Owkin alum's rivercell raises $25M seed for human-cell world model

What's the deal? Paris-based biotech rivercellDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has raised a $25 million seed round to build an AI model that understands and predicts the behaviour of human cells. It says the technology could significantly boost drug discovery.

What's the endgame? The startup, founded by an alum of French biotech Owkin, is building an automated wet lab to generate high-quality data at scale on how human cells behave. That data would feed a so-called world model for human cells.

What's the money for? The seed capital will fund the lab and the AI model it aims to power, with the ultimate goal of accelerating drug discovery.

The signal: A $25 million seed is a large early bet, and it reflects investor appetite for startups pairing automated wet labs with AI to model biology — an approach that could reshape how new drugs are found.

Read more: Sifted

Image credit: National Institutes of Health (NIH)