UK BUSINESS AI UNIVERSE: Labs: AI for science

Founded

Not stated (spun out of Queen's University Belfast; "over 10 years of research")

Founders

Ben Thomas — co-founder, CEO and Chief Architect; Dermot Tierney — co-founder; Chris Creevey — co-founder

Chief executive

Ben Thomas

Hq

Not stated (origin Belfast, Northern Ireland; HQ not stated in source); other_offices: not stated

What it does

AMPLY Discovery searches genetic sequencing data with AI to find natural defence molecules and turn them into candidate biologic drugs, then makes them for lab testing. Its programmes are at the preclinical stage. It is a spin-out of the Creevey Lab at Queen's University Belfast.

Research focus

AI plus next-generation sequencing and synthetic biology to find biologic drugs; "Evolution has spent billions of years perfecting natural defence mechanisms".

Models and products

AMPLYfolioAI — drug discovery platform — named May 2025

Rounds found

Sep 2022 — £900,000 (already DEAL-LB-036); Feb 2024 — Innovate UK £1.4m (already DEAL-LAB-2014); 1 May 2025 — seed — $1.75m — Twin Path Ventures — Venture Science, Co-Fund NI, British Business Bank, QUBIS (already DEAL-LAB-2013)

Status now

Not stated (no source after May 2025 opened)

Labs Round 8 deep profile (31 Oct 2026), as the researchers wrote it; confidence: one source.

Sources

1. tech.eu/2025/05/01/queens-university-spin-off-am

Legal name

Boltz PBC (public benefit corporation; "Boltz, PBC" in releases)

Founded

null (founded by MIT researchers)

Founders

Gabriele Corso — co-founder and CEO (other founders not named on fetched pages)

Chief executive

Gabriele Corso — from null

Hq

Cambridge, Massachusetts (dateline of company releases) (Outside the UK); other_offices: London (described as "London-based" by NVIDIA, 13 October 2026; no London office on company pages)

Headcount

null (launch post names 12 team members, January 2026)

What it does

A public-benefit company building open-source and commercial AI models that predict and design proteins and small molecules for drug discovery and other chemistry. Its open models (Boltz-1, Boltz-2, BoltzGen) are widely used, and it sells Boltz Lab and an API to drug companies.

Research focus

biomolecular structure prediction; binding affinity; protein and small-molecule design; AI agents for scientists

Models and products

Boltz-1 — open biomolecular interaction model — 16 November 2024; Boltz-2 — binding affinity prediction — 6 June 2025; BoltzGen — universal binder design — 26 October 2025; Boltz Lab — platform (preview/beta) — 8 January 2026; BoltzMol-1, BoltzProt-1 and Boltz API — 16 June 2026; Claude Science integration — 30 June 2026

Customers or partners named

Pfizer — multi-year strategic collaboration; Pfizer keeps ownership of compounds — 8 January 2026 — https://boltz.com/pfizer-partnership; Takeda — collaboration to deploy models — 18 June 2026 — https://boltz.com/news; GSK — collaboration to deploy models — 2 July 2026 — https://boltz.com/news; dsm-firmenich — partnership on AI for ingredient discovery — 14 September 2026 — https://boltz.com/news; Bristol Myers Squibb — agreement to deploy models and co-develop custom models — 21 October 2026 — https://boltz.com/bms-partnership

Papers and awards

technical posts on Boltz-1 (2024), Boltz-2 (2025), BoltzGen (2025); open models "used by over a hundred thousand scientists" (January 2026)

Funding total as published

28,000,000 USD (seed) — as of 8 January 2026 — https://boltz.com/launch; NVIDIA planned investment October 2026, amount not disclosed

Rounds found

2026-01-08 — seed — 28,000,000 USD — lead not stated — Zetta, Amplify, a16z, Factorial Capital, Obvious Ventures, angels including Clement Delangue (NEW: DEAL-LAB-9005); 2026-10-13 — strategic investment (planned) — undisclosed — NVIDIA (already DEAL-LAB-2001)

Status now

Active; signed a Bristol Myers Squibb agreement on 21 October 2026; NVIDIA announced a planned investment on 13 October 2026.

