WhiteLab Genomics raises $26 million to build AI-designed bio-assets for the next generation Genomic Medicines

• The company secures a $26 million Series B financing round led by AVP, with participation from new investors Yaday Health and Blast Club, alongside its existing shareholders.

• Financing accelerates the company's in vivo validation programs and its commercial expansion across North America, Europe, and Asia.

• WhiteLab strengthens its Board of Directors for its next phase of growth with the appointment of François Robinet, managing partner of AVP, and Dr. Daniel Teper, managing partner of Yaday Health.

WhiteLab Genomics, a TechBio company using artificial intelligence to design genomic medicines, announced the close of a $26 million Series B financing led by AVP, with participation from new investors Yaday Health and Blast Club joining existing investors Omnes and Debiopharm.

The financing will accelerate WhiteLab’s in vivo validation programs across viral and non-viral delivery technologies and programmable payloads, while supporting the company’s commercial expansion across North America, Europe and Asia. The goal is to build a portfolio of experimentally validated bio-assets that WhiteLab can advance independently and with biopharma partners.

At the center of WhiteLab’s approach is one of the biggest challenges in genomic medicine: getting a therapy safely and effectively to the right cells in the body.

WhiteLab has already demonstrated the potential of its approach in the brain, one of the hardest organs for medicines to reach. In work conducted with the Paris Brain Institute, WhiteLab used its AI platform, ALFRED (AI-Led Framework for Rational Exploration in Drug Design), to design novel adeno-associated viruses (AAVs), vehicles widely used to deliver genetic medicines. In in vivo studies, WhiteLab’s AI-designed candidates crossed the blood-brain barrier while demonstrating a strong brain-to-liver targeting ratio and no detectable liver signal.

The blood-brain barrier plays an essential role in protecting the brain, but it also prevents many potential therapies from reaching their intended targets. More precise delivery to the central nervous system could expand the potential of genomic medicines across neurological diseases, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), rare genetic disorders such as lysosomal storage diseases, and brain cancers including glioblastoma.

The AI-designed AAVs also combine high sequence novelty, creating the potential for differentiated intellectual property and freedom to operate for WhiteLab and its partners, with properties designed for manufacturability and eventual scale-up.

“AI can help us design better genomic medicines, but what ultimately matters is whether those designs work in living systems,” said David Del Bourgo, co-founder and CEO of WhiteLab Genomics. “We have already presented compelling results. This financing allows us to scale that work across multiple delivery technologies and payloads, build a portfolio of validated bio-assets and bring them to biopharma partners around the world.”

WhiteLab’s proprietary ALFRED platform enables AI-led, rational guided design and optimization of delivery systems for cell and gene therapies. By identifying promising designs earlier and then validating them experimentally and in vivo, WhiteLab aims to reduce the time, cost and trial-and-error involved in developing genomic medicines.

The company is now extending the same approach beyond AAVs to non-viral delivery technologies, including lipid nanoparticles, as well as programmable genetic payloads such as synthetic promoters designed to control where and when a therapeutic gene is expressed. Together, these capabilities are intended to enable WhiteLab to design multiple components of a genomic medicine rather than optimizing delivery or payloads in isolation.

“WhiteLab is building AI that designs genomic medicines that actually work in vivo, not just on paper,” said François Robinet, managing partner of AVP. “AI is about to have a real, tangible impact on genomic medicine and to contribute meaningfully to the development of new therapies.The combination of computational design, experimental validation and the ability to translate those designs into differentiated bio-assets is what attracted us to the company. We are very excited to join the journey and support David and the team as they enter this next phase.”

The company will also expand its commercial operations internationally. WhiteLab will strengthen its Boston operations, which serve as a hub for partnerships with the North American biopharma industry, and grow its presence on the U.S. West Coast. In Asia, the company is pursuing opportunities in Japan and South Korea while continuing to expand its activities across Europe.

Alongside the financing, WhiteLab is strengthening its Board of Directors for this next stage of growth. François Robinet, managing partner of AVP, and Dr. Daniel Teper, managing partner of Yaday Health and founder and CEO of NAYA Therapeutics, have joined the Board in connection with the transaction.

“WhiteLab is at an inflection point," said Dr. Daniel Teper, Managing Partner of Yaday Health. "Their scientific approach is validated in vivo. The development of AI-designed bio-assets and expansion in the United States are what carry that from a platform capability to assets that drug developers can advance.”

WhiteLab will present additional data from its work with the Sanofi, Cytiva (Danaher), Paris Brain Institute,and Institute Imagine at the upcoming European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ESGCT) Annual Congress. The presentations will provide further insight into the in vivo performance of its AI-designed candidates and the potential of its platform to overcome key delivery challenges in genomic medicine.

Founded in 2019 and accelerated through Y Combinator, WhiteLab works with industrial and academic partners including Sanofi, Cytiva, the University of Massachusetts, the Vision Institute in Paris and the Paris Brain Institute, alongside additional collaborations with biotechnology companies. The company is also a French Tech 2030 laureate.

Genomic medicines seek to treat disease by delivering genetic instructions into cells to change how they behave. Their clinically proven impact is significant, but designing the right genetic payload and delivering it safely and effectively to the right cells remains one of the field’s biggest challenges.

WhiteLab Genomics is a TechBio company using artificial intelligence to design the building blocks of genomic medicines. Its proprietary ALFRED platform designs viral and non-viral delivery vehicles and programmable genetic payloads, which are then experimentally validated and tested in vivo to identify candidates with the properties required for therapeutic development.

Through this integrated approach, WhiteLab is building a portfolio of validated bio-assets that it advances independently and with pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners developing the next generation of genomic medicines.

WhiteLab operates from Paris, Boston and Montreal.

AVP is an independent global investment platform focused on high-growth technology companies, ranging from deep tech to tech-enabled businesses, across Europe and North America. The firm manages more than €2.5 billion in assets. Its multi-stage platform combines global research with local execution to drive investment. Since its establishment in 2016, AVP has invested in more than 70 technology companies. Through its dedicated expansion team, AVP works closely with founders, offering the expertise, connections and resources needed to unlock growth opportunities and create lasting value through meaningful collaborations.
avpcap.com

Omnes Capital is a leading European investor in infrastructure and private equity. With €6.7 billion in assets under management, the firm invests across energy transition infrastructure, digital infrastructure, venture capital & growth, and co-investment strategies. Headquartered in Paris, with offices in Zurich, Brussels and Munich, Omnes has been investing for over 25 years to build high-performing businesses across Europe and deliver long-term value to its clients.
omnescapital.com

YADAY Health ventures is a Miami, FL based global investment platform focused on the convergence of biology, AI and deep tech, and invests in disruptive companies ready for growth acceleration.
yaday.vc

Founded in 2023 by Anthony Bourbon and Samuel Guez, Blast is a private investment club dedicated to high-potential, innovative startups. Since its creation, Blast has invested more than €300 million in companies operating primarily in deep tech, artificial intelligence, biotech and breakthrough technologies. Backed by a team of more than 70 experts, the club brings together more than 14,000 members and is one of Europe’s most active private investment communities.
blast.club

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