Owkin, a French company applying machine learning to medical research, has secured $18 million in funding from Mubadala Capital and Bpifrance, through the bank’s Large Venture fund. This Series A extension brings the startup's total amount raised to $70 million.
The AI platform connects data scientists, clinicians, academic researchers and pharmaceutical companies to create global datasets and encourage collaborative research, all the while protecting patient data within a hospital’s local infrastructure. This ‘medical research ecosystem’ consists of four tools: Owkin Loop (the network), Owkin Connect (the technology infrastructure), Owkin Studio (the AI software tool) and Owkin Lab (the expertise).
“We are changing the world of medical research by breaking down silos and augmenting research capabilities at scale,” says Thomas Clozel, the startup’s co-founder and CEO. “Numerous discoveries of new multimodal biomarkers and disease mechanisms are changing how pharmaceutical companies approach drug development and how clinicians design treatment plans for patients.”
Commenting on the investment, Laurent Higueret, investment director at Bpifrance Large Venture said: “Owkin now has the resources and the partners to position itself as a clear leader in the field of AI for biomedical research. We are also delighted to team up with Mubadala Capital for their first direct equity investment in France and thus further capitalize on our strategic partnership with them.”
Founded in 2016, the healthtech startup is headquartered in New York City. Other investors in the Series A round, which was initially announced in 2018, include Cathay Innovation, MACSF (a French pension fund for clinicians), GV, F-Prime Capital, Eight Roads, Frst and NJF Capital.
Photo: co-founders Thomas Clozel and Gilles Wainrib
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