Legal name (Labs Round 8)

Not stated (Boltz is a public-benefit corporation, "Boltz PBC")

Founded (Labs Round 8)

Not stated (team began as AI researchers at MIT; company announced 8 Jan 2026)

Founders (Labs Round 8)

Gabriele Corso — co-founder and CEO; Jeremy Wohlwend — co-founder; Saro Passaro — co-founder

Chief executive (Labs Round 8)

Gabriele Corso

Other leaders

Not stated (launch page lists team members Francesco Capponi, Demitri Nava, Hannes Stark, Noah Getz, Talip Ucar, Luca Cavalleri, Simone Primarosa, Geoffrey Smith, Luis Sanmiguel by name only)

Hq (Labs Round 8)

Not stated (all releases datelined Cambridge, MA — Outside the UK); other_offices: UK office not confirmed in any page opened

Headcount (Labs Round 8)

Not stated (12 team members named on 8 Jan 2026 launch page)

What it does (Labs Round 8)

Boltz builds open and commercial AI models that predict how biological molecules fit together and design new drug molecules and binders. It sells them through Boltz Lab and an API to drug companies including Pfizer, Takeda, GSK and Bristol Myers Squibb.

Research focus (Labs Round 8)

"Boltz is a frontier research lab building generative models for biology and chemistry."

Models and products (Labs Round 8)

Boltz-1 — open biomolecular interaction model — 16 Nov 2024; Boltz-2 — binding-affinity prediction model — 6 Jun 2025; BoltzGen — universal binder design — 26 Oct 2025; Boltz Lab — design platform — 8 Jan 2026; BoltzMol-1 — small-molecule hit discovery pipeline — 16 Jun 2026; BoltzProt-1 with Boltz-PPI — protein design pipeline — 16 Jun 2026; Boltz API — 16 Jun 2026

Customers or partners named (Labs Round 8)

Pfizer — strategic collaboration — 8 Jan 2026 — https://boltz.com/news; Takeda — collaboration — 18 Jun 2026 — https://boltz.com/news; GSK — collaboration incl. fine-tuned exclusive models — 2 Jul 2026 — https://boltz.com/gsk-partnership; dsm-firmenich — ingredient discovery — 14 Sep 2026 — https://boltz.com/news; Bristol Myers Squibb — deployment on BMS NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD and co-developed models — 21 Oct 2026 — https://boltz.com/bms-partnership; launch partners for API incl. Benchling, Amazon Bio Discovery, Rowan, Tamarind — 16 Jun 2026 — https://boltz.com/boltzmol-boltzprot-api

Selected papers

Introducing Boltz-1 — boltz.com — 16 Nov 2024 — https://boltz.com/boltz1; Introducing Boltz-2 — boltz.com — 6 Jun 2025 — https://boltz.com/boltz2; Introducing BoltzGen — boltz.com — 26 Oct 2025 — https://boltz.com/boltzgen

Funding total as published (Labs Round 8)

$28m seed — as of 8 Jan 2026 — https://boltz.com/launch

Rounds found (Labs Round 8)

8 Jan 2026 — seed — $28m — Amplify, a16z, Zetta (per page metadata) — Clement Delangue, Factorial Capital, Obvious Ventures (already DEAL-LAB-9005); 13 Oct 2026 — NVIDIA (already DEAL-LAB-2001; not seen this round)

Status now (Labs Round 8)

Trading; signed a deal with Bristol Myers Squibb on 21 October 2026, its fifth named pharma or industry partner in 2026.

Labs Round 7 and Labs Round 8 deep profile (30–31 Oct 2026), as the researchers wrote it; confidence: one source (company only); UK base unconfirmed.

Sources

1. boltz.com/launch
2. boltz.com/bms-partnership
3. boltz.com/pfizer-partnership
4. boltz.com/news
5. boltz.com/
6. blogs.nvidia.com/blog/uk-ecosystem-deployment/
7. techfundingnews.com/nvidia-pledges-250m-of-compu
8. boltz.com/platform
9. boltz.com/manifesto
10. boltz.com/boltzmol-boltzprot-api

Founded

2021 (by researchers from the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology)

Founders

Not stated (not named in sources opened)

Chief executive

Guy Levy-Yurista — joined with the May 2026 seed round

Hq

Manchester (England: North West); other_offices: not stated

What it does

Imperagen engineers enzymes (natural catalysts) for pharma, personal care, fine chemicals and industrial biotech. Quantum-physics simulations train custom AI models; robots test the best predictions in the lab and the results feed back into the models.

