Paris-based Bioptimus, a company building the first universal AI foundation model for biology, on Tuesday announced that it has secured $76M (approximately €74M) in funding.
This total includes a $41M (approximately €40M) cash injection, led by Cathay Innovation.
Other prominent investors, including Sofinnova Partners, Bpifrance through its Large Venture Fund, Andera Partners, Hitachi Ventures, Boom Capital Ventures, Pomifer Capital, Sunrise, and angel entrepreneurs Emmanuel Cassimatis and Thomas Wolf, participated.
Fund utilisation
The funding will help the company enhance its multi-modal AI platform by adding more diverse data sources and therapeutic areas.
It will also support partnerships with pharmaceutical and biotech companies and expand important datasets to make its models more accurate.
Jean-Philippe Vert, co-founder and CEO of Bioptimus, states, “What we are building is not just a technological breakthrough; it’s a transformative tool for understanding biology in its full complexity. By learning how biology works directly from raw data across scales, from molecules to whole organisms, our model will empower researchers in the pharmaceutical industry to simulate complex biology, predict disease outcomes and response to treatment, and design therapies with unprecedented precision.”
“Beyond pharmaceuticals, this model will unlock limitless possibilities across many other industries, driving biological discoveries in ways we are only beginning to imagine. Essentially, it’s like the GPT of biology—but instead of generating text, we’re simulating biology,” adds Vert.
Bioptimus: Building “GPT of biology”
Led by Jean-Philippe Vert Bioptimus is changing biological research by tackling the long standing problem — the siloed nature of biological understanding.
Traditionally, research focused on separate components like DNA, proteins, cells, and tissues, which limited the effectiveness of current AI models.
Bioptimus’s new approach combines data from different levels (molecules, cells, tissues, and organisms) and types (like imaging and genetics).
The French company has been building momentum this year by building a skilled team, securing access to unique data sources, and successfully launching its first model, H-Optimus-0, which is the largest pathology model in the world.
H-Optimus-0 has outperformed all other pathology models in independent tests, including those by Harvard Medical School and the University of Leeds.
These studies highlighted the model’s unparalleled ability to predict gene expression from morphology and to subtype ovarian cancer with exceptional accuracy.
A brief about Cathay Innovation
Cathay Innovation is a multistage venture capital firm affiliated with Cathay Capital. It invests in founders building transformative businesses in Europe, North America, Asia, Latin America, and Africa.
Its platform connects founders with investors and its ecosystem of leading Fortune500 corporations to help startups scale and transform industries with the consumer to enterprise and AI solutions in commerce, fintech, digital health, and mobility/energy.
The VC now manages over €2.5B AUM and has additional offices in Berlin, San Francisco, Shanghai, and Singapore. It has invested in over 100 startups,, including Chime, Pinduoduo, Glovo, Wallbox, Owkin, Getaround, Ledger, ZenBusiness, Alma, Descartes Underwriting, and more.
Jacky Abitbol, Partner at Cathay Innovation, says, “Bioptimus is at the forefront of transforming biological research, leveraging cutting-edge AI to break down silos and unlock the full complexity of biology. By integrating data across multiple scales and modalities, Bioptimus is paving the way for groundbreaking innovations across industries, from pharmaceuticals to biotechnology and beyond.”
“We are delighted to see that since our initial investment a year ago, Bioptimus has succeeded in structuring a world-class team, while achieving key milestones in its development, notably with the launch of its AI foundation model for pathology in July, the largest in the world,” adds Abitbol.
