USA – 1859, Inc., a San Diego, CA-based platform company combining artificial intelligence and empirical pico-scale screening data at scale to discover new small molecule medicines for emerging disease targets, launched with a Series A funding round of $40m.
The round was led by Northpond Ventures and OMX Ventures with participation from existing investors FusionX Ventures and Vertical Venture Partners. Led by Devon Cayer, Ph.D., cofounder and chief executive officer, and Andrew MacConnell, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer, 1859 is a platform company combining artificial intelligence and empirical screening data at scale to discover new small molecule medicines for emerging disease targets. The platform can identify, synthesize, and test high-potential small molecules at scale. By exploring billions of molecular starting points simultaneously, and rapidly synthesizing target-tailored bead-encoded libraries for testing on proprietary pico-scale screening platforms, 1859 can efficiently make discoveries, generate insights, and optimize those discoveries with short iteration cycles.The company partners with pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and academic institutions to shorten the time and resources needed to identify and screen high-potential compounds for future exploration and development.1859 intends to use the funds for the development of new capabilities, and the scaling and advancement of preclinical discovery programs building upon a base of 16 pharmaceutical, biotech and academic partners.The company was incubated at JLABS in San Diego, Calif. and currently employs 53 people. 07/02/2022
