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Isomorphic Labs, the AI-first drug discovery startup backed by Alphabet, raised $600 million in its first-ever external funding round.
The deets: founded in 2021 as a spinout from Alphabet’s AI research division DeepMind, Isomorphic Labs sits at the crossroads of artificial intelligence and biotech. The company is using DeepMind’s groundbreaking work in protein folding to build AI systems that can simulate how molecules and proteins interact, making it faster, cheaper, and more accurate to design new medicines.
The round was led by Thrive Capital, marking a major vote of confidence in the future of AI-led healthcare innovation.
The reason: the fresh funding will fuel the development of Isomorphic’s next-gen AI drug design engine and help the company expand its team with top talent across R&D, product, and engineering. The goal is to bring new precision drugs to market faster than traditional pharmaceutical timelines.
Worth noting: Thrive Capital previously backed OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT and a major rival to Alphabet’s own generative AI efforts.
Also, Thrive’s CEO Josh Kushner, who spearheaded the investment, is the younger brother of Jared Kushner, son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Big picture: traditional drug discovery takes 10–15 years and billions of dollars. AI is now offering a faster path—by helping scientists pinpoint the exact proteins to target and simulating results before stepping into a lab.
The AI drug discovery market, valued at around $1.4 billion in 2023, is projected to hit $9–10 billion by 2030, growing at 30–40% annually. The shift is already happening—this field is no longer experimental, it’s operational, funded, and gaining momentum.
Over the next decade, expect AI-driven drug development to go from niche to mainstream, reshaping how the world discovers and delivers new medicines.
