DeepMind spinout Isomorphic Labs raises $2.1b

Alphabet’s Isomorphic Labs, a London-based drug discovery company spun out of Google DeepMind in 2021, has raised US$2.1 billion in a funding round led by Thrive Capital.

Alphabet also participated in the round alongside MGX, Temasek, CapitalG, GV, and the UK Sovereign AI Fund.

The company develops AI-designed drugs and said the funding will support the expansion of its AI drug design engine, known as IsoDDE, as well as hiring across AI, engineering, drug design, and clinical teams.

Isomorphic Labs has partnerships with Eli Lilly and Novartis, but the field has yet to produce an approved medicine, and few projects have reached clinical trials.

🔗 Source: Bloomberg

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The funding builds on nearly US$3 billion in pharma deals

Before this round, Isomorphic had signed drug research partnerships with pharmaceutical companies worth nearly US$3 billion in total 1.
Those agreements included upfront non-dilutive payments, which do not require giving up equity, of US$45 million from Eli Lilly and US$37.5 million from Novartis 2.
The Novartis partnership grew after one year, adding up to three more research programs on the same financial terms 3.

Alphabet backs a bigger drug discovery push

Isomorphic Labs uses models such as AlphaFold 3, an AI system from Google DeepMind that predicts the structure and interactions of biological molecules 4.
In its May 12 series B, a funding round often used to grow a business after its early stage, Thrive Capital led with support from Alphabet and Google’s venture arm GV 4.
New investors included MGX, an Abu Dhabi-backed investment firm, Temasek, Singapore’s state investment company, CapitalG, Alphabet’s growth fund, and the U.K. government’s AI fund 4.
The company plans to use the money to build and roll out its AI drug design engine, IsoDDE, and move its in-house drug pipeline toward clinical trials 4.