Original Coverage & Source Attribution: pulse2.com
WhiteLab Genomics has raised $26 million in Series B financing to expand its artificial intelligence platform for designing genomic medicines and accelerate development of experimentally validated bio-assets. AVP led the financing, with new investors Yaday Health and Blast Club joining existing investors Omnes Capital and Debiopharm Innovation Fund.
WhiteLab plans to use the funding to accelerate in vivo validation programs spanning viral and non-viral delivery technologies and programmable genetic payloads.
The company will also expand commercially across North America, Europe and Asia as it builds a portfolio of bio-assets that can be advanced internally or with pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners.
Founded in 2019, WhiteLab is developing AI technology intended to address one of the central challenges in genomic medicine: delivering a therapeutic payload safely and effectively to the correct cells and tissues.
Its proprietary platform, called ALFRED, or AI-Led Framework for Rational Exploration in Drug Design, applies artificial intelligence to the rational design and optimization of delivery systems used in cell and gene therapies.
WhiteLab combines computational design with experimental and in vivo testing, seeking to identify promising candidates earlier while reducing the time, cost and trial-and-error traditionally associated with developing genomic medicines.
The company has already applied the platform to adeno-associated viruses, or AAVs, which are widely used as delivery vehicles for genetic medicines.
In research conducted with the Paris Brain Institute, WhiteLab used ALFRED to design novel AAVs capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier.
In vivo studies showed that WhiteLab’s AI-designed candidates crossed the barrier while demonstrating a strong brain-to-liver targeting ratio and no detectable liver signal.
The blood-brain barrier protects the brain from potentially harmful substances but also presents a significant obstacle for therapies intended to treat neurological diseases.
WhiteLab believes more precise delivery into the central nervous system could expand the potential use of genomic medicines across conditions including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, lysosomal storage diseases and glioblastoma.
The AI-designed AAV candidates also demonstrated high sequence novelty, according to the company.
That characteristic could create differentiated intellectual property and provide additional freedom to operate for WhiteLab and its partners.
The candidates are also being designed with manufacturability and potential commercial-scale production in mind.
WhiteLab is now extending its approach beyond AAVs into non-viral delivery systems such as lipid nanoparticles.
The company is also developing programmable genetic payloads, including synthetic promoters that can help determine where and when a therapeutic gene is expressed.
By combining delivery-vehicle design with payload optimization, WhiteLab is seeking to develop multiple components of genomic medicines together rather than improving each component independently.
The Series B will support additional in vivo work across these technologies and help WhiteLab develop a broader portfolio of experimentally validated assets that could eventually be incorporated into therapeutic programs.
WhiteLab is also increasing its international commercial presence.
The company plans to strengthen its operations in Boston, which serves as a hub for relationships with North American biopharmaceutical companies, while expanding its presence on the U.S. West Coast.
In Asia, WhiteLab is pursuing opportunities in Japan and South Korea while continuing to grow across Europe.
Alongside the financing, WhiteLab has expanded its Board of Directors.
François Robinet, Managing Partner of AVP, and Dr. Daniel Teper, Managing Partner of Yaday Health and Founder and CEO of NAYA Therapeutics, have joined the Board.
WhiteLab will also present additional data from work involving Sanofi, Cytiva, the Paris Brain Institute and Institute Imagine at the upcoming European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy Annual Congress.
The presentations are expected to provide further information about the in vivo performance of WhiteLab’s AI-designed candidates and the platform’s potential to address delivery challenges in genomic medicine.
WhiteLab was accelerated through Y Combinator and works with industrial and academic organizations including Sanofi, Cytiva, the University of Massachusetts, the Vision Institute in Paris and the Paris Brain Institute.
The company is also a French Tech 2030 laureate and operates from Paris, Boston and Montreal.
AVP manages more than €2.5 billion in assets and has invested in more than 70 technology companies since its establishment in 2016.
Existing WhiteLab investor Omnes Capital manages €6.7 billion across infrastructure and private equity strategies, while new investor Blast Club has deployed more than €300 million into startups since its founding in 2023.
KEY QUOTES:
“AI can help us design better genomic medicines, but what ultimately matters is whether those designs work in living systems. We have already presented compelling results. This financing allows us to scale that work across multiple delivery technologies and payloads, build a portfolio of validated bio-assets and bring them to biopharma partners around the world.”
David Del Bourgo, Co-Founder and CEO of WhiteLab Genomics
“WhiteLab is building AI that designs genomic medicines that actually work in vivo, not just on paper. AI is about to have a real, tangible impact on genomic medicine and to contribute meaningfully to the development of new therapies. The combination of computational design, experimental validation and the ability to translate those designs into differentiated bio-assets is what attracted us to the company. We are very excited to join the journey and support David and the team as they enter this next phase.”
François Robinet, Managing Partner of AVP
“WhiteLab is at an inflection point. Their scientific approach is validated in vivo. The development of AI-designed bio-assets and expansion in the United States are what carry that from a platform capability to assets that drug developers can advance.”
Dr. Daniel Teper, Managing Partner of Yaday Health
