immunitoAI Bags $6.1 Mn From pi Ventures, Others To Develop Antibody Treatment

Bengaluru-based AI startup immunitoAI has raised $6.1 Mn in its Series A round led by investor and fund manager Ashish Kacholia. 

The round also saw participation from new investors like 3one4 Capital and AC Ventures along with existing investors such as pi Ventures, Anicut Capital, JITO Incubation & Innovation Foundation and LVX, JJ Family and Angels.

Its cofounder and CEO Aridni Shah told Inc42 that Kacholia infused around $3 Mn in the round, while pi Ventures and Anicut invested $1.25 Mn and $1 Mn respectively. The remaining capital came from the other investors.

Founded in 2020 by Shah and Trisha Chatterjee, immunitoAI is an AI platform that designs new antibody therapeutics from scratch without relying on traditional biological sources like animals or humans. 

Its generative AI models create antibody sequences for any target antigen. The AI-led process reduces the time for developing an antibody from the typical 4-5 years to 11-12 months.

Antibodies are proteins produced by the immune system to fight diseases and these proteins undergo long development and trial phases before being finalised as treatments for specific diseases like cancer etc .

The startup tests its  antibody sequences in its own wet lab. While it is currently pre-revenue, the company sees pharma firms as potential clients.

Prior to this round, the biotech startup raised around $1.8 Mn in seed and bridge funding. Per Shah, the capital raised earlier was spent on the platform’s tech and making it trial ready. The new funds will help develop these antibodies, which will also be the company’s IP. 

On the revenue model, Shah said the startup will pursue three approaches- selling a developed IP or antibody to pharma companies, creating custom antibodies based on client demand and eventually developing complete drugs to sell in the market as a pharma company.

The founder said that in future the startup could charge around $300 Mn plus royalty for developing a fully customised antibody. Selling an already developed IP/anti body would be priced even higher per client.

As per a report, the global monoclonal antibodies market was valued at $226.63 Bn in 2023 and is projected to surpass $729.43 Bn by 2033. North America accounted for the largest share of the mAbs market and Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing region.

Shah noted that no Indian company currently offers a similar solution, though global players like Nabla Bio, Generate Biomedicines and Chai2 have offerings comparable to immunitoAI.

This fundraise comes at a time when the wider Indian healthcare sector, whether robotic surgery, drug discovery or day-to-day patient care, is set for a major transformation with GenAI. Players like Apollo Hospitals, Max Healthcare and health-focussed startups like Healthify are adopting GenAI to optimize their potential. Even pharma giants like Pfizer, Novartis and Merck are already using GenAI for drug discovery.

Just today, startups like Morphle Labs and CrisprBits have raised $5 Mn and $3 Mn respectively.