Research focus

Closed-loop enzyme engineering combining "quantum simulation, custom AI models, and robotic laboratory automation".

Models and products

closed-loop enzyme engineering platform (unnamed) — reports enzyme productivity gains of 677x and 572x in five rounds — May 2026

Customers or partners named

unnamed Fortune 500 personal-care company — enzyme project for a new product line — May 2026 — https://tech.eu/2026/05/21/imperagen-raises-ps5m-seed-round-to-accelerate-ai-driven-enzyme-engineering/

Rounds found

21 May 2026 — seed — £5m — PXN Ventures — IQ Capital, Northern Gritstone (already DEAL-LAB-2020 / DEAL-LC-093)

Status now

Trading; closed a £5m seed round in May 2026 under new CEO Guy Levy-Yurista.

Labs Round 8 deep profile (31 Oct 2026), as the researchers wrote it; confidence: one source (two trade sources, no primary).

Sources

1. uktech.news/biotech/imperagen-raises-5m-to-accel
2. tech.eu/2026/05/21/imperagen-raises-ps5m-seed-ro
3. uktech.news/funding/uk-tech-funding-roundup-this

Legal name

Kuano Ltd (site footer)

Founded

2020

Founders

Vid Stojevic — CEO and co-founder; David Wright — CTO and co-founder; Parminder Ruprah — Head of Chemistry and co-founder; Jarryl D'Oyley — Project Manager and co-founder

Chief executive

Vid Stojevic

Chief scientist or research lead

David Wright — CTO

Other leaders

Antonio Benedetti — Executive Chairman (from 13 Jul 2022); Georg Schusteritsch — Senior Quantum Scientist; Will Gerrard — Platform Development Team Lead; Andy Mulvaney — non-executive director (from 24 May 2021); Ted Witek — board member (from 20 Feb 2024); Sunil Shah — non-executive director

Hq

Hauxton, Cambridge (England: East of England), Mill SciTech Park; other_offices: not stated

What it does

Kuano designs drug candidates for enzyme targets by combining quantum-chemistry simulation with AI design. Its platform runs automated quantum and molecular simulations, then uses AI to propose and optimise molecules, from finding hits to optimising leads.

Research focus

Quantum chemistry, molecular simulation and molecular design; transition-state drug design for enzyme targets.

Models and products

Quantum Lens — simulation and modelling platform — not stated; Kuano design engine — AI plus physics-based molecular design — not stated; agent-supported platform — demonstrated in Singapore — 1 Sep 2026

Customers or partners named

CROZ — engineering partner — not stated — https://www.kuano.ai/about/; University of Bristol (Mulholland group) — IRAP research collaboration — 13 Jun 2025 — https://www.kuano.ai/news; Alzheimer's Research UK UCL Drug Discovery Institute — research collaboration — 24 Jun 2021 — https://www.kuano.ai/news/older/; UCL and NQCC — Innovate UK quantum computing feasibility study 2023–25 — https://www.kuano.ai/case-studies

Selected papers

Molecular insight into IRAP activity and inhibition — Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling — 2025 — https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jcim.5c00869; What is the future role of quantum computation in drug discovery? — Emerging Topics in Life Sciences — 2025 — https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12599230/; Parallel quantum simulation of large systems on small NISQ computers — npj Quantum Information — 2021 — https://arxiv.org/abs/2003.12087

Funding total as published

£2.8m — as of 12 Sep 2023 — https://www.kuano.ai/news/we-are-delighted-to-announce-the-close-of-our-18m-seed-funding-round-to-accelerate-our-quantum-based-drug-discovery

Rounds found

25 Feb 2021 — pre-seed — amount not stated — o2h human health EIS Fund (lead of consortium) — not stated (new DEAL-LAB-16021); Jul–Aug 2021 — seed — £1m — ACF Investors, o2h Ventures and angels (already DEAL-LAB-4015); 12 Sep 2023 — seed — £1.8m — Mercia Ventures — ACF Investors, Ascension Ventures, o2h Ventures, Meltwind Advisory, angels (already DEAL-LAB-2015 / DEAL-SU-HLT-051)

Awards and programmes

Innovate UK grant — 25 Jun 2020; Creative Destruction Lab Quantum stream graduate — 1 Jul 2021; Innovate UK £540,000 cancer-drug project — 9 Jan 2023; Cofinitive #21toWatch 2024 — 13 Mar 2024

Status now

Trading; showed an agent-supported platform in Singapore and attended Life Sciences Week in September 2026.

