Singaporean state-owned investment firm Temasek provided $90m in funding for BenevolentAI, a UK-based medical development software provider that counts pharmaceutical producers Lundbeck and Upsher-Smith Laboratories as investors, on Tuesday.
The confirmation of the round followed a report by The Sunday Times last week stating that Temasek was set to invest in the company at a $1bn valuation, half that of its last round in April 2018. Raine Advisors was financial adviser to BenevolentAI on the deal.
BenevolentAI has built a drug discovery platform that utilises artificial intelligence technology to power the development of pharmaceuticals for diseases that currently have no effective treatments.
The company will put the capital into growing its core software platform and advancing its internal drug development activities.
Joanna Shields, BenevolentAI’s chief executive, said: “We are pleased that Temasek has invested in us to support our mission to bring more effective medicines to the patients who need them.
“This year, we have demonstrated strong commercial and scientific progress and this funding will further scale our technology and support the development of our pipeline of potentially transformational medicines.”
BenevolentAI had reportedly raised a total of more than $200m as of the $115m round featuring Woodford Investment Management last April.
The company’s earlier investors included Lundbeck, Upsher-Smith Laboratories, Woodford Investment Management and Lansdowne Partners, according to a Fierce Biotech report in 2016.
