Canadian startup Deep Genomics scored $180 million in Series C funding for its artificial intelligence technology designed to help program and prioritize transformational RNA therapeutics for genetic diseases.

The round was led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2* with participation from Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC, Alexandria Venture Investments, Amplitude Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Magnetic Ventures, and True Ventures.

This new infusion of cash brings the company’s total raise to $236.4 million in funding, according to Crunchbase. 

WHAT IT DOES

The Toronto-based company was founded in 2015, and specializes in predictive AI systems. Its main program, dubbed the AI Workbench, was designed to help decipher RNA data and in turn pinpoint novel targets for genetically defined diseases. 

The system uses AI and machine learning to come up with “billions of predictions” related to genetic variants and novel compounds. 

“RNA therapeutics are a digital sequence of nucleotides, which means medicines have become digital information. Our AI Workbench enables us to precisely program RNA therapeutics, much like computer code, to perform a wide range of functions,” Brendan Frey, founder and CEO of Deep Genomics, said in a statement.

“This AI Workbench, paired with terabytes of proprietary data, enables us to tackle the enormous complexity of RNA biology and identify novel targets, mechanisms, and RNA therapeutics, which cannot be found without AI. We believe this will have a tremendous positive impact on patients’ lives.” 

WHAT IT’S FOR 

The company plans to use the new cash to help expand its pipeline and scale. According to the company’s release, it is in the process of bringing its first ten AI programs to the market, but the new money will help it expand its pipeline to 30 programs.

Next up, the company plans to focus on large-scale data generation to help find novel gene targets, mechanisms and preclinical programs. 

“This financing further validates the significant advances in our AI discovery platform and growth of our proprietary preclinical pipeline,” Frey said. “It is rewarding to work with investors who recognize the long-term potential of our AI platform as we continue to identify novel targets and develop transformative medicines for patients.

MARKET SNAPSHOT 

The life science world has begun to invest heavily in AI technology. In late June, AI-enabled drug-discovery startup Insilico Medicine scored a whopping $225 million in a Series C funding round led by Warburg Pincus. 

Earlier this summer Valo, a tech-enabled drug discovery company, went public through a $2.8 million SPAC merger. This came just months after Valo scored $300 million in Series B funding.

West Coast tech giant NVIDIA teamed up with AstraZeneca on a new drug-discovery model called MegaMoIBART, which is aimed at "reaction prediction, molecular optimization and de novo molecular generation."