Labs Round 8 deep profile (31 Oct 2026), as the researchers wrote it; confidence: one source.

Sources

1. kuano.ai/news/we-are-delighted-to-announce-the-c
2. kuano.ai/news/older/
3. kuano.ai/about/

Founders

Not stated (founders not named in sources opened)

Chief executive

James Field — from at least Nov 2017

Other leaders

Irina Haivas (Atomico) — board member from Oct 2020

Hq

London (England: London); other_offices: not stated

What it does

LabGenius discovers antibody drugs using EVA, a robotic lab platform guided by machine learning that designs its own experiments, runs them and learns from the results. It focuses on multispecific antibodies that hit diseased cells while sparing healthy cells with the same markers.

Research focus

Machine-learning-driven antibody engineering; multi-objective Bayesian optimisation; on-target, off-tumour toxicity.

Models and products

EVA — robotic, machine-learning-driven discovery platform — named 2017; wholly-owned multispecific antibody pipeline — not stated

Funding total as published

£58m — as of 22 May 2024 — https://tech.eu/2024/05/22/labgenius-secures-ps35m-series-b-funding-for-therapeutic-antibody-discovery/

Rounds found

24 Nov 2017 — seed — $3.66m — Kindred Capital and Acequia Capital — Berggruen Holdings, Backed VC, Beast Ventures, System.One, Charlie Songhurst, Tom McInerney (new DEAL-LAB-16001); Oct 2019 — Series A first close — $10m (already DEAL-LA-035); 29 Oct 2020 — Series A extension — $15m (round total $25m) — Atomico — Lux Capital, Obvious Ventures, Kindred Capital, Inovia Capital (new DEAL-LAB-16002); 22 May 2024 — Series B — £35m — M Ventures — Octopus Ventures, LG Corp; existing Atomico, Kindred, Lux, Obvious (already DEAL-LAB-2019 / DEAL-SU-HLT-037)

Status now

Not stated (no source from the last 12 months could be opened; labgenius.com blocks automated reading)

Labs Round 8 deep profile (31 Oct 2026), as the researchers wrote it; confidence: one source (trade only).

Sources

1. tech.eu/2024/05/22/labgenius-secures-ps35m-serie
2. tech.eu/2020/10/29/labgenius-series-a/
3. tech.eu/2017/11/24/labgenius-funding/

Rounds found

null (deal file already has DEAL-LAB-2012, £1.5m led by Twin Path Ventures, 2025-12-03; not re-checked)

Founded

Not stated (builds on CEO's research at the University of Warwick)

Founders

Not stated (founder roles not stated; leaders below)

Chief executive

Nickel Blankevoort

Chief scientist or research lead

Chelsea Williams — CTO; Jack Broad — founding AI scientist

Other leaders

Gatleen Bhambra — COO; Edward Grant — AI adviser

Hq

Not stated (UK; city not stated); other_offices: not stated

Headcount

Not stated (a team of four built the discovery engine)

What it does

Mater-AI uses AI and physics modelling to discover thermoelectric materials, which turn waste heat into electricity or give cooling without refrigerants. It targets defence, automotive and industrial sensors, and plans lab testing with Cambridge, Imperial and the Henry Royce Institute.

Research focus

AI-led discovery of thermoelectric materials; claims up to 438x faster than traditional R&D and 100 structures generated and evaluated per hour.

