Antiverse Raises $9.3M Series A to Develop AI-Designed Antibodies for Challenging Disease Targets
核心洞察
Antiverse (搜索) closed a $9.3 million Series A financing led by Soulmates Ventures (搜索) to accelerate its AI-driven antibody design platform and advance therapeutic programs toward in vivo efficacy studies.
The company entered a research agreement with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to design novel antibodies targeting the extracellular region of CFTR (搜索) protein, a historically difficult target in cystic fibrosis (搜索) research.
Antiverse (搜索)'s proprietary platform can reduce development time for de novo therapeutic-grade antibodies to under four months, positioning the company to tackle challenging drug targets including G-protein coupled receptors (搜索) and ion channels (搜索).
Antiverse (搜索), an AI-driven techbio company designing therapeutic antibodies for challenging disease targets, has closed a $9.3 million Series A financing led by Soulmates Ventures (搜索) with participation from Innovation Investment Capital (搜索), DOMiNO Ventures (搜索) and existing investors DBW, Kadmos Capital and i&i Biotech Fund. The funding brings total investment to over $20 million since inception and will accelerate development of the company's internal therapeutic pipeline while advancing lead antibody programs toward in vivo efficacy studies.
Strategic Partnership with Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
Concurrent with the funding announcement, Antiverse (搜索) entered into a research agreement with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to design novel antibodies targeting the extracellular region of the cystic fibrosis (搜索) transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR (搜索)) protein. This target has remained notoriously difficult to address using conventional antibody discovery technologies, representing a significant unmet need in cystic fibrosis research.
Cystic fibrosis (搜索) is a progressive genetic disease caused by mutations in the CFTR (搜索) gene that disrupt chloride transport, leading to the buildup of thick mucus that damages the lungs, pancreas, and other organs. The extracellular portion of the CFTR protein has proven particularly challenging for traditional antibody development approaches.
Under the research agreement, Antiverse (搜索) will apply its AI-driven modeling and optimization platform to design antibodies targeting the extracellular region of CFTR (搜索). Candidates will undergo screening and validation through the company's proprietary lab-in-the-loop workflow, including hyper-expressing cell-line testing, before transfer to the Foundation's dedicated laboratory for testing in natively-expressing cell models.
Platform Technology and Capabilities
Antiverse (搜索) has developed next-generation computational antibody design technology built on seven years of generative model training across difficult targets. The platform enables design of epitope-specific antibodies while optimizing key physicochemical properties and humanness, allowing rapid progression from target identification to functional antibodies.
"The team's ability to reduce the development time for de novo therapeutic-grade antibodies in a defined domain to under four months is a significant scientific and operational achievement," said Michal Sikyta, Managing Partner at Soulmates Ventures (搜索). "This capability, combined with the AI-driven design and in-house labs, positions Antiverse (搜索) on track to become a global leader and the go-to developer of antibody therapies for the most elusive disease targets in medicine."
The company combines AI-driven design capabilities with proprietary programmable cell-line engineering and in-house laboratory validation, creating a rapid lab-in-the-loop workflow for iterative design, build, and testing. This integrated approach targets challenging drug targets including G-protein coupled receptors (搜索) and ion channels (搜索).
Commercial Strategy and Pipeline Development
Antiverse (搜索) has secured partnership agreements with multiple top-20 global pharmaceutical companies and supports a range of collaboration models tailored to the scientific and strategic needs of pharmaceutical, biotech, and foundation partners. The Series A funding will support expansion of these pharmaceutical and research collaborations while advancing the company's internal programs.
"Many biologically important targets have remained difficult to drug using conventional antibody discovery methods," said Murat Tunaboylu, Co-Founder and CEO of Antiverse (搜索). "This Series A financing enables us to scale our generative antibody design platform, accelerate our internal pipeline, and expand strategic collaborations such as our work with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, where our technology is applied to explore challenging targets like extracellular CFTR (搜索)."
The company plans to progress its first wholly owned candidates into later-stage preclinical development by 2027 while continuing to support pharmaceutical partners with antibody discovery programs. Antiverse (搜索) is headquartered in Cardiff, UK, with offices in Boston and Prague.