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AI firm BenchSci raises $50M for tech that takes waste out of preclinical research

2 years ago 201

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BenchSci claims its artificial intelligence technology teaches computers to read and think like a Ph. D. scientist. The young company has placed this software in the hands of pharmaceutical companies and research institutions, and it now has $50 million in funding to support the expansion of the technology.

The $50 million ($63 million in Canadian dollars) announced Monday is a Series C round of funding. The investment was led by Inovia Capital and TCV.

The software of Toronto-based BenchSci uses machine-learning models to extract insights from published scientific data and the internal databases of pharmaceutical companies. BenchSci says that these models understand the biological significance of the extracted data and they establish relationships between biological entities.

BenchSci is focused on improving research productivity at the preclinical stage, where the work can be hindered by “preclinical waste,” such as using inappropriate reagents in experiments. Searching for and testing reagents takes time and money. BenchSci’s technology uses AI to help users select reagents for testing, which in turn reduces the chances that these experiments fail. The company stems from the research stumbles encountered by its founder, Tom Leung, who was researching cancer. Using an inappropriate antibody as a reagent caused him to lose rare patient samples, according to the BenchSci website. Leung teamed up with scientists at the University of Toronto to develop a software solution to preclinical waste.

BenchSci was founded in 2015. It launched a commercial version of its technology in 2017. According to BenchSci’s website, its technology has been used to analyze more than 12.1 million research papers and 57.9 million reagents. The company claims its technology is currently used by 16 pharmaceutical companies, such as Sanofi, AbbVie, GlaxoSmithKline, and Eli Lilly. The technology is also used in more than 4,500 research centers across the world. In the funding announcement, BenchSci CEO Liran Belenzon said that his company’s next-generation AI software helps pharma companies develop new medicines faster.

“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,” he said. “The confidence demonstrated by global pharmaceutical companies who are early adopters of our new solutions was enough to convince Inovia Capital to fund another round and prompt TCV to back our meteoric hypergrowth.”

Prior to Monday’s funding announcement, BenchSci last raised money in 2020, a Series B round of financing. The latest financing brings BenchSci’s total funding haul to date to $97 million. Besides Inovia Capital, investors in earlier financings include F-Prime and Google’s AI fund Gradient Ventures.

Photo: RomoloTavani, Getty Images

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