Computationally engineered enzyme (gray) for enhanced stability, bound to DNA (red).
Biomatter Designs raises €500k to develop AI for Generative Protein Design
Vilnius-born startup Biomatter Designs that pioneers the technologies for generative protein design, has raised €500,000 in seed funding led by Practica Capital, accompanied by 70V and angel investors. The raised capital will be used to further develop the company’s protein design technology and product pipeline.
Proteins are large, complex molecules that drive virtually every biological function. Naturally occuring proteins aid biochemical reactions, transport materials within the cell, transduce chemical signals, and play other crucial roles both in our bodies and around us. Proteins, when engineered to perform specific functions (e.g. binding and neutralizing pathogens, converting industrial waste to useful materials), have tremendous potential to solve some of humanity’s biggest challenges across healthcare, food, agriculture and other industries.
To accelerate the burdensome and resource-intensive process of protein engineering, Biomatter Designs has developed a machine learning powered platform for next-generation computational protein design. The platform analyses vast amounts of natural protein data to learn the complex rules governing the functions of proteins and later applies the acquired knowledge to design new protein molecules.
Laurynas Karpus, CEO of Biomatter Designs
“Our company is striving to shift the paradigm in protein engineering” – says Laurynas Karpus, the CEO of Biomatter Designs. “We are moving from classical protein discovery process to well-predictable computational protein design. Classical methods often resemble searching for a needle in the haystack – looking for the right answer in already existing or similar molecules. This takes a great amount of time and requires loads of expensive and time-consuming experimental data. This is where our technology steps in to intelligently augment the protein engineering process, allowing us to generate new proteins right from the first atom. When it comes to solving problems in healthcare or environmental sectors, we can’t afford to waste time.”
With their computational platform, Biomatter Designs are able to generate novel enzymes and protein therapeutics, which would otherwise be difficult to obtain by classical experimental and computational approaches.
“We are very excited to back this bold and long-term vision of Biomatter Designs. The interdisciplinary approach combined with a strong and proven Lithuanian academic and industrial experience in protein engineering, also adding new abilities of AI can lead to unprecedented outcomes. The potential is truly vast”, – says Donatas Keras, Partner at Practica Capital.
“70V is glad to have the opportunity to invest in ambitious A-grade talent like Laurynas and his team. We see enormous potential for Biomatter Designs and are excited to be able to help with going to market and accelerating the team’s expertise in enterprise sales.” – says Per Moller, Managing Partner at 70V.
About Practica Capital
Founded in 2011, Practica Capital is a dedicated Baltic VC focusing on investments in the Baltic (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) and Baltic-origin ventures in Europe. The company invests in seed, late seed and Series A ventures backing great teams behind the tech-driven businesses from the region and partnering with them as company builders. Practica Capital manages three venture capital funds with a total size of more than €50M. Of which the latest Practica Venture Capital II Fund was established in the framework of the financial instrument Development Fund I, managed by Invega and financed from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). To date, Practica Capital has made more than 55 investments, including the most prominent Lithuanian start-up ecosystem companies such as TransferGo, Trafi, CGtrader, NanoAvionics, Ziticity, Interactio, PVcase and others. Find out more: https://practica.vc
About 70V
70V is a revenue accelerator focusing on B2B high growth companies with ambitious talent. Through an individual accelerator program with investment up to EUR 300.000 they assist founders in recruiting, training and setting up a specialized outbound sales team, as well as, fine tuning lead generation and outreach. 70V acceleration fund was established in the framework of the implementation of the financial instrument “Acceleration Fund” of the Ministry of Economy and Innovation of the Republic of Lithuania, financed from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) managed by Invega. To date, 70V has invested and accelerated more than 30 companies, for more information visit: www.70V.com
