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BigHat Biosciences funding, valuation and investors
AI-guided antibody design platform (Milliner) for safer protein therapeutics.
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Funding, valuation & investors
Answer-first snapshotLatest funding
Series B
$75M · July 2022
Latest known valuation
Not publicly disclosed
Total disclosed equity funding
$94M
Excludes debt, grants, acquisitions, secondaries, and IPO proceeds.
Current status
private
series b · San Carlos, California
Overview
BigHat Biosciences runs Milliner, an AI-guided antibody design platform that pairs machine learning with high-throughput wet-lab screening to optimize protein therapeutics for safety and efficacy. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, the company raised $19M Series A in February 2021 led by a16z Bio + Health and $75M Series B in July 2022 led by Section 32. BigHat develops antibody drug candidates internally and with pharma partners, targeting faster iteration than traditional biologics discovery.
Why BigHat Biosciences is interesting
BigHat's tight ML–wet-lab loop compresses antibody optimization cycles — a16z-led Series A with 8VC before Section 32-led $75M Series B scale-up.
Product & use cases
Milliner combines computational antibody design models with automated lab experiments — generating, testing, and iterating protein candidates in a closed loop that shortens optimization cycles versus manual biologics development.
- Antibody therapeutic candidate optimization for pharma partners
- Safety and efficacy screening before clinical development
- High-throughput protein engineering for biologics pipelines
Key facts
- Series A (Feb 2021): $19M led by a16z Bio + Health with 8VC participation (company press)
- Series B (Jul 2022): $75M led by Section 32; a16z and 8VC re-upped (BigHat Bio)
- Co-investors not in VCT directory: Section 32, AME Cloud Ventures, Amgen Ventures
Funding history (newest first)
Series B
2022-07 $75M- Section 32 (lead)
- Andreessen Horowitz (participant)
- 8VC (participant)
- Gaingels (participant)
Source: https://www.bighatbio.com/news
Investors in our directory
Funds linked from BigHat Biosciences's profile — open a fund page for stage focus and related deal articles.
Competitive landscape
Edge: Integrated ML–experiment loop on proprietary datasets — not just in-silico design but validated wet-lab feedback that improves models with each cycle.
Computational antibody design is crowded post-2020, but BigHat differentiates on closed-loop lab automation rather than pure software licensing. Success depends on pipeline assets reaching clinic, not just platform partnerships.
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AbCellera direct
Public antibody discovery platform with pharma partnerships; BigHat focuses more on internal ML–lab integration.
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Generate Biomedicines direct
Generative protein design with Amgen backing; competes for computational biologics talent and pharma deals.
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Absci adjacent
AI drug creation with wet-lab validation; overlapping thesis on ML-accelerated biologics.
Notable stories
- BigHat's Milliner platform name references hat-making — a nod to designing proteins that 'fit' targets precisely.
- Section 32's $75M Series B lead signaled institutional confidence in AI–biologics convergence beyond seed-stage hype.
- Co-investor Amgen Ventures ties BigHat to incumbent pharma validation of its discovery approach.
Industries
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