TandemAI announced the completion of a $22 million Series A extension round to accelerate development of its integrated drug discovery platform that combines artificial intelligence, physics-based computational methods, and wet laboratory capabilities. The funding round included participation from both new and existing investors, bringing the company's total capital raised to over $80 million since its founding in October 2021.
The AI-powered drug discovery company has demonstrated significant traction in its four-year operating history, delivering over ten high-value, highly differentiated drug candidates that are currently in clinical development or preparing to enter clinical trials. TandemAI has established partnerships with four of the world's top ten multinational pharmaceutical companies and built a network of more than 150 global partners and clients.
Platform Performance and Market Position
TandemAI's integrated approach has generated substantial business growth, with the company reporting 10x revenue growth and recognition through awards including "China Innovative Digital Healthcare TOP100," "Forbes Asia 100 to Watch," and inclusion in the "Nature Index Global AI Drug Discovery Innovation Landscape." The platform has accelerated more than 50 innovative drug pipelines across its client base.
"TandemAI has successfully executed on its approach to build and commercialize a powerful drug discovery platform by integrating AI and physics-based computational technologies with wet lab techniques," said Peter Zhao, Managing Director at V-Capital. "With this funding, the company and its outstanding team are well positioned to grow its existing small molecule business and, with the recent merger with Perpetual Medicines, capitalize on the significant emerging opportunities in peptide and antibody-peptide conjugate discovery."
Technology Integration and Capabilities
The company's drug discovery engine integrates generative AI, physics-based modeling including molecular dynamics and quantum mechanics, and large-scale chemistry and biology laboratories. This computation-first approach covers the entire drug development process from target prediction through clinical candidate determination. The platform operates through TandemViz™, described as the world's first one-stop AI-enabled drug discovery platform that integrates computational modules, high-performance computing infrastructure, and data management systems.
KHK Fund emphasized the strategic importance of the technology approach, stating: "AI and advanced physics-based methods are now essential for drug discovery. TandemAI's platform has notably enhanced R&D efficiency and success rates in small molecule and peptide drug discovery, driving rapid growth even during the pharmaceutical market downturn."
Strategic Expansion and Leadership
The recent strategic merger with Perpetual Medicines has expanded TandemAI's capabilities and brought seasoned drug developers Kerry Blanchard, MD, PhD and Ved Srivastava, PhD to the team, enhancing the company's end-to-end drug discovery and development expertise. The combined organization now employs more than 300 professionals across its global operations.
"The financing is a strong vote of confidence in our progress to date and in our strategy," said Jeff He, co-founder and CEO of TandemAI. "This funding will support AI and computational physics-based model development for multiple modalities, as well as wet lab capacity expansion to accommodate our rapidly growing client base."
The new funding will specifically target AI model development across multiple drug modalities and expansion of wet laboratory capacity to support the company's growing client base and partnership network in the global pharmaceutical industry.
