French startup Iktos has secured €15.5 million in Series A funding for its AI-powered drug discovery platform.
The round was co-led by M Ventures and Debiopharm Innovation Fund, with participation from Omnes Capital, and will enable Iktos to develop its technology and expand its SaaS software offering. The company is set to launch Robotics, an end-to-end drug discovery platform that uses AI and chemical synthesis automation to accelerate drug discovery timelines.
In addition, the company will expand the application of its solutions to biological products, allowing the pharmaceutical industry to offer fully integrated drug discovery services.
Founded in 2016, Iktos uses a technology platform for deep learning-based drug design that offers significant productivity gains in upstream pharmaceutical research and development. The platform is available as professional services and SaaS software Makya, and Spaya, a synthesis planning software based on Iktos’ proprietary AI technology for retrosynthesis. Its AI solutions will accelerate drug discovery while increasing the likelihood of clinical development of drug candidates, as collaborations with Janssen, Merck, Pfizer, Servier, Ono and Teijin are already underway.
According to Jan Gaston-Mathe, President and Co-Founder of Iktos, “The application of artificial intelligence to early drug discovery and design is enabling radical changes for researchers exploring such a chemical universe. The technologies we develop enable multiple partners to deliver on this promise. We welcome our new, experienced syndicate of investors and fresh funding to enable us to deliver on our plan to be the industry’s preferred partner for their drug development needs.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Nadia Ishnazarova from M Ventures said: “We believe that Iktos, with its mature technology in generative AI and advances in building a fully integrated platform for synthesis planning and drug discovery, can provide a competitive advantage to the pharmaceutical industry as AI/ML becomes a key feature of R&D.” “.
Tanya Dow, Executive Director of Debiopharm Innovation Fund, added: “We are very pleased to partner with an impressive syndicate of strong investors from M Ventures and Omnes Capital to support Iktos to realize state-of-the-art development capabilities in the fight against AIDS.”
The investment round will enable Iktos to continue to be the pharmaceutical industry’s preferred partner, and the launch of Robotics will enable the company to become one of the first to offer fully integrated drug discovery services to the industry. With significant advantages already recognized in its AI solutions, Iktos is poised to play a leading role in the AI-powered drug discovery revolution.