AI-Powered Enveda Biosciences Secures $130M for Natural Compound Drug Discovery

AI Drug Discovery Startup Enveda Raises $130 Million

Enveda Therapeutics Inc., a startup that uses artificial intelligence to find promising drug candidates, has raised $130 million just a few months after its last financing. The new funding round was led by Nordic investor Kinnevik and FPV Ventures, with participation from new and existing investors including Baillie Gifford, Lux Capital and the Nature Conservancy. It comes as Boulder, Colorado-based Enveda launches a Phase I clinical trial for an oral drug that aims to treat atopic dermatitis, or eczema.

Enveda Biosciences raises $130M to advance AI-driven drug discovery from natural compounds - SiliconANGLE

Enveda Biosciences raises $130M to advance AI-driven drug discovery from natural compounds Enveda Boisciences Inc., a biotechnology company that leverages artificial intelligence to develop new medicines, announced today that it had raised $130 million in new funding to deliver clinical catalysts across multiple programs with strong commercial opportunities. Founded in 2019, Enveda is aiming to revolutionize drug discovery by tapping into the untapped potential of natural compounds. The company leverages AI and advanced analytics to decode the complex chemistry of nature - the chemical compounds found in plants, microbes and other natural resources - to develop novel therapeutics for unmet medical needs. The approach is said by Enveda to address the unexplored diversity of natural substances, estimated to comprise 99.9% of all potential chemical entities. The core of Enveda's platform is its integration of AI-driven models and metabolomics, which allows for the rapid analysis of mass spectrometry data from natural samples. Differing from traditional methods that require the isolation of individual compounds, Enveda's technology identifies chemical structures and their biological activities directly from complex mixtures, a method that accelerates the discovery process and increases the likelihood of uncovering unique compounds with therapeutic potential. Enveda is also constructing a comprehensive chemical map of the natural world to guide its drug discovery efforts. The company is systematically cataloging the relationships between chemical structures and biological functions to build a resource that can be utilized to predict and design innovative treatments. The map serves as a foundation for identifying drug candidates with enhanced precision and efficiency. In addition, Enveda is rapidly progressing its drug candidates into clinical development. Its first investigational new drug, ENV-294, targets inflammatory conditions such as atopic dermatitis. The compound has advanced to Phase I clinical trials, demonstrating the company's ability to move swiftly from discovery to therapeutic development. Kinnevik AB and FPV led the Series C round, with new and existing investors Baillie Gifford & Co., Premji Invest Pte. Ltd., Lingotto Innovation Management, Lux Capital Management, Dimension Capital Management, True Ventures Management, Cresset Partners, The Nature Conservancy and Henry R. Kravis also participating. "We developed our platform to rapidly expand access to nature's chemistry to find therapeutics at roughly four times the speed-and it's already delivering results in the form of a deep and differentiated pipeline," Viswa Colluru, founder and chief executive officer of Enveda, said in a statement. "This funding will help us advance multiple candidates to exciting clinical catalysts in the next year, confirming our guiding vision that life's chemistry is an excellent source for new medicines." Including the new funding, Enveda has raised $360 million to date, including a round of $55 million in June.