The world of biology is on the cusp of a revolution. Imagine a future where designing new drugs and therapies is as simple as writing code. This isn't science fiction; it's the vision driving Latent Labs, a groundbreaking startup emerging from stealth mode with a hefty $50 million in funding. Founded by Simon Kohl, a former Google DeepMind scientist, Latent Labs is developing cutting-edge AI foundation models poised to "make biology programmable," fundamentally changing how we approach drug discovery and protein design.
To understand the magnitude of Latent Labs' ambition, we need to delve into the crucial role proteins play in human biology. Proteins are the workhorses of our cells, responsible for everything from enzymatic reactions and hormonal signaling to immune responses via antibodies. These complex molecules are constructed from chains of around 20 different amino acids, which fold into intricate 3D structures. The specific shape of a protein dictates its function, making understanding protein structure paramount to understanding biological processes.
Historically, determining these protein structures was a laborious and time-consuming process, often requiring years of painstaking experimentation. This all changed with DeepMind's AlphaFold breakthrough. By combining the power of machine learning with vast amounts of biological data, AlphaFold accurately predicts the 3D shapes of millions of proteins. This monumental achievement has opened up unprecedented opportunities for scientists to understand diseases, design targeted drugs, and even engineer synthetic proteins for entirely new applications.
This is where Latent Labs enters the picture. Building upon the shoulders of giants like DeepMind and Isomorphic Labs, Latent Labs is taking the next leap, aiming to empower researchers to computationally create novel therapeutic molecules from scratch. They are not just predicting existing protein structures; they are designing entirely new ones, tailored to specific needs.
The Genesis of Latent Labs: A Vision for Programmable Biology
Simon Kohl's journey to founding Latent Labs began at DeepMind, where he was deeply involved with the AlphaFold2 team. He co-led the protein design team and established DeepMind's wet lab at London's prestigious Francis Crick Institute. During this period, DeepMind also launched its sister company, Isomorphic Labs, focusing on applying AI to transform drug discovery. These developments solidified Kohl's belief in the transformative potential of generative modeling in biology and, specifically, protein design.
Recognizing the vast, untapped potential within protein design, Kohl decided to carve his own path. In late 2022, he left DeepMind to establish Latent Labs, incorporating the company in London in mid-2023. "I had a fantastic and impactful time [at DeepMind], and became convinced of the impact that generative modeling was going to have in biology and protein design in particular," Kohl explained. "At the same time, I saw that with the launch of Isomorphic Labs, and their plans based on AlphaFold2, that they were starting many things at once. I felt like the opportunity was really in going in a laser-focused way about protein design. Protein design, in itself, is such a vast field, and has so much unexplored white space that I thought a really nimble, focused outfit would be able to translate that impact.”
Building a Team of Pioneers
Translating this vision into reality required assembling a team of exceptional talent. Kohl recruited approximately 15 employees, including two former DeepMind colleagues, a senior engineer from Microsoft, and PhDs from the University of Cambridge. Latent Labs now operates across two locations: a London site dedicated to developing their frontier models and a San Francisco site housing their wet lab and computational protein design team.
This dual approach allows Latent Labs to validate their models in a real-world setting, gathering crucial feedback to refine and improve their technology. “This enables us to test our models in the real world and get the feedback that we need to understand whether our models are progressing the way we want,” Kohl explained.
The Long-Term Vision: Moving Beyond the Wet Lab
While wet labs currently play a vital role in validating Latent Labs' technology, the ultimate goal is to minimize, and eventually eliminate, the reliance on traditional wet lab experiments. “Our mission is to make biology programmable, really bringing biology into the computational realm, where the reliance on biological, wet lab experiments will be reduced over time,” Kohl emphasized.
This vision highlights the transformative potential of programmable biology. Imagine a drug discovery process that isn't constrained by countless experiments and lengthy iterations. “It allows us to make really custom molecules without relying on the wet lab — at least, that’s the vision,” Kohl continued. “Imagine a world where someone comes with a hypothesis on what drug target to go after for a particular disease, and our models could, in a ‘push-button’ way, make a protein drug that comes with all of the desired properties baked in.”
A Collaborative Approach to Drug Discovery
Latent Labs' business model is centered around collaboration. They don't intend to develop their own therapeutic candidates. Instead, they aim to empower other biopharmaceutical, biotech, and life science companies by providing access to their models and supporting their discovery programs through project-based partnerships. “We feel the biggest impact that we can have as a company is by enabling other biopharma, biotechs, and life science companies — either by giving them direct access to our models, or supporting their discovery programs via project-based partnerships,” Kohl explained.
Fueling Innovation: A $50 Million Investment
Latent Labs' impressive $50 million funding round comprises a previously undisclosed $10 million seed tranche and a fresh $40 million Series A round. The Series A round was co-led by Radical Ventures, with partner Aaron Rosenberg, a former head of strategy and operations at DeepMind, playing a key role. Sofinnova Partners, a prominent French VC firm with extensive experience in life sciences, also co-led the round. Other investors include Flying Fish, Isomer, 8VC, Kindred Capital, Pillar VC, and notable angel investors like Google's chief scientist Jeff Dean, Cohere founder Aidan Gomez, and ElevenLabs founder Mati Staniszewski.
This substantial investment will be used to recruit top talent, particularly in machine learning, and to secure the significant computational resources required for developing and running their large-scale models. “Compute is a big cost for us as well — we’re building fairly large models I think it’s fair to say, and that requires a lot of GPU compute,” Kohl said. “This funding really sets us up to double down on everything — acquire compute to continue scaling our model, scaling the teams, and also starting to build out the bandwidth and capacity to have these partnerships and the commercial traction that we’re now seeking.”
Navigating a Competitive Landscape
Latent Labs isn't the only company exploring the intersection of computation and biology. Other venture-backed startups and scale-ups, such as Cradle and Bioptimus, are also working to bridge these two worlds. However, Kohl believes that the field is still in its infancy, with much room for innovation and exploration. “There have been some very interesting seeds planted, [for example] with AlphaFold and some other early generative models from other groups,” Kohl observed. “But this field hasn’t converged in terms of what is the best model approach, or in terms of what business model will work here. I think we have the capacity to really innovate.”
The Future of Programmable Biology
Latent Labs' emergence signals a significant step forward in the quest to make biology programmable. By combining cutting-edge AI with deep biological insights, they are poised to revolutionize drug discovery, protein design, and ultimately, our understanding of life itself. The future of biology is being written in code, and Latent Labs is at the forefront of this exciting new frontier. Their approach, focusing on collaboration and building powerful AI models, promises to accelerate the development of new therapies and transform the landscape of medicine. As Kohl and his team continue to push the boundaries of what's possible, the dream of programmable biology is rapidly becoming a reality.
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