Ridge Biotechnologies

Ridge Biotechnologies is a Palo Alto-based company pioneering enzyme and targeted drug design for precision medicines. Founded in 2024 by CEO Weston Kightlinger, a serial entrepreneur, the company was incubated by Sutter Hill Ventures (SHV). It emerged from stealth on September 9, 2025, with an oversubscribed $25 million seed financing round led by SHV with participation from Overlap Holdings.

The company's core technology is a platform that utilizes proprietary machine learning models informed by massive, purpose-built datasets from high-throughput, cell-free experimentation. This approach allows Ridge Bio to design and engineer enzymes and targeted delivery systems at a scale and speed that surpasses conventional methods, generating up to a million-fold more sequence-function data in a fraction of the time. The platform is designed to solve complex drug development challenges, including off-target toxicities and manufacturing stability, by creating safer and more precise medicines.

Ridge Bio's business model is partnership-focused, providing its technology to drug developers and biopharma companies. Its initial product offerings include NativeLink™ and ProTrigger™. NativeLink™ consists of enzymes that enable the site-specific modification of native antibodies and other proteins without altering their original structure, which is beneficial for creating antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), radiopharmaceuticals, and other conjugates with improved therapeutic indices. ProTrigger™ is a line of AI-designed, conditionally active linkers that release therapeutic payloads specifically in target tissues, such as tumors, to reduce off-tumor toxicity and unlock new therapeutic targets. The company has already established a collaboration with a leading biotech firm to utilize these product lines for ADC discovery.

The company's applications span a wide range of areas, including ADCs, in vivo CAR-T therapies, targeted nucleic acid delivery, small molecule biocatalysis, and radiotherapies. The founding scientific team includes experts in ML-accelerated enzyme engineering, cell-free systems, and bioconjugation. Ridge Bio is also supported by a distinguished advisory board that includes Nobel Laureate Carolyn Bertozzi.

Keywords: precision medicine, enzyme design, targeted drug design, machine learning, artificial intelligence, cell-free experimentation, antibody-drug conjugates, ADC, ProTrigger, NativeLink, bioconjugation, protein engineering, drug delivery, oncology, CAR-T, radiotherapies, therapeutic enzymes, linker technology, biocatalysis, generative AI