Boston-based biotechnology company PostEra, specializing in machine learning for preclinical drug discovery, has received $ 24M in equity financing to accelerate medicinal chemistry and bring new cures to patients.
The startup will use the proceeds to advance a series of partnered drug discovery programs, initiate its internal drug discovery, and further develop its medicinal chemistry platform. It has also entered into a multi-target strategic partnership with Pfizer to establish an AI Lab.
The Clermont Group, an international business group, headquartered in Singapore, led the Series A financing with Breyer Capital, Lifeforce Capital and I2BF Global Ventures, alongside existing investors including Metaplanet HOF Capital, Ace & Company, Pioneer Fund, and R. Martin Chavez.
“PostEra is excited to welcome the Clermont Group as a shareholder,” said Aaron Morris, CEO of PostEra.
“We share the same passion for innovation and commitment to improving lives by accelerating the discovery of treatments for diseases,” added Aaron.
PostEra is trying to transform the drug discovery process using AI and machine learning
PostEra has inked several partnerships, and the one with Pfizer is prominent. The company has tried its mettle to develop antivirals in the COVID Moonshot project, a non-profit, open-science consortium of scientists around the world to create affordable and easily-manufactured antivirals against Covid-19.
While PostEra’s first partnership with Pfizer was focused on innovation around machine learning — as opposed to pushing drug discovery programs into the clinic — the expansion of that deal will now pave the way for the establishment of an AI Lab, where PostEra and Pfizer will work together on multiple drug discovery programs with an initial focus in oncology and Covid-19 antivirals.
The Series A funds will be used to hunt for new partnerships, expand the company’s current medicinal chemistry platform, and kick off work on the company’s internal targets.
The company advances small molecule programs through partnerships
PostEra was founded in 2019 and its technology is built on pioneering academic research done by its founding scientists.
The startup’s technology addresses critical challenges in drug discovery R&D by integrating molecular design with chemical synthesis.
The company advances small molecule programs through partnerships with biopharma, working on its internal pipeline, and offering some of its synthesis technology via its Manifold web platform.
