Toronto-based AI therapeutics startup Deep Genomics has raised USD 180 million in a Series C funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. Existing investors including Amplitude Ventures and Khosla Ventures also participated in the round along with other new investors.

The proceeds will be directed towards scaling its pipeline of 10 therapeutic programs to 30, by expanding its proprietary platform, AI Workbench, to generate data across 100 genes to identify novel targets, mechanisms, and preclinical programs. The company also plans to advance four of its programs to the clinics by 2023, and enter into partnerships with other pharmaceutical companies for clinical development.

Deep Genomics also reported that it could go public after four of its drugs progress into the clinics. The company also says that the platform has the ability to discover therapeutics for common diseases, apart from genetic and rare diseases. 

Founded in 2015, Deep Genomics has developed an AI and deep learning platform called the AI Workbench which uses terabytes of genetic data to precisely discover Ribonucleic acid (RNA) therapeutic targets. The company claims programmable RNA therapeutics have significant potential in treating genetic diseases. It has thus far made billions of predictions across the entire human genome and the company claims that its technology is far more productive than non-AI methods.