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Insitro funding, valuation and investors
ML-driven drug discovery platform applying large-scale biology data to identify novel therapeutics.
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Funding, valuation & investors
Answer-first snapshotLatest funding
Series C
$400M · March 2021
Latest known valuation
Not publicly disclosed
Total disclosed equity funding
$543M
Excludes debt, grants, acquisitions, secondaries, and IPO proceeds.
Current status
private
growth · South San Francisco, California
Investors in latest funding
Lead: CPP Investments
Other: Andreessen Horowitz , ARCH Venture Partners
Overview
Insitro applies machine learning to large-scale biological datasets — including induced pluripotent stem cell models and human genetics — to discover and develop novel therapeutics. Founded by Stanford professor and Coursera co-founder Daphne Koller, the company raised a $143M Series B in 2020 led by Andreessen Horowitz and a $400M Series C in 2021 led by CPP Investments. Insitro operates at the intersection of computational biology and traditional drug development pipelines.
Why Insitro is interesting
Daphne Koller's Bio+AI flagship raised $543M+ before first clinical readouts — the bet is industrializing target ID the way ML industrialized computer vision.
Product & use cases
Insitro builds ML models on proprietary cell-based assays and human genetic data to predict disease biology and identify drug targets. The platform integrates wet-lab experimentation with computational prediction in a closed loop.
- Novel target identification in metabolic and neurological disease
- Cell-model-based phenotypic screening at scale
- Partnering with pharma on ML-guided discovery programs
Key facts
- Series B (May 2020): $143M led by a16z — insitro press
- Series C (Mar 2021): $400M led by CPP Investments — insitro press
- Founded by Daphne Koller (Coursera co-founder, Stanford professor)
Funding history (newest first)
Series C
2021-03 $400M- CPP Investments (lead)
- Andreessen Horowitz (participant)
- ARCH Venture Partners (participant)
Source: https://www.insitro.com/press/insitro-raises-400-million-series-c
Investors in our directory
Funds linked from Insitro's profile — open a fund page for stage focus and related deal articles.
Competitive landscape
Edge: Daphne Koller's ML pedigree plus hundreds of millions in capital to build proprietary biological datasets — scale competitors struggle to replicate.
Bio+AI discovery platforms must eventually produce clinical assets, not just platform partnerships. Insitro's capital and data scale are marquee, but the category faces skepticism until IND-enabling programs read out. Recursion is further along publicly; Insitro competes on Koller's ML brand and partnership model.
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Recursion Pharmaceuticals direct
ML + automated biology for drug discovery.
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Insitro peer: Atomwise adjacent
Structure-based AI drug design; different modality focus.
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Traditional pharma R&D incumbent
Slower but proven clinical development infrastructure.
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Isomorphic Labs adjacent
DeepMind spin-out applying AI to drug discovery.
Notable stories
- Insitro raised $400M Series C in March 2021 during peak Bio+AI enthusiasm — among the largest rounds in ML drug discovery at the time.
- Daphne Koller left Stanford to found Insitro in 2018, applying the same ML-at-scale thesis she pioneered in education to biology.
Industries
FAQs about Insitro
Practical answers founders, operators, and investors typically search for.
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