AI-Powered Protein Engineering Heightened by Cradle Bio’s $73M Series B – SynBioBeta

Innovative Synthetic Biology Company Cradle Bio Raises $73 Million in Series B Funding

In a significant stride for synthetic biology, Cradle Bio has announced a $73 million Series B funding round led by IVP, bringing the company’s total funding to over $100 million. This impressive raise comes as Cradle continues to transform protein engineering through its AI-powered platform, promising to reshape industries from therapeutics to agriculture.

Accelerating Protein Engineering Across Industries

Across the major markets Cradle operates in—therapeutics, diagnostics, agriculture, chemicals, and food—the company is seeing between 1.2x to 12x speedups in R&D. They are reducing the number of experimental cycles required to get to where people want to be to commercialize a protein.

From Two Customers to Industry Leaders

When Cradle secured its Series A funding, it had just two paying customers. Fast forward to today, and the company boasts 21 customers, with 31 molecules currently being developed on its platform. Notably, four out of the top 10 global pharmaceutical companies, including Johnson & Johnson and Novo Nordisk, are now clients.

Investing in Data and Talent

One of the keys to Cradle’s success lies in its early investment in its wet lab. From day one, they started building their own labs. This hands-on approach has enabled Cradle to generate proprietary datasets, which are crucial for training their AI models.

Ensuring Data Privacy and Ethical AI Use

Cradle ensures that clients retain all intellectual property rights for proteins engineered on their platform, with strict security controls over their data.

Looking Ahead: A Bright Future for AI in Biology

Cradle remains optimistic about the future. With continued speedups in development cycles and cost reduction, they believe more smart people will try to build innovative enzymes to solve various challenges and move away from hydrocarbons.

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

1. SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being

   • Target 3.3: By 2030, end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases, and other communicable diseases.
   • Indicator: The article mentions that Cradle’s AI-powered platform is being used in the therapeutics market, which suggests that it could contribute to the development of treatments for diseases and potentially help combat communicable diseases.

2. SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

   • Target 9.5: Enhance scientific research, upgrade the technological capabilities of industrial sectors in all countries, in particular developing countries, including, by 2030, encouraging innovation and substantially increasing the number of research and development workers per 1 million people and public and private research and development spending.
   • Indicator: The article highlights Cradle’s AI-powered platform as a transformative technology in protein engineering, which aligns with the target of enhancing scientific research and encouraging innovation.

3. SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

   • Target 12.2: By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources.
   • Indicator: Cradle’s AI-powered platform aims to reduce the number of experimental cycles required in protein engineering, which could contribute to more efficient use of resources in the development of therapeutics, diagnostics, agriculture, chemicals, and food.

4. SDG 13: Climate Action

   • Target 13.2: Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies, and planning.
   • Indicator: The article mentions that Cradle’s platform helps companies move away from hydrocarbons, which suggests that it could contribute to climate action by promoting the use of more sustainable alternatives.

Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

Source: synbiobeta.com