Models and products

modular materials discovery engine (unnamed) — Dec 2025

Customers or partners named

University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, Henry Royce Institute — planned lab testing — 3 Dec 2025 — https://tech.eu/2025/12/03/mater-ai-secures-ps15m-to-tackle-one-of-energys-oldest-problems-wasted-heat/; Conception X — accelerator and investor — 3 Dec 2025 — same url; Barclays Product Builder Accelerator — programme — same url

Rounds found (Labs Round 8)

earlier — £100k — Conception X venture partner — not stated; 3 Dec 2025 — pre-seed — £1.5m — Twin Path Ventures — Mishcon de Reya, One Planet Capital, XTX Ventures, Conception X Angel Syndicate, Koro Capital, Tailored Solutions (already DEAL-LAB-2012)

Awards and programmes

Conception X; Barclays Product Builder Accelerator

Status now

Trading; raised a £1.5m pre-seed round in December 2025.

Labs Round 7 and Labs Round 8 deep profile (30–31 Oct 2026), as the researchers wrote it; confidence: one source.

Sources

1. tech.eu/2025/12/03/mater-ai-secures-ps15m-to-tac

Legal name

Polaron Ltd (site footer)

Founded

Not stated (spun out of Imperial College London "after seven years of research")

Founders

Isaac Squires — CEO and co-founder; Steve Kench — CTO and co-founder; Sam Cooper — Chief Scientist and co-founder

Chief executive

Isaac Squires

Chief scientist or research lead

Sam Cooper — Chief Scientist

Other leaders

Steve Kench — CTO

Hq

London (England: London), Senna Building, Gorsuch Place, E2 8JF; other_offices: not stated

What it does

Polaron builds generative AI that reads microscope images of a material's internal structure and links how a material is made to how it performs, so manufacturers can design and qualify materials such as battery electrodes faster.

Research focus

"We are accelerating the design of advanced materials with generative AI"; microstructural image data to link process and performance.

Models and products

Polaron platform — characterisation layer and generative design layer; applications in R&D, quality and qualification, modelling and simulation — not stated

Customers or partners named

Not stated (release says engineers at manufacturers incl. EV makers have used it; none named)

Selected papers

Not stated (site cites Nature Machine Intelligence and Advanced Materials without titles)

Rounds found

3 Feb 2026 — round (stage not named) — $8m — Racine2 (fund led by Serena and Makesense) — Speedinvest, Futurepresent, angels (already DEAL-LAB-2011 / DEAL-SU-IND-042)

Awards and programmes

Manchester Prize for AI in science and engineering — £1m winner — date not stated

Status now

Trading; raised $8m in February 2026 to expand engineering and roll out generative design tools.

Labs Round 8 deep profile (31 Oct 2026), as the researchers wrote it; confidence: one source.

Sources

1. polaron.ai/about-us
2. polaron.ai/newsroom/polaron-raises-8m-to-build-t

Legal name

Not stated (site footer reads "Science Machine Inc." — not confirmed)

Founders

Lorenzo Sani — CEO and co-founder; second co-founder not named

Chief executive

Lorenzo Sani

Hq

London (England: London) per tech.eu; other_offices: San Francisco (Outside the UK)

Headcount

2 — Jul 2025 — https://tech.eu/2025/07/09/sciencemachine-raises-35m-for-leading-autonomous-ai-in-biotech-research/ (single_source)

What it does

ScienceMachine sells AI agents that automate data review in bioanalytical labs: checking LC-MS chromatograms, quality-checking documents and drafting regulatory reports, mainly for contract research organisations and biopharma. In 2025 it launched "Sam", described as a 24/7 AI bioinformatician.

Research focus

Autonomous AI agents for biotech data analysis; agent benchmarks for computational biology (BixBench, BioML-bench).

Models and products

Sam — "24/7 AI bioinformatician" agent — Jul 2025; Peak Review — LC-MS chromatogram exception review — not stated; Document QC — not stated; Reporting — source-linked report drafts — not stated

Customers or partners named

Inoviv — case study, 80% less QC and reporting time (testimonial) — not stated — https://www.sciencemachine.ai/solutions/lc-ms-review; Thermo Fisher Scientific, Artelo Biosciences, Spectrus Corp — customer logos — not stated — https://www.sciencemachine.ai/; FutureHouse — co-developed BixBench benchmark — not stated — https://www.sciencemachine.ai/

Selected papers

BixBench (with FutureHouse) — venue not stated — date not stated — https://www.sciencemachine.ai/; BioML-bench — venue not stated — date not stated — https://www.sciencemachine.ai/

Rounds found

9 Jul 2025 — pre-seed — $3.5m — Revent and Nucleus Capital (co-leads) — strategic angels (already DEAL-LC-030)

Status now

Trading; sells lab-data automation to CROs and biopharma with named customer logos.

