TLDR: Switzerland and Netherlands-based biotech firm Cradle has successfully raised US$73 million in a Series B funding round. The capital, led by IVP with participation from existing investors Index Ventures and Kindred Capital, will fuel the expansion of its AI platform for protein design, accelerate adoption by scientists, and enhance its wet lab and engineering capabilities. This brings Cradle’s total funding to over US$100 million, reinforcing its position at the intersection of biotechnology and artificial intelligence.
Cradle, a pioneering Dutch-Swiss biotechnology company, has announced the successful closure of a US$73 million Series B funding round. This significant investment, led by venture capitalist IVP from Menlo Park, California, saw continued support from previous investors Index Ventures and Kindred Capital. The latest infusion of capital elevates Cradle’s total funding to over US$100 million since its inception in 2021.
The company, headquartered in Kilchberg, Switzerland, and Amsterdam, Netherlands, specializes in developing software that leverages machine learning for advanced protein engineering. Its generative AI platform is designed to assist scientists in the artificial generation of proteins, a critical process in the development of various products.
The newly secured funds are earmarked for several strategic initiatives. A primary focus will be to accelerate the adoption of Cradle’s AI platform by scientists globally. Furthermore, the company plans to expand its wet lab facilities to generate additional datasets, which are crucial for training and refining its AI models. This expansion aims to address an increasingly diverse array of challenges and modalities in protein design. The engineering team will also see growth, with a mandate to further enhance Cradle’s machine learning capabilities, enabling better generalization across tasks and the handling of more complex proteins.
Cradle’s innovative platform is already being utilized by industry leaders such as Novo Nordisk, Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, Novonesis, and Grifols. These companies are applying Cradle’s technology in their research and development efforts across a broad spectrum of applications, including therapeutics, diagnostics, food, chemical, and agricultural products. The company reports that its platform can accelerate the discovery and development of protein-based products by up to 12 times in commercially relevant projects.
Founded in May 2021 by Stef van Grieken, Jelle Prins, Elise de Reus, Eli Bixby, and Harmen van Rossum, Cradle has quickly established itself as a key player in the biotech and AI landscape. Its previous funding rounds include a €5.5 million seed round in November 2022 and a US$24 million Series A financing in November 2023, both led by Index Ventures.
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This Series B funding underscores the growing investor confidence in AI-driven biotechnology solutions and Cradle’s potential to revolutionize protein engineering.
