Nabla Bio, known for its groundbreaking work in generative protein design, has unveiled the successful closure of a $26 million Series A financing round. Spearheaded by Radical Ventures and with continued support from existing investors, this milestone also marks strategic collaborations with industry giants AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb Company, and Takeda, amassing over $550 million in upfront and milestone payments alongside royalties.

“We are unlocking new opportunities to build highly selective drugs against validated but hard-to-drug targets with a degree of structural precision not previously possible,” said Nabla Co-Founder and CEO Surge Biswas. “We are excited to welcome Radical Ventures as our newest investor and to announce collaborations with three of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies to help us bring our work closer to patients.”

Traditionally, the majority of approved protein drugs target soluble extracellular proteins, presenting relatively straightforward drug discovery pathways. However, Nabla's focus on multipass membrane proteins, including G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), ion channels, and transporters, addresses a critical gap in drug development. 

These membrane proteins play crucial roles in controlling various cellular functions and have long been elusive targets for drug development. Nabla's platform allows for the precise design of antibodies tailored to these complex targets, increasing the number of disease-relevant drug targets pursued by the industry.

“With the technologies we’re developing, we could double the number of disease-relevant drug targets the industry goes after,” said Nabla Co-Founder Frances Anastassacos. “That’s an untapped therapeutic opportunity and why several leading pharmaceutical companies have collaborated with us.”

"We're excited to be working with Nabla and using their generative antibody design and high throughput screening capabilities with the aim to design new drug candidates against challenging targets,” said Puja Sapra, Senior Vice President of Biologics Engineering and 

Oncology Targeted Delivery, AstraZeneca.

To maximize the impact of its platform on patient care, Nabla collaborates closely with pharmaceutical partners, leveraging their expertise in drug development to expand the pipeline of high-quality drug candidates. These collaborations not only advance drug discovery but also provide valuable insights into disease biology, contributing to Nabla's sustainable growth.

"Generative AI and large language models are poised to master the language of proteins in the same way that they have mastered natural language in recent years, with profound implications for medicine," said Radical Ventures Partner Rob Toews. "The world-class team at Nabla Bio helped pioneer this field. Their groundbreaking work on multipass membrane protein targets offers to revolutionize antibody therapeutics and has won them major commercial partnerships with several of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies. We are thrilled to lead Nabla’s Series A.”

Founded in December 2021 with initial funding from Khosla Ventures and Zetta Venture Partners, Nabla builds upon Surge Biswas' pioneering work in protein language models. With Frances Anastassacos' background in biotech venture capital and academic expertise, Nabla is poised to make significant contributions to the field of protein-based therapies.