Chemify‘s £36m funding came in part as a Series A led by US-based Triatomic Capital, with participation from venture firms in Hong Kong and the US, and Scottish investment first Eos. More funding came through the UK Government’s Innovation Accelerator programme, all of which made up the £36m announced today. 

The startup has already used £25m to finance its foundational research, with which the team developed a new digital chemical approach to program chemistry.

The company’s research started  in 2019 and spun out from the Digital Chemistry Lab at the University of Glasgow in 2022. Its research focuses on using AI in chemistry to explore the vast “chemical space” of the trillions of potential combinations of natural elements. 

According to the company, digitising chemistry will reduce the time and money traditionally needed to undergo experimentation.

Chemify is collaborating with partners that possess experience in drug discovery to provide them access to its platform. The outcome of its platform has transformational possibilities for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and industrial, farming, materials science, and green energy sectors. 

By collaborating with select partners possessing world-class expertise in drug discovery, advanced materials, industrial chemicals, and other specialties, Chemify seeks to provide access to its platform and help solve complex and impactful chemical design and manufacturing challenges.

“Chemify is building a company that can design, make, and discover complex molecules on demand using digital blueprints faster, more efficiently, and safely than is currently possible,” said CEO Lee Cronin. 

“Our mission is to deliver better molecules for pharmaceutical and industrial partners in a fraction of the time and cost currently required.”

Recommended

• Scottish Scientists Create AI Chemist for Faster Experiments
• How Can Digitisation Help Healthcare Delivery in Scotland?
• Scottish Centre for Macromolecular Imaging Opens in Glasgow

Minister of state at the new department for science, innovation and technology, George Freeman said: “To ensure we meet our ambition of being a science superpower by 2030, we need better commercialisation of UK innovation. With the right backing, we can make a success of spinning-out businesses in every part of the country.

“This announcement from Chemify, which is developing ground-breaking digital techniques for chemistry, shows how Glasgow City Region’s world-leading expertise is already succeeding in attracting high levels of private sector investment, and shows the huge potential for UK spin-outs and scale-ups right across the UK.”