Achievement: Japanese pharma firm invests in Israeli cell startup

The TechBio company Somite AI, which uses artificial intelligence to develop innovative treatments using stem cells for various diseases, announced a $4.8 million funding round that expands the pre-seed round, just 6 months after the initial funding. The additional fundraising increases the round to a total amount of over $10 million.

In the additional fundraising, of $4.8 million, the venture capital fund of the Japanese pharmaceutical company Astellas Venture Management and Montage Ventures participated, whose representatives joined the company's board of directors as observers. Also participating in the round were Nahum (Homi) Shamir, former chairman and CEO of Luminex, as well as Paul Harris and Dr. Kendra Harris, a renowned clinician specializing in clinical trials who will join the company's scientific advisory board. The initial investment round 6 months ago was led by The Israeli venture capital fund TechAviv, which was joined by venture capital companies from Austin, Next Coast Ventures, Trust Ventures and Texas Venture Partners as well as Lerer Hippeau from New York.

Somite AI was founded in October 2023 by serial entrepreneur Dr. Micha Breakstone in partnership with the leading artificial intelligence researcher from MIT, Dr. Jonathan (Jonny) Rosenfeld, as well as world-renowned professors from the world's leading universities, and develops artificial intelligence-based models For the production of human cells and tissues to treat diseases such as diabetes, obesity and muscular dystrophy, through regenerative medicine. The company's platform, AlphaStem, enables the discovery and optimization of new therapies, and generates new data on a massive scale, which in turn leads to new biological discoveries.

The additional funding will speed up the data generation process and its training on the company's AI platform and will advance the company's flagship program SMT-M01 to the clinical trials stage. In addition, the funding will make it possible to start a second clinical program, SMT-B01, to treat metabolic diseases such as diabetes, as well as start working with hypoimmune cells, which know how to escape the immune system.

Dr. Micha Breakstone, founder and CEO of Somite AI: "With most of the funds still in the bank, we were not planning to fundraise until 2025. However, when Astellas Venture Management and Montage Ventures approached us, it was clear that they could add significant strategic value. Astellas Pharma and Astellas Institute for Regenerative Medicine focus on regenerative medicine and cell therapy research in ophthalmology and other therapeutic areas that have few or no available treatment options, while Montage Ventures has built a robust thesis and has deep insights into this space, so we decided to extend the round."

"Somite.ai's work in vertically integrated AI-driven cell therapy aligns perfectly with Astellas' focus. We see great potential for impactful synergies between our companies," said Dr. Nagisa Sakurai, Senior Investment Manager at Astellas Venture Management, who will be joining Somite.ai as a Board Observer. 

Dr. Daphne Che, who will also be joining Somite.ai as a Board Observer, added: "Among numerous companies in the TechBio space, Somite.ai stood out as the most aligned with our vision of AI-driven novel therapeutic modalities.”

Somite AI is a start-up company that develops AI foundation models in the field of stem cell biology, and aims to be the OpenAI of cellular biology, targeting a market of $250 billion. Simply put, the company develops artificial intelligence-based models for the production of human cells and tissues to treat diseases such as diabetes, obesity and muscular dystrophy, through regenerative medicine. The company's platform, AlphaStem, enables the discovery and optimization of new therapies, and generates new data on a massive scale, which in turn leads to new biological discoveries.

The company's founders include three Israelis, including: the company's CEO, Dr. Micah Breakstone, a veteran entrepreneur in the field of AI (founded Chorus.ai, which was purchased for $575 million), the VP of Technology, Dr. Jonny Rosenfeld who also serves as the director of the Infrastructure AI Group at MIT, as well as Professor Alon Klein of Harvard Medical School.

In addition to these, the company's founders include the head of the genetics department at Harvard, as well as two members of the American Academy of Sciences, including the world's leading scientist for cell genetic sequencing. The company was founded in October 2023, and has so far raised over $10 million.