Isomorphic Labs, DeepMind spin-off, raises $2.1 billion
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Isomorphic Labs, a DeepMind Spin-off, Raises $2.1 Billion
Isomorphic Labs, a spin-off from DeepMind specializing in AI-driven drug development, has recently raised $2.1 billion. This funding round was led by Thrive Capital, an American venture capital firm. Other participants in this Series B funding round include the British sovereign wealth fund for AI, Abu Dhabi's MGX, Alphabet's venture capital arm, GV, and Singapore's Temasek. This operation comes a year after the company's first external funding round in May of last year, which raised $600 million, also led by Thrive Capital and GV.
Founded in 2021, Isomorphic Labs emerged after its separation from Google DeepMind, the AI research lab of the American tech giant. This initiative was spearheaded by Colin Murdoch, the former president of the company, and Demis Hassabis, founder and CEO of DeepMind.
Isomorphic Labs is developing a drug discovery platform leveraging AlphaFold technology, an AI system capable of predicting protein structures, developed by its sister company. The firm is competing with other players in the sector, including OpenAI, which recently launched a model dedicated to life sciences.
Colin Murdoch explained to Sifted last year that Isomorphic's separation from DeepMind was driven by the need for a diverse team, including chemists, pharmacologists, and biologists, in contrast to DeepMind, which primarily focuses on machine learning researchers, engineers, and product managers. He emphasized that there was no career path for these types of professionals at DeepMind. This separation has allowed Isomorphic to define a clear mission and develop a distinct corporate culture.
Isomorphic Labs has already signed agreements with pharmaceutical companies such as Eli Lilly and Novartis. Last year, Demis Hassabis announced to Bloomberg that Isomorphic planned to enter clinical trials with its proposed drugs by the end of the year. He has since clarified that the company has begun preclinical trials.
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