Bioptimus, a Paris-based AI-powered bioscience startup, has announced its emergence from stealth mode following a substantial seed funding round of $35M (approximately €32M).
The round was led by Sofinnova Partners, with additional support from Bpifrance Large Venture and global funds based in France, including Cathay Innovation. Top global tech investors such as Headline, Hummingbird, NJF Capital, Owkin, and Top Harvest Capital, along with tech entrepreneur Xavier Niel, have also joined the funding effort.
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Revolutionizing Biology with AI Foundation Models
Under the leadership of Professor Jean-Philippe Vert, PhD, Bioptimus unites a world-class team of scientists, including alumni from Owkin and Google DeepMind, to transform biology with cutting-edge AI foundation model technologies. These technologies aim to capture the various scales of biology, from molecules to whole organisms, to fuel breakthroughs in biomedicine and beyond.
The First Universal AI Foundation Model in Biology
Bioptimus is developing the first universal AI foundation model in biology, led by Professor Jean-Philippe Vert, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Bioptimus, Chief R&D Officer of Owkin, and former Research Lead at Google Brain. The company’s mission is to apply foundation models and generative AI to biology, capturing the laws of biology across scales to accelerate biomedical and environmental science.
Connecting Scales of Biology with Generative AI
The French company plans to connect the different scales of biology with generative AI, from molecules to cells, tissues, and whole organisms. This approach aims to establish a holistic understanding of biology, critical for accelerating advancements in science. Bioptimus will leverage Owkin’s data generation capabilities and global access to patient data from top academic hospitals, along with a scalable and secure computing environment from Amazon Web Services.
A Collaborative Effort to Advance Science
By harnessing an abundance of data across all scales and modalities, Bioptimus aims to create computational representations that establish a strong differentiation against models trained solely on public datasets. This effort is expected to capture the full diversity of biology and significantly advance scientific research and biotechnological innovation.
Investor Support for a Game-Changing Approach
Edward Kliphuis, Partner at Sofinnova Partners, emphasized the game-changing potential of foundation models in biology, highlighting Bioptimus’s unique blend of unparalleled data resources, elite talent, and extensive computational power. Together with Sofinnova’s deep expertise in life sciences, they are poised to redefine the future of the industry.
With this seed funding, Bioptimus is set to build the first universal AI foundation model for biology, promising to have a profound impact on science by capturing the complexity of biological systems and accelerating the pace of discovery and innovation.
