BenchSci raises $50M for AI-powered drug R&D

Company looks to double its team and user base this year

BenchSci, which is creating machine learning applications for novel medicine development, has raised $50 million in series A funding.

Inovia Capital, which has invested in the firm since 2018, and TCV led the round.

The newly secured funds are targeted to expediting expansion plans.

"This funding demonstrates trust in our ability to build and deliver a next-generation AI solution that helps global pharmaceutical companies develop novel medicines faster, ” said Liran Belenzon, CEO of BenchSci.

“We're using breakthrough machine learning technology to shape the future of how life science companies conduct research, from identifying targets, to planning experiments, to determining clinical trial risks.”

Tapping into the ‘largely untapped’ preclinical R&D market

Based in Toronto, Canada, BenchSci was founded in 2015. Since its inception, it has raised $97 million.

The startup says its AI-powered software is used by more than 4,500 pharma research centers and 49,000 scientists worldwide.

The company’s machine learning models extract insights from published scientific data sources and pharmaceutical organizations' internal databases to establish relationships between biological entities.

“This technology is the foundation of all of BenchSci’s applications, which surface the appropriate information and insights to assist scientists at top global pharmaceutical companies in various stages of R&D,” the company said.