Kuano, a drug discovery company combining quantum mechanics with AI to design the following generation of medicines, today announced the close of its £1.8M seed funding round, led by Mercia Ventures, and including ACF Investors, Ascension Ventures, o2h Ventures, Meltwind Advisory LLP, and other Angel investors. The investment will facilitate further validation of Kuano’s quantum simulation platform for the design of more practical drug candidates targeting enzymes, in addition to continued Company growth through strategic partnerships and recruitment.
Dysfunctional enzymes are implicated in lots of human diseases and are due to this fact a prevalent goal in today’s drug market. Nonetheless, until now scientists have only been capable of view enzymes of their ‘resting’ state, and never of their fully functioning ‘dynamic’ states. As different enzymes may appear very similar in a resting state, drugs designed to focus on one may affect others, potentially impacting drug safety and efficacy.
Kuano’s quantum simulation platform enables scientists to see and model enzymes of their dynamic state, opening recent possibilities for more practical drug design. Combining these unique enzyme profiles with its suite of AI tools, Kuano can then predict one of the best structures with which to focus on them. Drug candidates designed this fashion are a precise match to the goal enzyme, meaning that they’re due to this fact more likely to be stronger with fewer unintended effects. The platform has already been validated in three separate disease areas, including bowel cancer and lymphoma.
“Enzymes play a wide-ranging role in disease, but current technologies are unable to develop drugs to tackle most of them. Our team at Kuano recognised the necessity to overcome these limitations.” Vid Stojevic, Co-founder and CEO, Kuano, said. “Our platform creates a ‘quantum lens’ that reveals the difference between enzymes and allows us to focus on each individually, without affecting the others. This funding round is not going to only allow us to proceed our laboratory work, but additionally to strengthen our management team and prepare the Company for scaling.”
Kuano was co-founded in 2020 by Drs Vid Stojevic, an authority in quantum physics and AI, David Wright, who makes a speciality of molecular modeling and simulation, Parminder Ruprah, a highly experienced ‘drug hunter’, and Jarryl D’Oyley, an authority computational medicinal chemist. The newest seed funding brings the whole investment raised by Kuano to this point to £2.8M. On this round, Mercia was investing from its EIS funds, and Kuano was advised by enterprise capital advisory firm KPMG Acceleris.
Robert Hornby, Enterprise Capital Investor, Mercia, added: “Fewer than 20% of enzymes have thus far been targeted by drugs due to the issue in understanding their dynamic states. Kuano’s quantum simulation platform goes beyond existing AI models and means they’ll design drugs for previously ‘undruggable’ enzymes. The Company addresses an enormous untapped market and has already attracted the eye of leading pharmaceutical corporations. This investment will enable it to maneuver to the following stage.”
We’re excited to be working with Kuano as they go from strength to strength. Artificial intelligence and quantum computing will proceed to have a staggering effect on the way in which the biotech industry operates and Kuano’s quantum capabilities will probably be a core a part of this. We’re truly excited to see what Kuano does next.”
Tim Mills, Managing Partner, ACF Investors