Labs Round 8 deep profile (31 Oct 2026), as the researchers wrote it; confidence: one source.

Sources

1. tech.eu/2025/07/09/sciencemachine-raises-35m-for
2. sciencemachine.ai/
3. sciencemachine.ai/solutions/lc-ms-review

Founded

2022 (Tech Funding News, trade, single)

Founders

Russ (Russell) Tucker — CEO and Founder; James Allen — co-founder; Satnam Surae — co-founder (Allen and Surae from Tech Funding News only)

Chief executive

Russ Tucker — from null

Hq

King's Cross, London (England: London); other_offices: null

Headcount

10 — 11 September 2023 — https://www.uktech.news/ai/twig-food-stealth-funding-20230911 (trade)

What it does

A London biotechnology company combining lab automation, synthetic biology and AI to design microbial strains that make sustainable ingredients such as palmitic acid, isoprene and acetone. It is building CANOPY, a foundation model for AI-driven strain design, trained on data from its own automated lab.

Research focus

engineering biology; biomanufacturing; strain design

Models and products

CANOPY — foundation model for AI-driven strain design — announced 16 April 2026

Compute

Sovereign AI / AIRR compute, one of six firms — 16 April 2026

Funding total as published

3,790,000 USD ("Total VC raised") — as of 16 April 2026 — https://techfundingnews.com/uks-sovereign-ai-fund-names-7-startups-its-supporting-in-its-first-batch-here-are-the-details/ (trade, single)

Rounds found

2023-09-11 — not stated — 3,000,000 GBP — lead not stated — Project A, Seedcamp, Zero Carbon Capital, UKI2S, Gaingels, angels via HackCapital (already DEAL-LB-098)

Uk government links

Sovereign AI / AIRR compute — 16 April 2026 (already DEAL-LAB-2035)

Status now

Active London company training CANOPY on Sovereign AI compute since April 2026.

Founded (Labs Round 8)

2022

Founders (Labs Round 8)

Russ Tucker — co-founder and CEO; James Allen — co-founder and CSO; Satnam Surae — co-founder and CTO

Chief executive (Labs Round 8)

Russ Tucker

Chief scientist or research lead

James Allen — CSO

Other leaders

Tina Brown — Director of Strategy and Operations

What it does (Labs Round 8)

twig designs microbes with AI to grow ingredients and compounds, then builds and tests the designs in an automated lab. Its aim is to replace parts of global supply chains with biology.

Research focus (Labs Round 8)

"Our mission is to revolutionise the global supply chain with frontier AI and biology."

Models and products (Labs Round 8)

bio:drive — AI models that generate microbe designs for target compounds — not stated; grow:bot — automated lab that builds and tests designs — not stated

Customers or partners named

Japanese R&D partners (unnamed) — Innovate UK Explorers award — 24 Nov 2025 — https://twig.bio/news/twig-secures-innovateuk-explorers-award/

Rounds found (Labs Round 8)

Not stated (investors listed: Project A, Seedcamp, Zero Carbon VC, UK Innovation Science Seed Fund, Gaingels, Kapital; no round amounts on pages opened)

Awards and programmes

Innovate UK Explorers award — Nov 2025; Sovereign AI / AI Research Resource compute programme — Apr 2026 (already DEAL-LAB-2035)

Status now (Labs Round 8)

Trading; received an Innovate UK Explorers award in November 2025 for work with Japanese partners.

Labs Round 7 and Labs Round 8 deep profile (30–31 Oct 2026), as the researchers wrote it; confidence: one source.

Sources

1. gov.uk/government/news/ai-firms-pioneering-drug-
2. uktech.news/ai/twig-food-stealth-funding-2023091
3. techfundingnews.com/uks-sovereign-ai-fund-names-
4. twig.bio/about/
5. twig.bio/news/twig-secures-innovateuk-explorers-