Bioverge recently invested in Enveda’s $51 million Series A led by Lux Capital. Enveda is biotechnology startup focused on harnessing the power of nature’s chemistry to develop next generation small-molecule therapeutics.
For centuries, humans have derived medicine from the natural world. In fact, many of today’s leading therapeutics came from nature, with 20% of new drugs approved since 1981 inspired by a natural compound. They make up some of society’s leading medicines, such as Aspirin, which is modelled after salicylic acid, a molecule naturally found in plants. However, while nature is a rich source of therapeutics, the vast majority of the natural world is a chemical mystery. Enveda is aiming to solve this by building the first high-resolution chemical map of the natural world as a database usable for drug discovery. Their platform is working to become the world’s most advanced drug discovery search engine built upon years of cutting-edge advancements at the intersection of metabolomics and machine learning. This database will act much like a search engine containing extensive information regarding natural molecules and have the ability to predict novel chemistry that can be used to generate high-confidence biological datasets to aid in drug discovery.
Enveda Biosciences was founded in 2019 to apply machine learning, computational metabolomics, and knowledge graphs to discover molecules suitable for therapeutic use. They are currently on track to advance lead molecules with potential to treat Wilson’s Disease, NASH, Parkinson’s and more.
They caught our attention here at Bioverge as a prime example of our thesis to invest in cutting edge innovation at the intersection of biology and technology. They align perfectly with our goal by leveraging the most advanced technologies to revolutionize the pharmaceutical industry. We believe that Enveda will transform the drug discovery process, opening up a novel array of options and accelerating the process through machine learning among other breakthrough technologies.
This Series A round will allow Enveda to conduct further research and development both in their current lead molecules, as well as building out their natural molecules database. Enveda will be a huge next step in harnessing millions of years of natural evolution, something we have only been able to scratch the surface of.