Ian Alpha Fund backs Indian AI drug firm Peptris with $7.7m Series A

IAN Alpha Fund and Speciale Invest co-led a 70 crore rupee (US$7.72 million) series A funding round in Bengaluru-based AI drug discovery company Peptris, with participation from Tenacity Ventures and BYT Ventures.

The new capital will support advancing existing programs to clinical readiness, expanding its pipeline, and building teams in biology, chemistry, and AI, while establishing partnerships in the US and Europe.

The funding aims to accelerate the company’s progress toward clinical development and global partnerships.

Founded in 2019, Peptris develops AI models to generate novel molecules and predict key drug development parameters, aiming to reduce failure rates and costs in early drug discovery.

Peptris works with pharma, biotech, and FMCG partners to license assets and co-develop programs targeting markets such as oncology, rare diseases, and women’s health.

The company’s leadership includes CEO Narayanan Venkatasubramanian and CTO Anand Budni, with expertise in AI and biological sciences.

🔗 Source: IAN Alpha

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Peptris’s funding is built on a partnership-driven model spanning repurposing and novel discovery

Peptris combines repurposed approved drugs and molecules with clinical safety data with novel chemical entities. The company says this can cut risk and shorten early R&D timelines 1.
One example is a licensing deal with Revio Therapeutics (a drug development company) for the preclinical-stage asset PEPR124 (RT001) 2.
Peptris says its proprietary AI-driven platform found PEPR124 (RT001). It is a repurposed, mutation-agnostic candidate for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a rare genetic disorder that causes progressive muscle degeneration. Peptris keeps rights in BRICS markets (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) while Revio holds rights in other global markets 2.

The Peptris model signals a shift toward specialized, networked drug development

The structure fits a move away from the vertically integrated pharmaceutical company.
Peptris focuses on AI-driven discovery and operates virtually. It contracts laboratory experiments to contract research organizations (CROs) and biotech partners 1.
Revio Therapeutics licenses these assets, then runs clinical development and handles regulatory interactions 2.
This lower-cost, modular setup may speed biotech progress by letting expert groups own distinct stages of the drug development pipeline.