Antiverse secures $9.3M Series A for AI antibody platform

UK-based Antiverse, a
biotech company developing AI-designed therapeutic antibodies for
hard-to-target disease targets, has closed a $9.3 million Series A round led by
Soulmates Ventures, with participation from Innovation Investment Capital,
DOMiNO Ventures and existing investors DBW, Kadmos Capital and i&i Biotech
Fund. The financing brings Antiverse’s total capital raised to more than $20
million.

One of the major
challenges in modern medicine is the treatment of diseases linked to so-called
undruggable molecular targets. Drug discovery in this area remains difficult,
with attrition rates of around 90% for candidates entering clinical trials.

Antiverse is addressing
this gap through an AI-led computational platform designed to generate
therapeutic antibodies against complex targets such as G-protein coupled
receptors (GPCRs) and ion channels, which are implicated in conditions
including cancer, neurological disorders and rare genetic diseases such as
cystic fibrosis.

The company combines
machine learning with in-house laboratory validation to generate and test
antibody candidates. Its models design antibodies for specific disease targets,
which are then built and evaluated using proprietary cell systems that replicate
how the target proteins appear in the human body. Candidates showing promising
results are subsequently advanced toward clinical development.

Antiverse has also entered
into a research agreement with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to design
antibodies targeting the extracellular region of the CFTR protein, a
historically challenging target. Under the collaboration, the company will
apply its AI-driven platform to accelerate the evaluation of new therapeutic
approaches.

Through this combined
AI-and-lab approach, Antiverse aims to improve antibody discovery efficiency
for complex disease targets by enabling faster iteration between computational
design and experimental validation.

The new funding will
enable Antiverse to scale its AI-powered antibody discovery platform for
pharmaceutical and foundation partners through collaborative programmes. It
will also support the expansion of the company’s internal drug pipeline and advance
lead antibody programmes toward in vivo efficacy studies.

Photo credit:
Kevin Trimmer