Biotech startup Enveda raises $311M to advance AI-discovered nature-based drugs
Enveda, a biotech startup using AI to find drugs in nature, has raised $311 million at a $2 billion valuation. The company already has several AI-discovered drug candidates in human clinical trials.
Biotech startup Enveda has closed a new funding round worth $311 million, reaching a $2 billion valuation. The round was led by Catalio Capital Management, with participation from Iconiq and other investors. The new valuation is double what the company achieved 12 months ago.
Medicines drawn from nature
Enveda's core idea is that powerful medicines can be harnessed from plants and microbes rather than synthesized from scratch in a lab. The company was founded in 2019 by Viswa Colluru, an early employee of Recursion Pharmaceuticals, with the goal of using AI and other techniques to speed up the discovery of such drugs.
Clinical trials already underway
While no AI-discovered drug has yet received FDA approval, Enveda is among a group of companies pushing such candidates into human clinical trials. The startup is currently testing several drugs in patients, including one targeting severe skin conditions and another designed to help people maintain weight loss after stopping GLP-1 medications.
