Envisagenics receives Dynamk Capital investment in support of AI drug discovery

Dynamk Capital, a recently launched life sciences venture capital fund, has added Envisagenics, Inc. to its growing investment portfolio.  Dynamk’s portfolio companies provide technologies and services that enable biopharmaceutical companies around the world to develop therapeutics faster and produce them more economically.

Dynamk Capital invested US$500,000 in Envisagenics, leading the US$2.25 million seed round alongside other investors. Envisagenics, a life science company, applies artificial intelligence to the genetic sequence of patients to discover new therapies.  Its proprietary cloud-based discovery platform SpliceCore^™ uses machine learning to prioritise new drug target candidates from patient RNA. The company focuses on RNA splicing, a cellular process occurring in every cell that ‘edits’ RNA to produce functional proteins required for the body to function. Errors in this process can cause devastating diseases: at least 370 genetic diseases identified to date can be caused by splicing errors, such as Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a neurodegenerative disease that kills more children than any other genetic disease.  Envisagenics launched their commercial product SpliceCore on October 19, 2017.

Daniella Kranjac, co-founder and managing director of Dynamk Capital, said, "Envisagenics is disrupting traditional drug discovery through applied machine learning and AI.  We are excited to see the commercialisation of SpliceCore enable biopharma leaders to accelerate critical discovery efforts for life-saving therapeutics."

Envisagenics’ seed round was led and comprised by an impressive group of women investors who are well known and respected in the industry, complementing the female founder of the company.  "It is great to have the support of established female investors with the experience to scale companies and accelerate drug discovery. It’s exciting to be part of changing the landscape of venture investments in female founders," said Dr. Maria Luisa Pineda, co-founder and CEO of Envisagenics.