Biossil hits unicorn status with new OpenAI-led financing

Biossil has become the latest Canadian unicorn after a major financing round led by OpenAI. 

The news: The Toronto-based biotech firm, which buys failed drug projects and gives them another chance with the help of AI, has raised $153 million USD ($216 million CAD) at a $1 billion USD valuation. The Globe and Mail first reported the news Monday morning, and Biossil co-founder and CEO Anthony Mouchantaf confirmed the details to BetaKit in an email.

The round was led by the OpenAI Startup Fund, with additional backing from Founders Fund, Quiet Capital, Modern Capital, Golden Ventures, Panache Ventures, Duke University’s endowment fund, and the Abu Dhabi Investment Council. 

The all-equity funding will be used to expand Biossil’s clinical development capacity and buy more drug candidates for its project pipeline.

From the source: Mouchantaf didn’t provide additional comment, but said in a LinkedIn post that the company will “have more to say in the coming weeks and months.” Mouchantaf’s post added that biomedical insights emerging from AI need to be translated into the physical world to benefit patients.

“That requires dedicated infrastructure capable of integrating AI and medicine together from discovery through development and into the clinic,” Mouchantaf said. “We’re building that infrastructure in the United States and Canada.”

The context: After quietly working on buying and resurrecting drug projects for three years, Biossil exited stealth this past April with $70 million USD in funding. The startup uses an AI platform to identify molecules that could make good drug candidates but didn’t make it all the way through their own clinical trials. When Biossil sees potential, it buys or licenses those molecules from the original creators, allowing the startup to go through a development process that doesn’t have to start from scratch like a traditional pharmaceutical developer.

Final thought: Many AI companies are pursuing healthcare applications for their models. AI giant Anthropic has its own biolab in California, while Canadian AI model developer Cohere acquired biopharmaceutical data processing startup Reliant AI this past May to accelerate its entry into the healthcare sector. 

Some of Biossil’s research trials are looking to treat sickle cell disease, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, glioblastoma, breast cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease. 

Feature image courtesy Pexels. Photo by Chokniti Khongchum.