DeepMind spinout Isomorphic Labs eyes $40B valuation, up from $2.1B round in May
What's the deal? Isomorphic Labs, the Google DeepMind spinout applying AI to drug discovery, is in early talks to raise a Series C at a valuation of at least $40 billion, Bloomberg reported. One person familiar with the effort said the round could reach $50 billion. The financing has not closed, and neither the round size nor the investors have been reported.
Why now? The talks come less than five months after a $2.1 billion Series B closed in May, led by Thrive Capital. That round, which did not disclose a valuation, brought Isomorphic's external funding to $2.7 billion. First trials are expected by the end of 2026.
What's the endgame? Founded in 2021, Isomorphic develops medicines in-house and with partners including Eli Lilly, Novartis, and Johnson & Johnson, focusing on cancer and immune disorders. It works through IsoDDE, a set of AI models that predict molecular structures to find and refine drug candidates. Chief executive officer Demis Hassabis — who shared the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for AlphaFold — has said his goal is to cut drug development from years to months.
By the numbers: A $40 billion valuation would rank among the largest in the sector. Grand View ResearchDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → estimates AI in drug discovery was a $2.3 billion market in 2025, growing to $13.8 billion by 2033 — meaning Isomorphic alone would be valued at nearly three times that forecast for the whole sector.
What could go wrong? Few AI drug developers have reached clinical trials, and none have brought a medicine to market. Isomorphic's price tag far outstrips rivals: Chai Discovery raised at a $3.8 billion valuation in July, and London's Basecamp Research at $800 million in September. At $40 billion, Isomorphic would be worth more than 10 times Chai and 50 times Basecamp.
The signal: Investors are betting heavily that AI can compress the time and cost of finding medicines, even as the field remains unproven in the clinic. If the round closes near the top of its range, it would mark one of biotech's richest private valuations — placing an outsized price on a promise that has yet to produce a drug.
Read more: Bloomberg, Tech Funding News
Image credit: Isomorphic Labs
