Monsanto Growth Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of agribusiness Monsanto, has co-led a $45m series A round for Atomwise, the US-based developer of a biotechnology research platform.
Internet companies Tencent and Baidu also took part in the round, the latter through its Baidu Ventures subsidiary. It was co-led by DCVC (also known as Data Collective) and B Capital Group, and backed by Y Combinator, Khosla Ventures, DFJ and Dolby Family Ventures.
Atomwise utilises supercomputers and deep learning technology dubbed AtomNet to screen some 10 million compounds per day in a bid to find small molecules that can be used for drugs or agricultural products.
The company has initiated in excess of 50 discovery projects through partnerships with more than 40 research universities and a range of biotech companies including four of the top 10 pharmaceutical firms in the US, it said.
Kiersten Stead, a partner at Monsanto Growth Ventures, has joined Atomwise’s board of directors together with representatives from B Capital and DCVC. She said: “We chose to invest based on the impressive results we saw from Atomwise in our own hands.
“Atomwise was able to find promising compounds against crop protection targets that are important areas of focus for agrochemical R&D.”
DCVC had previously led Atomwise’s $6m seed round in 2015, which also featured Khosla Ventures, DFJ, AME Cloud Ventures and OS Fund.