Cradle, a platform for AI-powered protein engineering, said it has raised $73 million in Series B funding “to respond to rising demand for its technology in R&D intensive industries.”
Cradle is based in Amsterdam and Zurich.
The round was led by IVP with participation from previous investors Index Ventures and Kindred Capital. The new funding takes the total raised by Cradle to date over $100 million.
“Proteins are at the core of many products, from pharmaceuticals to food,” said Cradle.
“Engineering these molecular machines has the power to reshape our world— enabling life-changing therapeutics, animal-free foods, eco-friendly pesticides, oil-free chemicals, and more.
“Developing new proteins is therefore key to unlocking smarter, more sustainable solutions to some of our toughest societal and planetary challenges, from fighting climate change to transforming healthcare and manufacturing.
“However, traditional research methods for engineering better proteins have been slow, expensive, and unreliable. It can take years and many millions of dollars to run a successful R&D process and many projects are never completed successfully because they cannot achieve their targets.
“Cradle’s AI platform enables scientists to accelerate the discovery and development of improved proteins by making the process of engineering better proteins significantly easier, faster, and more cost-effective. The key to Cradle’s success lies in its AI platform’s unique approach, which allows it to dramatically reduce the number of experimental rounds needed.
“Cradle accelerates protein research & development as much as ten-fold
“Cradle has experienced rapid growth, and is now in commercial deployment across a wide range of industries. In the last year, Cradle has significantly expanded its customer base and impact, signing new partnerships with Novo Nordisk and Ginkgo Bioworks and growing its customer base to include pharmaceuticals, chemicals, food, agriculture, and materials.”
Stef van Grieken, Cradle’s CEO and co-founder, said: “Cradle was founded on the belief that we could solve global planetary and human health challenges by using generative AI to rapidly accelerate the development of bio-based products.
“Over the past two years, our own research and our collaborations with partners have proven that this technology can deliver remarkable results across a range of applications, from developing new vaccines and sustainable chemicals, to novel diagnostics and agricultural crop protection.
“Our goal is now to put Cradle’s software into the hands of a million scientists and empower them to build great products. Our Series B will make this next phase of growth possible and we’re delighted to have the backing of IVP to help us scale.”
Alex Lim, General Partner at IVP, said: “Biology is one of the domains where generative AI can have the biggest positive impact and Cradle is leading the way with its pioneering approach to protein design as a digital service.
“Given the costs associated with drug discovery or similar fields of research, any efficiencies at the R&D stage will translate to both major financial returns for customers and significant real-world benefits for humanity.
“With impressive results delivered by Cradle’s platform just two years after launch, we see a bright future ahead for one of Europe’s – and the world’s – most consequential AI companies.”