The round is co-led by M Ventures and Debiopharm Innovation Fund with Omnes Capital; all joining as new investors. Series A will enable Iktos to expand its AI technology platform and launch Iktos Robotics; an AI-driven automated end-to-end drug discovery service.
Iktos, a company specializing in artificial intelligence for new drug discovery, today announces the closing of a € 15.5m Series A financing co-led by new investors M Ventures and Debiopharm Innovation Fund with participation from Omnes Capital.
This financing will enable the company to further develop its AI and drug discovery capabilities and expand its existing SaaS software offering, in addition to launching Iktos Robotics; a unique, end-to-end, drug discovery platform which combines artificial intelligence and automation of chemical synthesis to significantly accelerate drug discovery timelines. Within the financing Iktos will additionally extend the application of its solutions to biological products (peptides, antibodies, etc.). This allows Iktos to be one of the first companies to offer fully integrated drug discovery services to the pharmaceutical industry.
We believe Iktos has the potential to provide a competitive edge for the pharma industry as AI/ML becomes a core feature of R&D
Iktos AI solution in drug discover
Currently, the early stages of drug development – identification of therapeutic target to first clinical entry – takes on average 5 years, requiring an investment of ~$ 100m per drug candidate. The artificial intelligence solutions developed by Iktos are aimed to considerably speed up the drug discovery process, while increasing the probability of success of drug candidates reaching clinical development. This approach is already validated by Iktos through more than 50 academic and industrial collaborations, with multiple pharmaceutical and biotech companies such as Janssen, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, Pfizer, Servier, Ono and Teijin to name only a few.
