Saudi Aramco’s venture capital firm Prosperity7 has invested in an AI drug discovery company Insilico Medicine.
Insilico completed a second closing of its Series D round, led by Prosperity7 Ventures, the diversified growth fund of Aramco Ventures, bringing the total Series D financing to $95 million. Other global investors with expertise in the biopharmaceutical and life sciences sectors also participated.
The financing was brought about by Prosperity7 as a new investor alongside current investors in the Series D round, including a large, diversified asset management firm on the US West Coast, B Capital Group, Warburg Pincus, BHR Partners, Qiming Venture Partners, Deerfield, Pavilion Capital, BOLD Capital Partners, and WS Investment Company. Insilico’s founder and CEO, Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, also invested in the Series D round.
Aysar Tayeb, Executive Managing Director of Prosperity7 Ventures, said: “The deepening application of AI and machine learning for drug discovery has demonstrated a transformative positive impact on the pharmaceutical industry and we are delighted to embark on this partnership with Insilico Medicine, a frontrunner in this innovation. Backed by the breadth of Aramco’s ecosystem across geographies and sectors, we look to support the company to scale up and expand its footprint globally, to drive biotechnology excellence, and to bring positive impact for greater wellbeing.”
The new Series D capital will support the continued advancement of Insilico’s pipeline, including its lead program which is currently in a Phase 1 study in New Zealand and in China, as well as several pipeline programs in IND-enabling studies. The proceeds will also fund other key strategic initiatives, including further development of its end-to-end Pharma.AI platform, the launch of a fully automated, AI-driven robotic drug discovery laboratory and biological data factory, and the establishment of regional centres.
The investment from Prosperity7 further diversifies the Company’s investor base globally and brings a potential strategic partner with deep expertise in high-performance and environmentally friendly energy R&D. Relying on Prosperity7’s global network and generous resources, Insilico will expand its AI capabilities from drug R&D to multiple areas, including sustainable chemistry, green energy, and agriculture to actively support sustainable development.
Insilico had already leveraged the power of its platform to accelerate innovation in sustainable agriculture in a multi-year collaboration with Syngenta which validated that the platform’s capabilities in AI-enabled multiparameter optimization could create substantial value.
“In 2022, Aramco became the world’s most valuable company, and we are deeply honored to receive the investment from their venture capital arm, Prosperity7, which focuses on investment in ‘disruptive technology’,” said Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine. “Our experience in expanding our reach into sustainable agriculture through our collaboration with Syngenta and others demonstrated the diversity of data and methods and unprecedented scale up allows us to improve our performance. I am certain that the collaborations with Prosperity7 in the field of sustainable and environmentally friendly chemistry and clean energy solutions will further expand our artificial intelligence capabilities. In addition, after spending time in Saudi Arabia, it is clear that the country is making a giant leap in technology. We would love to be part of this effort and help the country realize its vision using the latest advances in artificial intelligence.”
