Belfast-based biotech company AMPLY Discovery has raised £900,000 to develop new drug products using its proprietary AI-driven drug discovery platform.
The Queen’s University Belfast spinout was established in 2021 to commercialise an innovative drug discovery platform.
The company’s initial flag-ship programme is developing a new anti-infective product to tackle bovine mastitis and has received grant funding from Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency under its ICURE Aid for Start Ups programme.
The company has raised further funding to support its development programmes through equity investment from Co-fund NI, which is managed by Clarendon Fund Managers and supported by Invest NI and the British Business Bank, the QUBIS Innovation Fund, the Helix Way Partnership, and angel investment from members of the Halo Business Angel Network (HBAN).
Dr Ben Thomas, CEO and co-founder, said: “It is exciting to be able to advance the commercial development of AMPLY Discovery thanks to the tremendous support of our investors and Queen’s University Belfast.
“The development of initial research in this domain started out almost a decade ago when I considered adopting AI and machine learning techniques I had worked with in financial markets for the computational biology domain.”
Dermot Tierney, chief commercial officer and co-founder said: “This latest funding milestone is a significant achievement for AMPLY Discovery and will allow us to target significant commercial opportunities for new anti-infective products starting with bovine mastitis.”