Persist AI, a Sacramento-based pioneer in AI-driven robotics for pharmaceutical formulation development, has secured $12 million in Series A funding to accelerate its innovative approach to drug development. The oversubscribed funding round was led by Spero Ventures with participation from multiple investors including MBX Capital, Eli Lilly & Company, SignalFire, and the Shimadzu Future Innovation Fund.
The Y Combinator-backed startup has simultaneously announced the launch of its Cloud Lab platform, which enables pharmaceutical companies to develop drug formulations using Persist AI's robotic laboratory facilities through a web interface. This technology dramatically reduces development timelines while requiring only a fraction of the materials used in traditional methods.
"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."
Accelerating Formulation Development
Persist AI's technology combines predictive AI models with automated robotic systems to help pharmaceutical companies predict formulation recipes and performance, then build and test them efficiently. In a recent project with a major pharmaceutical client, the company demonstrated its platform's capabilities by identifying an optimal long-acting injectable formulation in just two months—a process that traditionally takes a year or longer.
The platform achieved this breakthrough by rapidly building and testing 700 formulations in two months, compared to the industry standard of 10-15 formulations per month. This acceleration represents a significant advancement in bringing new drugs to market more quickly.
Miniaturization and Material Conservation
A key advantage of Persist AI's technology is its miniaturized testing approach. Traditional testing instruments often require large volumes of liquid and significant amounts of formulation material per test. For example, a standard dissolution testing apparatus typically needs 1000 mL of liquid and several grams of formulation. In contrast, Persist's systems can deliver results with just 1 mL of liquid and a few milligrams of material.
This breakthrough not only conserves valuable drug compounds but also enables higher throughput testing, further accelerating the development process.
Expanding Capabilities
Through the newly launched Cloud Lab, pharmaceutical companies worldwide can now remotely build and test formulations on Persist's advanced robotic facilities to develop various drug delivery systems, including:
- Long-acting injectables
- Tablets and capsules
- Topical formulations for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals
- Injectable formulations
The platform supports a wide range of modalities including peptides, small molecules, antibodies, and anti-sense oligonucleotides. It currently serves multiple top-10 pharmaceutical clients and several smaller biotechs developing next-generation treatments for chronic diseases.
Future Plans
Persist AI plans to use the new funding to expand its robotic lab and build comprehensive data sets that train its AI models. The company will also increase the capacity and range of formulations its AI models and robotic lab can predict, build, and test.
Additionally, Persist AI will build a GMP manufacturing system for long-acting injectables in collaboration with Nivagen Pharmaceuticals in Sacramento, California.
"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 AI. "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."
Christopher Shelner, Chief Operating Officer at Persist AI, added that the company has assembled a talented team of chemistry, engineering, and software professionals who develop exceptional automated solutions for formulation development workflows. The company continues to improve its automation while expanding capacity and workflow scope.
As pharmaceutical companies face increasing pressure to bring innovative therapies to market more quickly and cost-effectively, Persist AI's technology represents a significant advancement in addressing a critical bottleneck in the drug development process.
