufacturing system for long-acting injectables, in collaboration with Nivagen Pharmaceuticals in Sacramento, CA
- Expanding the robotic lab capacity
- Building comprehensive data sets to train the company's AI models
- Extending the range of formulations the AI models and robotic lab can predict, build, and test
The company is actively seeking pharmaceutical partners for co-development of drug products, robotic platforms, and AI training data sets.
Leadership and Background
Persist AI was founded by Karthik Raman, who serves as CEO and brings extensive expertise in formulation development. Prior to founding Persist, Raman was part of the automation team at Zymergen, developing robotic factories for synthetic biology.
Co-founder Christopher Shelner serves as Chief Operating Officer, leveraging his significant expertise in automation design, operations, and deployment from previous roles at industry leaders including Northrop Grumman and Apple.
The company is a Y Combinator-backed startup, having graduated from the prestigious accelerator in 2023, and is positioned to transform a critical but often overlooked aspect of pharmaceutical development through its innovative combination of AI and robotics.
