Enveda Biosciences, a biotechnology firm that leverages artificial intelligence to identify potential medicines from natural sources, has closed a $311 million Series E financing round. The investment round valued the company at $2 billion, doubling the valuation it secured twelve months prior.
The funding was led by Catalio Capital Management and included participation from Iconiq and other investors. The new capital will support the company’s efforts to move more of its AI-discovered, nature-derived drug candidates through clinical development.
Founded in 2019 by Viswa Colluru, a former early employee of Recursion Pharmaceuticals, Enveda operates on the premise that effective therapies can be harvested from plants and microbes rather than created through traditional chemical synthesis. Colluru established the company to accelerate the discovery of these compounds using AI and other advanced techniques.
While no FDA-approved drugs have yet been discovered entirely through AI, Enveda is part of a growing cohort of startups advancing AI-led candidates into human testing. The company is currently evaluating several therapies in patients, including a treatment for severe skin conditions and another designed to help individuals maintain weight loss after discontinuing GLP-1 medications.
Recursion spinout founder doing it again. Viswa Colluru knows this space. Let’s hope the nature-derived angle yields unique molecules, not just derivatives.
GLP-1 weight loss maintainers sound clinically significant. The real test will be Phase 2 safety data, not just the money raised.
Thirty-one million? No, that’s $311 million. Huge bet on botanical chemistry. I wonder if they can replicate traditional plant efficacy at scale.
Nature meets silicon. A $2B valuation for biology-first AI discovery is bold, but the GLP-1 follow-on looks promising.