Antiverse, a Wales, UK-based biotechnology company developing a computational antibody drug discovery platform, announced that it raised $3 million in funding.
The company also announced the successful identification of functional antibody clusters targeting two G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), both displaying versatile binding profiles and nanomolar affinity.
The investment was from new investors InnoSpark, AngelHub, Kadmos Capital, and Tomorrow Scale, as well as existing investors, Tensor Ventures, Deep Science Ventures, Ed Parkinson, and Development Bank of Wales (DBW).
With the funding, Antiverse will enable in-house development of the antibodies showing the highest affinity blocking function, making them ideal starting points as therapeutic assets.
The antibodies were identified using Antiverse’s proprietary computational antibody drug discovery platform, which uses machine learning to model antibody-antigen interactions and design de novo antibodies.
The platform was used to identify a diverse set of binders to two structurally distinct GPCRs, and following Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorting (FACS), 8 antibodies were identified as human GPCR binders (Figure 1). 7 of these binders were confirmed as antagonists (Figure 2), blocking GPCR activity.
“This is the most comprehensive validation of our platform thus far. While identifying antibodies to GPCRs has traditionally been a complex and time-intensive process requiring expensive specialist technology and training, we have demonstrated that Antiverse’s drug discovery platform can achieve this in a fraction of the time and cost. GPCRs are commercially interesting targets associated with various indications, and these antibodies offer a path to first in vivo results and can potentially be our first assets. I would like to thank our investors, this funding will enable us to continue to develop these assets in-house with our academic collaborators.” Murat Tunaboylu, co-founder and CEO of Antiverse
Company: Antiverse Ltd
Raised: $3.0M
Round: Unknown
Funding Month: March 2023
Lead Investors: InnoSpark, AngelHub, Kadmos Capital, and Tomorrow Scale
Additional Investors: Tensor Ventures, Deep Science Ventures, Ed Parkinson, and Development Bank of Wales (DBW)
Company Website: https://www.antiverse.io/
Software Category: AI-powered Antibody Drug Discovery
About the Company: Founded in 2017 with the goal of engineering the future of drug discovery to change people's lives, Antiverse is building a computational antibody drug discovery platform. The company combines machine learning and phage display techniques to model antibody-antigen interactions. The current version of the platform uses next-generation sequencing and AI to curate diverse antibody candidates for any given target. The technology is being developed to enable the discovery of biologics for difficult-to-drug targets associated with cancer, heart, and lung diseases.
Source: https://antiverseupdates.substack.com/p/antiverse-raises-funding-and-demonstrates