Paris-based WhiteLab Genomics has raised €23.2 million ($26 million) in a Series B financing round led by AVP. New investors Yaday Health and Blast Club participated alongside existing backers Omnes Capital and Debiopharm Innovation Fund.
Founded in 2019, WhiteLab Genomics develops technology for the design and development of genomic medicines. Its leadership team includes co-founders David Del Bourgo, Lucia Cinque and Julien Cottineau. The company operates across Paris, Boston and Montréal and is backed by Y Combinator.
WhiteLab’s proprietary ALFRED platform, short for AI-Led Framework for Rational Exploration in Drug Design, applies artificial intelligence and computational biology to the design of genomic medicine components. The platform is used to design and optimise viral and non-viral delivery systems, including adeno-associated viruses and nanoparticles, as well as genetic payloads that can then undergo experimental and in vivo validation.
The company said the new capital will be used to expand its in vivo validation programmes across viral and non-viral delivery technologies and programmable payloads. WhiteLab also plans to support commercial expansion across North America, Europe and Asia while building a portfolio of experimentally validated bio-assets for development independently or with biopharma partners.
WhiteLab has reported in vivo work with the Paris Brain Institute in which AAVs designed using ALFRED crossed the blood-brain barrier while showing a strong brain-to-liver targeting ratio and no detectable liver signal. The company plans to present additional data from collaborations involving Sanofi, Cytiva, the Paris Brain Institute and Institut Imagine at the European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy Annual Congress in October.
The financing follows WhiteLab’s $10 million Series A in 2022, which was co-led by Debiopharm Innovation Fund and Omnes Capital.
As part of the latest financing, François Robinet, managing partner at AVP, and Daniel Teper, managing partner at Yaday Health, are joining WhiteLab Genomics’ Board of Directors.
