WhiteLab Genomics, a TechBio company using artificial intelligence to design genomic medicines, has closed a $26 million Series B financing led by AVP.
New investors Yaday Health and Blast Club participated alongside existing investors Omnes Capital and Debiopharm Innovation Fund. The financing will support in vivo validation programmes across viral and non-viral delivery technologies and programmable genetic payloads, as well as commercial expansion across North America, Europe and Asia.
Designing Delivery Systems and Genetic Payloads With AI
WhiteLab Genomics was founded in 2019 and is co-founded by CEO David Del Bourgo. The company develops the components used in genomic medicines, focusing on both the systems that deliver genetic material to cells and the genetic payloads themselves.
Its proprietary ALFRED platform, short for AI-Led Framework for Rational Exploration in Drug Design, uses AI to design delivery systems for cell and gene therapies. The platform identifies potential designs that are then experimentally validated and tested in vivo.
In work with the Paris Brain Institute, WhiteLab Genomics used ALFRED to design novel adeno-associated viruses, or AAVs, for delivering genetic medicines. According to the company, its AI-designed candidates crossed the blood-brain barrier in in vivo studies while demonstrating a strong brain-to-liver targeting ratio and no detectable liver signal.
WhiteLab Genomics is extending the same approach beyond AAVs to non-viral delivery technologies, including lipid nanoparticles, and programmable genetic payloads such as synthetic promoters designed to control where and when a therapeutic gene is expressed.
Expanding In Vivo Validation and Global Partnerships
The Series B will support WhiteLab Genomics as it expands its validation programmes across multiple delivery technologies and payloads. The company plans to build a portfolio of experimentally validated bio-assets that it can advance independently and with pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners.
WhiteLab Genomics will also expand its international commercial operations. It plans to strengthen its Boston operations and grow its presence on the U.S. West Coast. In Asia, the company is pursuing opportunities in Japan and South Korea while continuing to expand its activities across Europe.
Alongside the financing, François Robinet, Managing Partner at AVP, and Dr. Daniel Teper, Managing Partner at Yaday Health, have joined WhiteLab Genomics’ Board of Directors.
The company also plans to present additional data from its work with Sanofi, Cytiva, the Paris Brain Institute and Institute Imagine at the European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy Annual Congress, including further results on the in vivo performance of its AI-designed candidates.