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Ridge Biotechnologies
AI-enabled platform for precision enzyme and drug design
About 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.
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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.
At a glance
- Status
- Operational
- Founded
- 2025
- Headquarters
- Palo Alto, United States
- Employees
- 14
- Open positions
- None listed
- Dealroom signal
- 90.3/100
- Industry
- Health
- Sub-industry
- BioTechnology
- Sector
- Biotech & Life Sciences, Biotechnology, Oncology, Drug Development, Enzymes, Core AI, Precision Medicine, Spinout, Tech for Biotech and Pharma, Biotech and Pharma
- Technology
- Artificial Intelligence
- Business model
- Manufacturing
- Client focus
- b2b
Knowledge graph
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Funding history
Company financing events and reported valuations.
| Deal type | Date | Amount | Valuation | Investors | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEED✓Equity / VC | Sep 2025 | $25M | $100M | Sutter Hill Ventures · Overlap Holdings | ↗ |
| SPINOUT✓Other financing | Jan 2025 | $0 | — | University of Southern California | — |
Growth signals
Latest recorded traffic for Ridge Biotechnologies is 340 monthly website visits, down 64.6% over the last three months. Ridge Biotechnologies's team grew 133.3% over the past year.
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Investments and acquisitions
Recent portfolio relationships for companies that also act as investors or acquirers.
Investors
From Dealroom's funding and investor records, grouped by the round each investor first entered.
Seed2 investors entered at this stage
Sutter Hill Ventures
Overlap Holdings
Other known investors2 additional known investors
University of Southern California
Keith Loebner
Source: Dealroom Talent Intelligence.
Global footprint
team presence
Market sentiment
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