A Scottish firm which aims to digitise the field of chemistry has raised more than £33m from international investors.
Chemify spun out from the University of Glasgow in March 2022 with a mission to accelerate the development of new drugs and medicines by automating the process of designing new molecules.
The latest $43m (£33.5m) Series A fundraise was led by Triatomic Capital, joined by new investors including Hong-Kong based Horizon Ventures, US-based Rocketship Ventures, Possible Ventures, Alix Ventures, Scottish investment firm Eos and the UK Government Innovation Accelerators program.
Existing investor Blue Yard Capital also participated in the round.
Founded in 2019 by CEO Lee Cronin with backing from David Cleevely (co-founder of Abcam), Chemify is based on decades of chemistry research, robotics, AI, and conceptual advancements from his Digital Chemistry Laboratory at the University of Glasgow in Scotland.
Prof Cronin’s pioneering research spans the digitisation of chemistry including the use of artificial intelligence in chemistry to explore ‘chemical space’ – to access and create the trillions of possible combinations of natural elements.
Chemify can help reduce the amount of costly and time-consuming experimentation required to discover promising new molecules, speeding up their development as products to underpin advances in medicine, farming, materials science, and green energy.
Cronin said: “It has long been our dream to digitise chemistry, and I’m delighted that through this funding, Chemify is building a company that can design, make, and discover complex molecules on demand using digital blueprints faster, more efficiently, and safely than is currently possible.
“Our mission is to deliver better molecules for pharmaceutical and industrial partners in a fraction of the time and cost currently required.”
Chemify has built a world-class team to commercialise the digitisation of chemistry.
Steve Hochberg from Triatomic Capital said: “We are excited to be leading the Series A in Chemify focussing on delivering digital-chemical solutions to many partners where molecular design and manufacturing is a critical bottleneck.”
By working closely with select partners with world-class expertise in drug discovery, advanced materials, industrial chemicals, and other specialties, Chemify aims to provide access to its platform and help solve the most complex and impactful chemical design and manufacturing challenges.