Big Picture Bio raises £2.2m pre-seed and grant package to test AI-designed cancer combinations
The £1.5m equity round and £700k Innovate UK grant will move the company’s first model-designed cancer drug combinations into laboratory testing.
From simulated interactions to lab tests
Big Picture Bio models how tumour cells, immune cells and surrounding tissue influence one another as cancer changes. That system-level view lets its generative model predict whether pairs or larger combinations of drugs could work together, including combinations with little precedent for conventional machine-learning systems to extrapolate from.
The £2.2m package combines £1.5m of pre-seed equity, co-led by Kadmos Capital and Exceptional Ventures, with a £700,000 non-dilutive Innovate UK Investor Partnerships Programme grant. The company says the funding will take its first AI-designed combinations from computational design into the lab, where researchers can test whether the predicted effects hold up experimentally.
The model also supports research collaborations: biopharma teams can assess target pairings, compare drugs already in a portfolio or examine a proposed combination trial. Big Picture Bio says its predictions have been tested against Phase 3 readouts; its own drug programmes are at an earlier stage, moving into laboratory validation.
Use of funds
Take the company’s first AI-designed cancer drug combinations from the model into the lab