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Topos Bio, a San Francisco-based biotech using AI to discover new medicines, raised a $10.5 million seed round, CEO Ryan Zarcone tells Axios Pro.

Why it matters: The company, which plans to raise its Series A later this year, is among a growing crop of drug developers seeking to harness AI.

Follow the money: Boldstart, Threshold and Neo, and angel investors Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and Unconventional AI CEO Naveen Rao participated.

How it works: Topos says it uses AI to develop therapies for intrinsically disordered proteins.

Those proteins lack a stable, three-dimensional structure and are susceptible to malfunctions that contribute to hard-to-treat diseases.

The company's initial programs focus on neurodegenerative conditions, cancer and metabolic diseases.

Catch up quick: Topos was founded in 2024. It's collaborating with the Gladstone Institutes of the University of California, San Francisco, to discover novel modulators for alpha-synuclein, a disordered protein associated with Parkinson's.

What they're saying: The "long-term goal is to basically develop useful simulations of biology to develop therapeutics," Zarcone says.

"No one else has the AI and wetlab infrastructure to model disordered proteins, and a reliable model unlocks therapeutic opportunities that no one else can access," Boldstart partner Ellen Chisa said in a statement.

The intrigue: In December, AI drug developer Generate:Biomedicines announced it would launch a Phase 3 trial to test its experimental severe asthma treatment, putting it among the first AI-designed drugs to reach late-stage testing.

Yes, but: STAT reported that while AI played a role in the drug's development, it was not designed entirely from scratch using AI, highlighting the persistent limitations of AI in drug discovery.

State of play: Excelsior Sciences, a small-molecule discovery biotech, launched in December with a $70 million Series A.

Flagship Pioneering offshoot Expedition Medicines raised a $50 million Series A in October and said at the time it was fundraising a Series B as it scales its AI-powered drug discovery platform.

What's next: Topos plans to begin fundraising a Series A in the back half of 2026, co-founder and CTO Amir Khosrowshahi said, but he declined to share how much the company intends to raise.

It's also open to development partnerships with other larger biotechs and pharma companies, Zarcone says.

Exclusive: Topos Bio raises $10.5M seed for AI drug discovery

The San Francisco-based company plans to raise a Series A later this year.

Illustration of a robot arm dropping a pill into a prescription bottle.

Topos Bio, a San Francisco-based biotech using AI to discover new medicines, raised a $10.5 million seed round, CEO Ryan Zarcone tells Axios Pro.Why it matters: The company, which plans to raise its Series A later this year, is among a growing crop of <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="drug developers" data-vars-click-url="https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/ai-biotechs-fetch-big-premiums-as-investors-pile-into-drug-discovery-startups" data-vars-content-id="ecfabbe9-b65f-40c0-b2ca-c5b35d5bcc4f" data-vars-headline="Exclusive: Topos Bio raises $10.5M seed for AI drug discovery" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/ai-biotechs-fetch-big-premiums-as-investors-pile-into-drug-discovery-startups" target="_blank">drug developers</a> seeking to harness AI.

Exclusive: Topos Bio raises $10.5M seed for AI drug discovery

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