French startup Iktos has secured €15.5 million in Collection A funding for its AI-powered drug discovery platform.
The spherical was co-led by M Ventures and Debiopharm Innovation Fund, with participation from Omnes Capital, and can allow Iktos to develop its know-how additional and broaden its SaaS software program providing. The corporate is about to launch Robotics, an end-to-end drug discovery platform that makes use of AI and automation of chemical synthesis to speed up drug discovery timelines.
Moreover, the corporate will broaden its software of options to organic merchandise, permitting it to supply totally built-in drug discovery companies to the pharmaceutical business.
Iktos, which was based in 2016, makes use of a know-how platform for deep learning-based drug design that provides important productiveness good points in upstream pharmaceutical R&D. The platform is obtainable as skilled companies and SaaS software program Makya, and Spaya, a synthesis planning software program based mostly on Iktos’ proprietary AI know-how for retrosynthesis. Its AI options will speed up drug discovery whereas growing the probability of drug candidates reaching medical improvement, with collaborations already in place with Janssen, Merck, Pfizer, Servier, Ono, and Teijin.
Based on Yann Gaston-Mathé, the President and co-founder of Iktos, “The appliance of synthetic intelligence to early drug discovery and design gives the potential for a radical change for researchers exploring such a chemical universe. The applied sciences we now have developed have been enabling a number of companions in realizing this promise. We welcome our new, skilled, investor syndicate and contemporary financing that may enable us to execute our plan of being the popular accomplice for the business to handle their drug improvement wants.”
In the meantime, Dr. Nadiya Ishnazarova of M Ventures acknowledged, “We consider Iktos with its mature know-how throughout generative AI and synthesis planning, and developments in constructing totally built-in drug discovery platform has the potential to supply a aggressive edge for the pharma business as AI/ML turns into a core characteristic of R&D.”
Tanja Dowe, CEO of Debiopharm Innovation Fund added, “We’re very excited to collaborate with a powerful syndicate of sturdy traders M Ventures and Omnes Capital to help Iktos in executing its plans to develop cutting-edge end-to-end AIDD capabilities.”
The funding spherical will allow Iktos to proceed to be a most well-liked accomplice for the pharmaceutical business, and the launch of Robotics will allow the corporate to develop into one of many first to supply totally built-in drug discovery companies to the sector. With important advantages already acknowledged in its AI options, Iktos is poised to play a number one function within the AI-powered drug discovery revolution.
