Basecamp Research, an AI company dedicated to solving the most pressing challenges in the life sciences by exploring beyond known biology, has secured a $60 million Series B financing. The round was led by Singular. Dr. Liu is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and a Core Member of the Broad.
Investment details
This financing attracted prominent investors and industry leaders at the intersection of AI and the life sciences. With this, the total funding raised by the company to date accounts for $85 million.
The Series B round was led by Singular (which invested in Soda and Synthflow), with additional investors including S32, redalpine (which invested in Infinite Robots and Legalfly), André Hoffmann, Vice-Chairman of Roche, Feike Sijbesma, Chair of Royal Philips and Former CEO of DSM, and Paul Polman, former CEO of Unilever. Returning investors participating in Series B include True Ventures and Hummingbird Ventures (which backed Lovable and Anima).
The proceeds of this round will go toward scaling the pace and volume of Basecamp Research’s data collection, growing its foundational dataset that already contains 100 times more advanced biological systems than the public databases most used by pharma researchers. It will also continue to strengthen its AI capabilities, investing heavily in computing and working on a new generation of foundational models to tackle increasingly complex tasks.
The funding round follows 15 successful commercial bioscience partnerships across a wide range of industries. As part of its expansion, it is adding to its management team, biotech veteran Anupama Hoey as Chief Commercial Officer, who brings more than 20 years of leadership experience and has transacted multiple biopharma deals worth more than $5 billion.
Liu Lab collaboration
In addition to this, the company has entered a multi-year collaboration with the laboratory of Dr. David R. Liu at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. The Basecamp Research and the Liu Lab collaboration anticipates advancing new approaches to programmable genetic medicines that have the potential to transform treatments for a wide range of diseases.
What do investors say?
S32’s Andy Conrad, former CEO of Google’s Verily Life Sciences, commented, “Basecamp Research has dedicated itself to solving some of the toughest challenges in the life sciences and is taking a truly first principles approach to address questions that the biopharma industry hasn’t even known to ask.”
Raffi Kamber, General Partner at Singular, said, “The team at Basecamp Research is building powerful AI models that truly understand the breadth and complexity of biology. Their knowledge graph offers a step change in the performance of AI-based design and a fundamental shift in how life science teams innovate. We’re thrilled to support a visionary company and team poised to reshape an entire industry.”
AI design for biotech
Founded by Glen Gowers and Oliver Vince in the UK, Basecamp Research is a key player in mapping biodiversity for AI-based design of biological systems. It matches and refines novel proteins for its partners’ exact industrial, therapeutic, or diagnostic applications using BaseGraph, a new generation of AI design powered by the first-ever high-resolution map of global genetic biodiversity.
Understanding the full genetic, evolutionary, and environmental context of each protein allows the company to design tailored proteins for specific applications without the need for expensive and time-consuming directed evolution campaigns.
“We are pushing past AI’s limits in biological design by doubling down on solving the fundamental data gap that the entire biotech industry faces,” said Dr. Glen Gowers, co-founder and CEO of Basecamp Research. “Basecamp Research is using its technology to generate new and deeper insights, going beyond known biology and each day expand what we can offer to our partners in the biopharma ecosystem.”
What do we think about the company?
Basecamp Research’s $60 million raise positions it to revolutionise biological insights with its AI, offering breakthroughs in drug discovery and sustainable solutions. By focusing on under-explored biodiversity data and leveraging partnerships with industry leaders, its technology could outpace competitors like DeepMind’s AlphaFold 2. Its potential lies in transforming biopharma R&D, though its immediate focus is B2B rather than public-facing products.
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