Cradle from the canton of Zurich has raised 24 million dollars from investors in a Series A financing round. It was led by Index Ventures, according to a statement. Kindred Capital and angel investors Chris Gibson, co-founder and CEO of Recursion, and Tom Glocer, former CEO of Thomson Reuters and Lead Director at Merck, also participated.
Cradle intends to use the investment to further expand its intuitive design platform for the development of proteins, to meet growing demand. The platform is reportedly already being used by nine industry partners, including Janssen Research & Development, Novozymes and Twist Bioscience. The platform uses generative artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.
“The application of AI in biology will be transformational, helping to solve some of the biggest health and climate challenges,” commented Index Ventures partner Sofia Dolfe. Compared to conventional methods, the platform roughly halves the time and cost of research and development when designing a protein-based product, according to the statement. It can reportedly also find solutions to problems that people cannot identify using existing methods and tools.
To further expand its capabilities in the emerging field of programming biology, Cradle plans to establish an additional location in Amsterdam to complement its sites in Kilchberg and Delft. CEO and co-founder Stef van Grieken said that the funding gives Cradle “everything we need to build on this momentum, accelerate our growth and onboard more customers to our platform”.
