Valthos has raised $30m in seed financing to support the development of next-generation biodefense systems.
The funding came from OpenAI Startup Fund, Lux Capital, and Founders Fund.
Increasingly powerful and accessible tools for biological engineering will drive medical breakthroughs, but also introduce a new landscape of biological threats from sophisticated adversaries and individuals.
“The issue at the core of biodefense is asymmetry,” said Kathleen McMahon, co-founder of Valthos.
“It’s easier to make a pathogen than a cure. We’re building tools to help experts at the frontlines of biodefence move as fast as the threats they face.”
Valthos builds AI systems to rapidly characterise biological sequences and compress the time to design medical countermeasures.
“In this new world, the only way forward is to be faster. So we set out to build a new tech stack for biodefence,” said Tess van Stekelenburg, co-founder of Valthos.
“This software infrastructure strengthens biodefense today and lays the groundwork for the adaptive, precision therapeutics of tomorrow.”
“Technology is moving fast. An industrial ecosystem of builders, companies and solutions further democratizes AI to provide broad resilience, and ensures the US continues to lead as AI increasingly powers everything around us. As AI and biotech rapidly advance, biodefense is one of the new industry verticals that helps maximise the benefits and minimise the risks,” said Jason Kwon, OpenAI’s chief strategy officer.
“Valthos is pushing the frontier of protection and defence in one of the most strategic intersections of multiple world-changing technologies, and with the team to do it.”
With the funding, Valthos will scale software infrastructure for government and commercial stakeholders and expand its engineering team.
Jim Cornall is editor of Deeptech Digest and publisher at Ayr Coastal Media. He is an award-winning writer, editor, photographer, broadcaster, designer and author. Contact Jim here.