Healthtech
Q3 202418.07.2024

Drug discovery (Q3 2024)

Picture of Kai Nicol-Schwarz

Kai Nicol-Schwarz

at Sifted

Developing drugs is a very long and expensive process. It can take between 10 and 15 years and cost more than $1bn to bring one to market. It’s also hit and miss — with the latter doing most of the heavy lifting. 90% of drugs that make it to human trials — the final stage before approval — fail.

But increasingly startups are looking to speed up the process using new tech like proprietary machine learning algorithms and generative AI. While some are looking to develop their own drug candidates, others are building tools to be used by pharma companies and other biotechs.

For startups, there are reasons to be cheerful. AI and ML present a “huge opportunity” for tech companies to solve problems in the drug discovery space, one investor tells Sifted. Another says the approaching “patent cliff” — which will see several revenue-driving drug patents expire — is an “unprecedented opportunity” for startups as pharma companies look to bolster drug pipelines. Others say they’ve noticed lead times to sell into pharma drop since pre-Covid times.

Positive moves — but it’s still early days. While there are some AI-developed drugs in clinical trials, none have yet made it to market. With or without startups — drug discovery is a long game. Investors say major AI-driven advances in the drug discovery process will likely come in the next decade, rather than the next few years. But, if VC confidence in the sector holds, there’s every chance startups could play an increasingly key role in the sector going forward.

20 startups to watch

  • CHARM Therapeutics logo

    Sifted score

    9.13
    -

    CHARM Therapeutics

    3D deep learning for undruggable diseases.

    • Strong investor(s)
    • Serial founder(s)

    • Year founded

      2021

    • HQ

      London, United Kingdom

    • Latest round

      Early VC
      €18.2m / Apr 2023

    • Total funding

      €75.1m

    View company profile
  • Aqemia logo

    Sifted score

    9.02
    -

    Aqemia

    • Strong investor(s)
    • Serial founder(s)
    • Hiring

    • Year founded

      2019

    • HQ

      Paris, France

    • Latest round

      Series A
      €30m / Jan 2024

    • Total funding

      €70.9m

    View company profile
  • Chemify logo

    Sifted score

    8.08
    -

    Chemify

    • Strong investor(s)
    • Serial founder(s)
    • Hiring

    • Year founded

      2022

    • HQ

      Glasgow, United-Kingdom

    • Latest round

      Series A
      €39.8m / Aug 2023

    • Total funding

      €39.8m

    View company profile
  • Abzu logo

    Sifted score

    7.98
    -

    Abzu

    Explainable AI for pharmaceutical research.

    • Strong investor(s)
    • Serial founder(s)

    • Year founded

      2018

    • HQ

      Copenhagen, Denmark

    • Latest round

      Grant
      €2.5m / Jun 2022

    • Total funding

      €10.4m

    View company profile
  • Kvantify logo

    Sifted score

    7.97
    -

    Kvantify

    • Strong investor(s)
    • Serial founder(s)

    • Year founded

      2022

    • HQ

      Copenhagen, Denmark

    • Latest round

      Grant
      €2m / Oct 2023

    • Total funding

      €9m

    View company profile

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