UK-based drug discovery technology developer Exscientia increased a series C round featuring corporates Novo, Evotec and Bristol Myers Squibb to $100m yesterday following a $40m extension from funds managed by BlackRock.
Novo led the round’s $60m first tranche in May 2020, investing alongside fellow pharmaceutical firm Bristol Myers Squibb, drug discovery and development services firm Evotec and private equity firm GT Healthcare Capital, through unnamed limited partners.
Exscientia exploits artificial intelligence technology to precisely engineer drug candidates rather than employing machine learning only to screen for targets. It will use the extra series C funds to further develop its platform and move more assets into the clinic.
William Abecassis, head of BlackRock’s Innovation Capital, will join Exscientia’s board of directors as an observer.
Andrew Hopkins, Exscientia’s CEO, said: “We are delighted that BlackRock shares our vision for revolutionising how drugs are discovered. It is also recognition of the ingenuity and hard work of our employees to turn the promise of AI into reality today, where we are bringing the world’s first AI designed drugs into the clinic.
“BlackRock’s investment is an important step in our vision that all drugs will be designed by AI. I believe that our company’s reimagined approach to drug discovery will become the new de facto standard.”
GT Apeiron Therapeutics, a drug discovery company owned by GT Healthcare, formed a collaboration agreement with Exscientia in mid-2019, after the firm had contributed to a $26m series B round earlier that year together with Evotec and pharmaceutical firm Celgene.
Evotec had provided $17.7m in funding for Exscientia in 2017 and its investors include commercialisation firm Frontier IP, which helped establish the company in 2012.
The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.
