Alphabet-backed Isomorphic Labs bags $600 million funding to build next-gen AI drug design engine

Isomorphic Labs was spun out of DeepMind in 2021 as a commercial venture, aiming to 'reimagine' the entire drug discovery process

Isomorphic Labs, a subsidiary of Google parent Alphabet that uses artificial intelligence (AI) for drug discovery, announced on March 31 that it has raised $600 million in its first external funding round to further develop the company's next-generation AI drug design engine.

The round was led by Thrive Capital, a venture capital firm founded by Joshua Kushner that has made substantial investments in AI firms like ChatGPT maker OpenAI, with participation from Google's venture capital arm GV and a follow-on investment from Alphabet.

“We're excited to bring together a top-tier investor group with deep AI and life sciences expertise as we aim to transform this industry through an interdisciplinary approach,” said Demis Hassabis, co-founder and CEO of Isomorphic Labs.

“This funding will further turbocharge the development of our next-generation AI drug design engine, help us advance our own programs into clinical development, and is a significant step forward towards our mission of one day solving all disease with the help of AI” said Hassabis, who also serves as CEO of Google DeepMind, the tech giant's AI research unit.

Isomorphic Labs was spun out of DeepMind in 2021 as a commercial venture, aiming to 'reimagine' the entire drug discovery process from the ground up with an AI-first approach. It was built on AlphaFold, a Nobel-winning AI model developed by DeepMind, that can predict the structure and interactions of proteins.

The company says it has developed a suite of next-generation AI models that come together to form its unified AI drug design engine that works across multiple therapeutic areas and drug modalities.

In May 2024, Google DeepMind and Isomorphic Labs together developed and released AlphaFold 3, which expands beyond proteins to provide accurate predictions for protein interactions with other biomolecules in living cells - such as DNA, RNA, and small molecules.

At the time, Isomorphic Labs said it is using AlphaFold 3 along with a suite of in-house AI models to accelerate and improve the success of drug design - by helping understand how to approach new disease targets and developing new ways to pursue existing ones that "were previously out of reach".

The London-headquartered company has built a drug discovery portfolio that include tie-ups with Eli Lilly and Novartis, two of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, as well as internal programmes primarily focused in oncology and immunology. Novartis and Isomorphic Labs recently expanded the scope of their collaboration, adding up to three additional research programmes.

”At Thrive, we aim to invest in category-defining companies with singular conviction, and that has led us to Isomorphic Labs," said Kushner, who also serves as CEO of Thrive Capital.

"We believe Isomorphic has earned a rare position to define a new age of drug discovery and design, and we are deeply inspired by their mission and the extraordinary progress they have made to date.” he said. Kushner's older brother Jared Kushner is the son-in-law of the US President Donald Trump.

Isomorphic Labs stated that the funds raised will also go toward hiring top talent to expand its team in the next phase of growth.

"AI and machine learning have long held the promise of transforming drug discovery, yet few companies over the past decade have unlocked their full potential. After witnessing the extraordinary pace of innovation at Isomorphic Labs, we believe their pioneering approach will redefine AI-powered drug discovery,” said Krishna Yeshwant, Managing Partner at GV.