The Cardiff-based biotech firm will use the funds to scale its generative design platform and fast-track the development of therapies.

Antiverse, a biotechnology firm specialising in AI-driven antibody design, has raised $9.3 million (£7 million) Series A funding. The Cardiff -based startup plans to use the capital to scale its generative design platform and fast-track the development of therapies for molecular targets previously considered undruggable.

The financing round was led by Soulmates Ventures, with additional participation from a syndicate of investors including Innovation Investment Capital, DOMiNO Ventures, DBW, Kadmos Capital, and the i&i Biotech Fund.

Antiverse focuses on complex biological targets that have long frustrated drug developers. Traditional antibody discovery methods often fail when faced with these elusive molecules; however, Antiverse’s computational system uses artificial intelligence to identify and design antibodies that can successfully bind to them.

Speeding drug development

“Many biologically important targets have remained difficult to drug using conventional antibody discovery methods,” Murat Tunaboylu, co-founder and chief executive of Antiverse, said in a statement.

Tunaboylu noted that the new infusion of capital will allow the company to expand its strategic partnerships, including its ongoing collaboration with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and to refine its generative AI capabilities further.

The company says that its technology has already demonstrated a significant reduction in the typical drug development timeline. According to investors, Antiverse is capable of moving from a defined domain to de novo therapeutic-grade antibodies in less than four months – a fraction of the time required by traditional lab-based methods.

“Antiverse is tackling one of the most technically demanding problems in drug discovery,” said Michal Sikyta, managing partner at Soulmates Ventures.

He added that the combination of AI-driven design and in-house laboratory validation positions the company to become a “go-to developer” for the most difficult disease targets in modern medicine.

The Series A brings Antiverse’s total funding to date to $19.3 million in 10 rounds, according to CrunchBase.