USA – US-based biotechnology company, Terray Therapeutics has raised US $120 million in a successful Series B funding round.
This round was led by Bedford Ridge Capital, with support from NVentures (NVIDIA’s venture capital arm).
It also attracted participation from both existing and new investors, including Maverick Capital, Goldcrest Capital, Madrona Ventures, Two Sigma Ventures, XTX Ventures, Digitalis Ventures, and Alexandria Ventures.
With Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati advising on the transaction, this investment is set to drive forward the company’s mission of enhancing small molecule drug development through advanced AI technologies.
Terray will use the funds to propel its internal drug development programs into clinical trials and further enhance its integrated AI platform, tNova, which supports both its internal projects and partnerships with other pharmaceutical companies.
Jacob Berlin, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of Terray, noted, “This funding will help bring new medicines to patients, speeding up the discovery process using our AI-powered platform.”
AI at the core of drug discovery
AI is transforming drug discovery by bridging the gap between disease knowledge and therapeutic development.
Terray Therapeutics leverages its proprietary AI platform, tNova, to combine rapid experimentation with advanced generative AI, speeding up the discovery and optimization of small molecule drugs.
This approach is particularly valuable in immunological diseases, where treatment options are limited.
Kimberly Powell, vice president of healthcare at NVIDIA, stated that Terray’s AI models benefit from unique data generation capabilities, remarking, “Their rapid experimentation combined with generative AI forms a flywheel for molecule discovery, allowing them to tackle the hardest targets.”
AI plays a critical role throughout the drug discovery pipeline. Machine learning models can identify target proteins, generative models help design new molecules, and reinforcement learning optimizes their properties.
Computer vision assesses tumor microenvironments, while natural language processing (NLP) mines scientific literature for drug repurposing and regulatory insights.
Predicting the 3D structure of target proteins from amino acid sequences is key in drug discovery, with AI systems like AlphaFold2 achieving major breakthroughs in this area, further advancing the field.
Data-driven drug design
Terray’s ability to generate and analyze vast datasets gives it a competitive advantage. Over the past three years, the company has measured more than 5 billion target-ligand interactions—roughly 50 times the publicly available data—offering unmatched AI capabilities for optimizing drug candidates.
This comprehensive data set doubles annually, ensuring Terray’s AI tools remain cutting-edge for small molecule drug discovery.
Terray’s success comes amid a broader surge in AI-driven biotechnology funding. For example, UK-based techbio company Antiverse recently raised €4.2 million (US $4.6 million) in seed funding, bringing its total equity financing to €8.6 million (US $9.3 million).
Antiverse leverages generative AI to design antibodies for difficult drug targets like G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and ion channels.
With a machine learning platform that can identify viable antibodies within six months, Antiverse is at the forefront of accelerating drug discovery, particularly for targets that traditional methods struggle to address.
Partnerships and internal development
Since securing Series A funding in 2021, Terray Therapeutics has made significant strides. It has rapidly advanced several immunology programs toward clinical trials, using AI to optimize chemical starting points.
The company has also forged partnerships with Calico and Bristol Myers Squibb to tackle complex diseases and develop targeted therapies.
Additionally, Terray introduced its COATI chemistry foundation model, pioneering new AI-driven methods like latent diffusion machine learning in drug design.
Terray’s integrated AI platform enables the discovery of therapeutics for some of the most challenging diseases, fulfilling its goal to bridge the gap between disease knowledge and the development of effective treatments.
Furthermore, to support its growing operations, Terray has bolstered its leadership with high-profile appointments.
These include Feroze Ujjainwalla as Chief Business Officer and Anna Goranson as Chief People Officer, as well as advisory board additions like John Maraganore, founding CEO of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, and biotech leaders Bassil Dahiyat and Sudha Parasuraman, who have joined the Board of Directors.
