Insitro

Insitro leverages ML and high-throughput biology to develop new medicines, focusing on metabolism, oncology, and neuroscience therapeutic programs. The company integrates in vitro cellular data with clinical data to redefine diseases, accelerating the development of new medicines through its robust ML-driven platform. 

Its approach is based on test tube experiments, involving cells outside the human body to predict what drug developers would see in a human clinical model. Using this method, it creates models of genetic diseases and applies AI to find differences between healthy and sick cells.

In October 2020, Insitro acquired Haystack Sciences to enhance its drug discovery capabilities, particularly in building multi-dimensional predictive models for small-molecule design.

Key customers and partnerships

The company entered into several partnerships with pharma and biotech companies to offer its AI platform focused on specific disease targets, namely Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS; October 2020) to develop treatments for neurodegenerative disorders, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Gilead Sciences (April 2019) to find new drugs to treat nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a form of fatty liver disease. 

The company also partnered with Genomics England in March 2022 to advance cancer research by combining Insitro’s ML capabilities with Genomics England's phenotypic and genetic database. 

Funding and financials

In March 2021, the company raised USD 400 million in a Series C funding round led by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), with participation from Andreessen Horowitz and GV, among others. The proceeds were earmarked to further develop Insitro’s AI platform and advance its drug pipeline.