Isomorphic Labs raises $2.1 billion to expand AI drug design

Isomorphic Labs, an AI drug discovery company spun out of Google DeepMind, has raised $2.1 billion in a Series B funding round to expand its artificial intelligence platform for designing medicines and advance its pipeline of therapeutic candidates. The round was led by Thrive Capital and included participation from Alphabet and its venture arm GV, alongside new investors MGX, Temasek, CapitalG, and the UK Sovereign AI Fund.

Founded in 2021 and headquartered in London, Isomorphic Labs is led by CEO Demis Hassabis and president Max Jaderberg, with additional operations in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Lausanne, Switzerland. The company said the new funding will support the continued development and deployment of its AI drug design engine, IsoDDE, and accelerate and expand its therapeutic programs toward clinical testing. It also plans to hire across areas including AI, engineering, drug design, and clinical functions.

Isomorphic’s approach is rooted in work building on protein-structure prediction tools developed at DeepMind, including AlphaFold. In February, the company published a technical report describing the limitations it found in extending those capabilities to harder...