Cradle's AI Protein Programming Platform Secures $24 Million in Funding
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Recently, biotechnology and AI startup Cradle successfully raised $24 million for its generative-method-based protein design platform. The company emerged from stealth mode over a year ago, coinciding with the rise of large language models. Unlike other biotech firms that train models to understand molecular structures locally, Cradle's unique approach compares the long sequences of amino acids that make up human proteins to 'an alien programming language.' While humans may struggle to learn this language, AI models can, enabling scientists to collaborate with them. This method has attracted major pharmaceutical developers like Johnson & Johnson and Novozymes.
Cradle claims its technology can significantly reduce the time and number of experiments required for protein development. While not providing detailed evidence for the claim of halving development time, they offered an example: using their software to generate an alternative version of T7RNA polymerase, an RNA-producing enzyme that becomes more heat-resistant. Typically, teams might expect less than 5% of purposefully tweaked molecules to exhibit the desired properties, but 70% of the variants generated by Cradle showed increased stability.
Beyond T7RNA polymerase, Cradle is also developing 'a dehalogenase for removing soil pollution, a growth factor that promotes cell division, a transaminase that regulates metabolic pathways and helps understand certain diseases, and an antibody therapeutic.' CEO and founder Stef van Grieken stated that they have demonstrated the platform's potential to accelerate R&D and help partners launch bio-based products faster and more cost-effectively.
Cradle's technology is not limited to drug development but can also be applied in food and industrial sectors. Like similar tools, part of its appeal is that it doesn't require machine learning engineers to operate—scientists and labs can use it directly.
Regarding the establishment of biotech companies in Europe, van Grieken believes there are both advantages and disadvantages. Although raising funds for deep-tech startups in Europe is more complex than in the U.S., he emphasizes that Europe boasts a rich talent pool, particularly in Zurich, where there is an abundance of engineers from world-class universities like ETH and EPFL, and the competition for talent is less intense compared to the Bay Area. Additionally, many of the world's largest pharmaceutical and biotech companies are also based in Europe.
Cradle's recent $24 million Series A funding follows last year's $5.5 million seed round. Index Ventures led this funding round, with participation from seed investor Kindred Capital and individual investors such as Chris Gibson and Tom Glocer. The company plans to use the funds to expand its team and sales operations.
In the biotech sector, such technological innovations are expected to provide long-term competitive advantages for the company and its partners, while also bringing more efficient and cost-effective bioproduct development processes to the industry.