Multiply Labs, a San Francisco-based physical AI company focused on automating complex biomanufacturing processes, has announced a US$75 million Series B funding round. The investment brings the company's total capital raised to more than US$100 million since its founding in 2016, and it signals growing confidence in robotics for pharmaceutical production. The company is positioning the funding as a way to close the gap between AI-driven drug discovery and the slower, often manual realities of modern drug manufacturing.
Addressing a Critical Industry Bottleneck
AI-driven drug discovery is attracting tens of billions of dollars in private and public investment, yet drug manufacturing timelines have remained largely unchanged for decades. Many complex biomanufacturing processes still depend on manual operations, where a single unexpected contamination event can cost millions of dollars and delay patient access to life-saving medicine. Multiply Labs aims to reduce contamination risks, increase manufacturing capacity, and help more advanced therapies move from design to patients efficiently.
How the Robotic Platform Works
Multiply Labs deploys robotic clusters that integrate with a company's existing instruments and validated processes, removing the need for new facilities or changes to approved practices. Each cluster automates the timed, repetitive steps of biologics manufacturing inside an enclosed, GMP-compliant system that operates continuously. This autonomous approach delivers a 74% reduction in cost per dose and up to 100 times more throughput than manual manufacturing, while eliminating the manual handoffs where contamination risk is highest.
Expanding Beyond Cell and Gene Therapy
The company initially focused on cell and gene therapy and is now expanding its platform to advanced biologics, including antibodies, viral vectors, and mRNA. Multiply Labs states that each robotic cluster is owned and operated directly by the pharmaceutical or biologics company, rather than run as an outsourced service or separate contract manufacturing arrangement. This ownership model gives manufacturers direct control over production capacity, clinical data, and supply chain operations.
Investor Backing and Strategic Vision
The Series B round was led by Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong with NantWorks, with new investment from AstraZeneca, Lingotto, Teradyne, and Strange Ventures. Returning investors include Casdin Capital, Lux Capital, Fifty Years, Ora Global, and Founders Fund, among others. Chief Executive Officer Fred Parietti emphasized that robotics is the only way to deliver these therapies to patients at scale, and that the new capital will help build the required production capacity.
Funding Allocation and Next Steps
The new capital will support expanded manufacturing capacity, an accelerated product roadmap, and internal team growth across engineering, regulatory, and commercial functions worldwide. Multiply Labs intends to build the operational foundation needed to transition from clinical-stage deployments to commercial-scale production, while maintaining its direct ownership model. The company describes this shift as essential for keeping pace with the expanding pipeline of advanced therapies and the growing demand for biologics.
The US$75 million Series B signals growing investor confidence in physical AI as a practical solution to persistent biomanufacturing constraints. Multiply Labs is applying autonomous robotics to a challenge that increasingly determines whether promising AI-designed therapies actually reach patients in need. With new funding, strategic partners, and a clear commercial roadmap, the company aims to build manufacturing infrastructure capable of matching the speed and scale of modern drug discovery.