SoftBank听has backed an Oxford-based听础滨听drug discovery company听in听a听Series D funding听round worth up to 拢378 million.听
The Japanese giant鈥檚 Vision听Fund听2 has contributed听to a听拢162m听round, featuring several other investors,听which will drive forward听贰虫蝉肠颈别苍迟颈补鈥檚听plan for autonomous drug design.听听
A听further听拢216m听capital听from SoftBank is听available听鈥榓t听贰虫蝉肠颈别苍迟颈补鈥檚听discretion鈥�.听
The听clinical–stage听BioTech听company听uses AI across its platform from target identification through drug design and patient selection听in order to听precision engineer new medicines.听The company has advanced the first two fully AI-designed drugs into clinical trials and now has over 20 active programs in its pipeline.听
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SoftBank was听joined by previous round lead investors, Novo Holdings and funds managed by Blackrock. Other investors include Mubadala Investment Company, Farallon Capital,听Casdin听Capital, GT Healthcare Capital, Marshall Wace, Pivotal听bioVenture听Partners, Laurion Capital,听Hongkou听and Bristol-Myers Squibb.听听听
Funding from the Series D round will be used to advance听贰虫蝉肠颈别苍迟颈补鈥檚听proprietary pipeline through clinical testing as well as to continue expanding the technology platform toward autonomous drug design.听
Eric Chen, Managing Partner of SoftBank Investment Advisers, said: 鈥淲e believe听贰虫蝉肠颈别苍迟颈补鈥檚听innovative use of AI to discover and design better quality drugs with greater efficiency has the potential to create important medicines faster than ever before.听听
鈥�With the convergence of technology and biology, drug discovery is rapidly evolving in ways that will reshape the industry.听The听Exscientia听team have been leaders in AI-based drug discovery since the field’s inception and we believe they will continue shaping its future.鈥�听
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To date, the听company has been able to advance seven precision designed drugs from project initiation to development candidate in an average time of 12 months.听
Andrew Hopkins, CEO of听Exscientia,听added:听鈥淎ll of our investors share听贰虫蝉肠颈别苍迟颈补鈥檚听vision to discover better drugs, faster, through AI and automation.听听
鈥�Our patient-first AI platform has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to precision design drugs that address patients鈥� needs.听听
鈥�With the Series D completed, the quality and depth of our shareholder base allows us the freedom to continue to scale both our platform and pipeline.鈥�听
Exscientia听has offices in Oxford, Miami, Osaka and Dundee.听听听
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