Cradle

Research on the record

• 2026-03-08Cradle's CRADLE-1 preprint claims protein lead optimisation 4-7 times faster than rational design, counted in wet-lab roundsLevel 4 · Tested in the physical world
• 2024-12-08Cradle's redesigned cetuximab fragment binds EGFR at 1.2 nM, the best of 400 designs Adaptyv Bio testedLevel 4 · Tested in the physical world

Graded by how far the evidence went, not how good the result is. See the methodology.

Also on the timeline

• 2026-01-07Bayer signs a three-year deal to use Cradle's protein-design software across its antibody pipelinePartnerships

People

Only people the AI4S.fyi record has named: in a round, a timeline entry, commentary, an interview or a sourced role. Not the full team.

Funding rounds tracked

• 2024-11-26Series B · $73MconfirmedLed by IVP · With Index Ventures, Kindred CapitalStated use: wet lab expansion, more data, better models, larger teams
• 2023-11-28Series A · $24MconfirmedLed by Index Ventures · With Kindred Capital, Chris Gibson (Recursion co-founder), Tom Glocer (former Thomson Reuters CEO)Stated use: team growth, product and sales, lab and engineering space in Amsterdam
• 2022-11-17Seed · €5.5MconfirmedLed by Index Ventures, Kindred Capital · With Feike Sijbesma (former DSM CEO), Emily Leproust (Twist Bioscience founder)Stated use: product development, team, onboarding design partners

Each round links to its line on the funding record, with its source.

Also in Protein design on the funding board

The other companies the funding board files under the same field, latest round first. A list of what the record tracks, not a ranking or a market map.

• 2026-10-28BioGeometrySeries A+ · not disclosed; the A series to date tops $100MBuilds generative models for biology: GeoFlow, an all-atom model that predicts the structures of proteins and their complexes and designs binders, and GeoCell, a virtual-cell model of how cells' gene expression responds to genetic and drug perturbations. An automated lab expresses and tests the designs and feeds the data back. It designs antibodies, vaccines, peptides and enzymes for partners and its own pipeline, including synthetic-biology products.
• 2026-09-24BigHat BiosciencesSeries C · $75MDesigns antibodies with machine learning tied to a fast automated wet lab (Milliner) that makes and tests designs; its lead drug BHB810 is in the clinic.
• 2026-08-11Aureka BiotechnologiesSeries B · $100MDesigns antibodies with its own biological foundation model, AuraIDE (released in open form as OpenDDE), trained and retrained on data from its own single-cell functional screens.
• 2026-07-14Chai DiscoverySeries C · $400MBuilds AI models that predict how molecules bind and design antibodies from scratch, and licenses them to drugmakers as software.
• 2026-06-17MoleculeMindSeries A (extension) · A-series cumulative total over US$100 millionAI protein structure prediction and design (MoleculeOS, MMFold, MMDesign) sold to drugmakers and industrial-enzyme users, with a few in-house early programs.
• 2026-03-20Helixon (Earendil Labs)Round (unnamed) · $787MAI protein modelling plus high-throughput experiments to design antibodies, especially bispecifics, which it licenses to Sanofi and Genentech and develops in-house.

All 15 in this field →