Isomorphic Labs: spun out of DeepMind, while Google keeps the AlphaFold 3 licence

Who supplies the research · DeepMind, then both together. Colin Murdoch told CNBC that after AlphaFold 2 he and Hassabis gathered DeepMind staff to explore uses and pitched a business plan to Alphabet; CNBC adds that not all of those staff stayed after the spin-out, and the team had to be hired from scratch.[2] AlphaFold 3 was built by Google DeepMind and Isomorphic: 11 of the Nature paper's 48 authors are at Isomorphic, and the research was led by Hassabis, Max Jaderberg and John Jumper.[6] The accounts also show Isomorphic buying R&D services from other group companies (about £10.6M in 2025), without naming which.[5]

Who holds the IP · What is public sits with Google. AlphaFold 3's code is copyright DeepMind Technologies; the weights and output are contracts with Google, whose output terms say AlphaFold 3 "belongs to us" and allow non-commercial use only; commercial use is bought through Google Cloud.[7][8][9] The paper says "author-affiliated entities" filed US provisional patent applications, without saying whether Google or Isomorphic.[6] Whether Isomorphic co-owns or exclusively licenses AlphaFold, and whether it pays, is not yet public; in 2021 it bought £3.55M of intangible assets, and the accounts do not say what or from whom.[4] It calls its drug-design engine, IsoDDE, its own proprietary platform.[5]

Who gives the lab and equipment · Mostly computing, with wet work done by partners. The London headquarters is in King's Cross, where in early 2022 "just over a dozen people" worked from a temporary office; a Lausanne office opened in 2023, where the company says "much of our work happens inside computers"; the Swiss subsidiary is registered care of Google Switzerland.[2][13][5] No owned wet lab appears: the UK company's balance sheet holds no tangible fixed assets, and in the J&J deal Isomorphic designs and predicts while J&J runs the assays.[5][12] Who supplies compute, and on what terms, is not public.[5]

Who puts in the first money, and on what terms · Alphabet. The filings show the UK company issuing shares to its US parent, Isomorphic Holdings LLC, for £88.66M in cash on 19 November 2021; CNBC says "the check came in November 2021" and that the company has never said how much Google first invested.[3][2] The first outside round came in March 2025: $600M led by Thrive Capital, with GV and follow-on from Alphabet; the May 2026 Series B raised $2.1B, again led by Thrive, and neither disclosed a valuation.[10][11] After the outside money Companies House still lists Alphabet as the sole person with significant control, at 75%-plus with the right to appoint directors.[3] The UK company lost £159M in 2025 against £55M of income from its pharma deals, with no milestone yet achieved.[5]

Who joins the company · Half from DeepMind, half from drugmaking and tech. From DeepMind: Hassabis (CEO), business lead Colin Murdoch (later president, an adviser from 2026), Max Jaderberg (chief AI officer, president from 2026) and people lead Beverley Mallon.[2][14][15] From outside: chief scientific officer Miles Congreve (formerly CSO of Sosei Heptares), CTO Sergei Yakneen (formerly CTO of SOPHiA GENETICS, no longer on today's team page) and chief medical officer Ben Wolf, from Relay Therapeutics.[14] Average headcount was 225 in 2025, and the company said it had passed 300 by the end of that year.[5][15]