ChemLex has announced the establishment of its global headquarters and self-driving laboratory in Singapore, alongside the close of a $45m funding round led by Granite Asia.
Founded in 2022, ChemLex develops AI technologies that radically accelerate chemical discovery for the pharmaceutical industry, reducing time-to-market. In three and a half years, it has grown to support more than 70 customers worldwide, including six of the world’s top 10 pharmaceutical companies. The surge reflects a larger industry shift as analysts expect the AI-powered drug discovery market to jump from $3.6bn in 2024 to nearly $50bn by 2034.
At the core of ChemLex’s platform is a 24/7 autonomous chemistry system that accelerates chemical discovery, making it more cost-efficient and more sustainable than traditional laboratory methods. Driving this is an AI-powered, fully automated synthesis line, which runs experiments autonomously, captures data in real-time, and transforms chemical discovery from a stop-start process into a smooth workflow.
The new funding will support the hiring of more hardware and software engineers, as well as chemists in Singapore, enabling the company to serve a broader pipeline of pharmaceutical and materials science projects.
Sean Lin, founder and CEO of ChemLex, said: “We’re building an R&D engine that compresses months of synthesis and optimisation into weeks or even days, transforming both the speed and certainty of discovery. Singapore strengthens this effort and provides us an ecosystem to scale rapidly and support partners globally who need this capability now.”
ChemLex also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Experimental Drug Development Centre (EDDC), Singapore’s national platform for drug discovery and development. This collaboration seeks to accelerate next-generation small molecule drug discovery through advanced automation.
Damian O’Connell of the EDDC said: “We first met ChemLex in 2023, and since then we’ve seen the company grow from a promising startup to a global innovator in AI and automation-driven chemical synthesis. As ChemLex’s first Singapore partner, we are thrilled to expand our collaboration through the MOU. This partnership reinforces our shared vision of accelerating drug discovery and development through cutting-edge technology, ultimately bringing safer, more effective therapies to patients faster. By combining EDDC’s drug development expertise with ChemLex’s automation and AI capabilities, we aim to shorten timelines, reduce costs, and deliver innovative treatments that improve lives in Singapore and globally.”
The initiatives align with the Singapore Economic Development Board’s (EDB) efforts to build a more resilient, innovation-ready life sciences ecosystem.
Goh Wan Yee, senior vice president and head, healthcare, Economic Development Board, said: “ChemLex’s decision to anchor its global R&D headquarters and AI laboratory in Singapore reflects how companies can leverage the confluence of our strengths in deep tech and biomedical sciences ecosystem, to launch breakthrough innovations. We look forward to supporting more like-minded partners like ChemLex, to accelerate scientific discoveries that will benefit patients worldwide.”
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