Adaptyv Biosystems, a Swiss biotech innovator, has successfully closed a $40 million Series A funding round to advance its automated laboratory platform. Led by Highland Europe, with participation from existing investors Ace Ventures, ByFounders, and Y Combinator, the investment will fuel the company's mission to accelerate protein engineering. The platform addresses a critical bottleneck by enabling rapid experimental validation of AI-designed proteins for various applications.
Addressing the AI-Biology Bottleneck
The rise of artificial intelligence has enabled the design of thousands of novel protein candidates in a fraction of the time previously required. However, traditional wet labs are not equipped to handle this high volume of validation, creating a significant delay in development. This bottleneck slows down progress in crucial areas like drug discovery and the creation of new biomaterials.
Adaptyv Biosystems bridges this gap with its automated, AI-native laboratory that transforms digital protein sequences into real-world experimental data. The platform handles the entire workflow, from in-house DNA synthesis and protein expression to precise binding measurements. This streamlined process drastically reduces costs and turnaround times for researchers and pharmaceutical companies alike.
Demonstrated Success and Market Traction
The company has demonstrated significant market traction, growing its lab throughput by over 500% in the last year alone. It has onboarded more than 100 clients, including prominent AI labs like Chai Discovery and pharmaceutical giants such as Roche and Novo Nordisk. This rapid adoption underscores the urgent industry need for its high-throughput validation services.
A recent collaboration with Anthropic highlighted the platform's power, where the Claude AI model designed novel proteins that Adaptyv successfully tested. The AI achieved an impressive 26.8% hit rate, matching or even exceeding the performance of human experts on most targets. This partnership validates the powerful concept of AI agents driving real-world biological experiments and discovery.
Strategic Expansion and Future Vision
The new $40 million in capital will be used to scale operations to meet the surging demand for its services. Adaptyv plans to double its team in Lausanne and establish a new office and laboratory in London by the fourth quarter of 2026. This expansion is crucial for increasing capacity and serving a growing international client base.
The founders envision building a "biological gigafactory" to power what they term "agentic biology". This future involves AI agents autonomously designing experiments, running them in automated labs, and iterating based on the results. Adaptyv aims to provide the essential high-throughput infrastructure to make this continuous loop of discovery a reality.
This Series A funding round positions Adaptyv Biosystems as a pivotal player in the biotechnology landscape. By providing the critical infrastructure for AI-driven research, the company is set to unlock new possibilities in medicine and materials science. Its automated platform is poised to become the standard for validating the next generation of engineered proteins.