French startup Iktos has secured €15.5 million in Series A funding for its AI-powered drug discovery platform.

The round was co-led by M Ventures and Debiopharm Innovation Fund, with participation from Omnes Capital, and can enable Iktos to develop its technology further and expand its SaaS software offering. The corporate is ready to launch Robotics, an end-to-end drug discovery platform that uses AI and automation of chemical synthesis to speed up drug discovery timelines.

Moreover, the corporate will expand its application of solutions to biological products, allowing it to supply fully integrated drug discovery services to the pharmaceutical industry.

Iktos, which was founded in 2016, uses a technology platform for deep learning-based drug design that gives significant productivity gains in upstream pharmaceutical R&D. The platform is accessible as skilled services and SaaS software Makya, and Spaya, a synthesis planning software based on Iktos’ proprietary AI technology for retrosynthesis. Its AI solutions will speed up drug discovery while increasing the likelihood of drug candidates reaching clinical development, with collaborations already in place with Janssen, Merck, Pfizer, Servier, Ono, and Teijin.

Based on Yann Gaston-Mathé, the President and co-founder of Iktos, “The applying of artificial intelligence to early drug discovery and design offers the opportunity of a radical change for researchers exploring such a chemical universe. The technologies we now have developed have been enabling multiple partners in realizing this promise. We welcome our latest, experienced, investor syndicate and fresh financing that can allow us to execute our plan of being the popular partner for the industry to deal with their drug development needs.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Nadiya Ishnazarova of M Ventures stated, “We imagine Iktos with its mature technology across generative AI and synthesis planning, and advancements in constructing fully integrated drug discovery platform has the potential to supply a competitive edge for the pharma industry as AI/ML becomes a core feature of R&D.”

Tanja Dowe, CEO of Debiopharm Innovation Fund added, “We’re very excited to collaborate with a powerful syndicate of strong investors M Ventures and Omnes Capital to support Iktos in executing its plans to develop cutting-edge end-to-end AIDD capabilities.”

The investment round will enable Iktos to proceed to be a preferred partner for the pharmaceutical industry, and the launch of Robotics will enable the corporate to turn out to be considered one of the primary to supply fully integrated drug discovery services to the sector. With significant advantages already recognized in its AI solutions, Iktos is poised to play a number one role within the AI-powered drug discovery revolution.