VILYA, Inc., a biotech company focused on creating innovative medicines targeting disease biology with precision, has announced a significant expansion of their Series A financing, totaling $71 million. ARCH Venture Partners, the founding and lead investor, is joined by other top-tier life science and technology funds, including NVIDIA’s NVentures, Menlo Ventures, Madrona, Lifeforce Capital, and Altitude Life Science Ventures.

"The support from these distinguished investors will greatly enhance our generative AI platform, expanding the variety of macrocycles we can design, synthesize, and develop, as well as the range of targets we can address," stated Cyrus Harmon, Ph.D., CEO of Vilya. "This funding will also allow us to swiftly advance our macrocycles to clinical development candidates."

Vilya's technology leverages sophisticated computational methods to design novel macrocycles with atomic-level accuracy and improved drug-like properties. A study published in Science last month confirmed the validity of Vilya’s innovative drug discovery approach. Traditional discovery methods often rely on random screening and chance, exploring only a small portion of the vast chemical space and frequently resulting in macrocyclic drugs with suboptimal pharmacokinetic properties. Vilya’s technology enables precise targeting of disease biology, addressing areas where new treatments are still needed.

As part of this financing round, Menlo Ventures’ Partner Greg Yap has joined Vilya's board. Yap noted, "Vilya’s combination of advanced AI technology with seasoned drug developers allows for the exploration of a challenging yet valuable drug class. Their focus on macrocycles and high-throughput platform facilitates rapid iteration from prediction to testing of drug candidates, accelerating the development of lifesaving medicines and enhancing their AI platform."

Mohamed “Sid” Siddeek, Corporate Vice President and Head of NVentures, added, "The use of generative AI in the biotech industry has led to revolutionary discoveries. Vilya’s unique approach to designing novel macrocycles with AI holds significant potential for patient care."

Founded in 2022 by scientists from the Institute of Protein Design (IPD), led by David Baker, Ph.D., and ARCH Venture Partners, Vilya is building a team with deep expertise in computational drug discovery, drug design, chemistry, biology, and clinical and corporate development. The leadership includes Cyrus Harmon, Ph.D., CEO; Katerina Leftheris, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer; Patrick Salveson, Ph.D., Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer; and Inca Dieterich, Ph.D., Co-Founder and Vice President of Business Development.

 

Source: globenewswire.com

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