UK-based Antiverse raises $9.3M to develop antibodies for undruggable diseases

Antiverse, UK-based biotech developing AI-designed therapeutic antibodies for undruggable disease targets, closed a Series A round of $9.3 million. The round was led by Soulmates Ventures with participation from Innovation Investment Capital, DOMiNO Ventures and existing investors DBW, Kadmos Capital and i&i Biotech Fund. The Series A funding brings Antiverse’s total capital raised to over $20 million and will enable the company to scale its AI-powered antibody discovery platform for pharmaceutical and foundation partners, through collaborative programmes. The investment will also support expansion of its internal drug pipeline and advance lead antibody programmes toward in vivo efficacy studies.

One of the single biggest challenges facing modern medicine is the treatment and eradication of hundreds of diseases with so-called undruggable molecular targets. Drug discovery, however, is fraught with challenges, with notoriously high attrition rates – roughly 90% of drug candidates fail to reach approval in clinical trials. Antiverse’s AI-led computational technology focuses on developing antibodies against these challenging targets, including G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) and ion channels, which play vital roles in diseases such as cancer, neurological disorders, and rare genetic conditions such as cystic fibrosis.

These targets are often small, highly dynamic proteins embedded in cell membranes, making them difficult to isolate and study using traditional methods. As a result, effective therapies remain limited across large patient populations in oncology, neurological, and metabolic diseases. Despite their central role in human biology, more than 200 diseases linked to GPCRs still lack effective treatments, highlighting a significant unmet medical need - there are fewer than ten FDA-approved therapeutic antibodies targeting GPCRs, leaving large patient populations with limited or ineffective treatment options. The commercial opportunity is significant, with the global antibody discovery market projected to surpass USD 20.43 billion by 2034.

Backed by a team with expertise across AI and laboratory research, Antiverse uses machine learning to generate therapeutic antibody candidates for a given disease target, which are then built and tested in its own labs. These antibodies are tested on proprietary cell models that show the target protein as it appears in the human body, helping researchers see which ones work in realistic conditions. The finished, therapeutic-strength antibodies are then readied for clinical testing.

Antiverse has also entered into a research agreement with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CF Foundation) to design novel antibodies targeting the extracellular region of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) protein, a historically difficult target in cystic fibrosis research. Under the agreement, Antiverse will use its AI-driven modelling and optimisation platform to design antibodies targeting the extracellular region of CFTR. This agreement is designed to support the rapid evaluation of emerging therapeutic modalities and help accelerate progression from early discovery to patients.

Murat Tunaboylu, Co-Founder and CEO of Antiverse, said: “Many biologically important targets have remained difficult to drug using conventional antibody discovery methods. This Series A financing enables us to scale our generative antibody design platform, accelerate our internal pipeline, and expand strategic collaborations such as our work with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, where our technology is applied to explore challenging targets like extracellular CFTR. Together, these efforts help inform future research efforts and allow Antiverse to continue advancing our own therapeutic programs for patients.”

Through this combination of AI design and laboratory testing, Antiverse exponentially increases the likelihood of finding effective antibodies for complex disease targets. Its lab-in-the-loop approach allows rapid iteration between design and testing, particularly when compared to traditional discovery methods.

Michal Sikyta, Managing Partner at Soulmates Ventures, said: “Antiverse is tackling one of the most technically demanding problems in drug discovery. The team’s ability to reduce the development time for de novo therapeutic-grade antibodies in a defined domain to under four months is a significant scientific and operational achievement. This capability, combined with the AI-driven design and in-house labs, positions Antiverse on track to become a global leader and the go-to developer of antibody therapies for the most elusive disease targets in medicine”.

Antiverse has secured partnership agreements with multiple top-20 global pharmaceutical companies, including Nxera. The company is now looking to progress its first wholly owned candidates into later-stage preclinical development by 2027, while continuing to support pharmaceutical partners with antibody discovery programs.