Metaplanet invests in US startup Leash Biosciences

Jaan Tallinn’s fund Metaplanet has invested in Utah-based Al-powered startup Leash Biosciences. The startup has raised €8,6M in a seed round led by the US-based Springtide Ventures, with participation from Top Harvest Capital, Mitsui Global Investment, MFV Partners, and some business angels.  

Founded in 2021 by Andrew Blevins and Ian Quigley, Leash Biosciences uses machine learning technology to improve drug discovery. The company compares millions of compounds with thousands of proteins, creating massive datasets to understand how different molecules interact with different proteins. This data is used to train machine learning (ML) models that can predict which molecules might work well as drugs for specific proteins. The startup has generated over 17Bln high-quality protein-chemical interaction measurements, and designed, manufactured, and tested 6,7M molecules.

Leash Biosciences will use the investment to support the development of a machine-learning model for medicinal chemistry that can accurately predict interactions between any protein and any chemical. Leash’s machine learning engine will also support the advancement of several internal therapeutic programs toward in vivo studies, which refers to research, conducted on living organisms.

In addition, Leash announced the launch of its machine learning Kaggle competition, the Big Encoded Library for Chemical Assessment (BELKA). The competition's purpose is to address one of the most critical challenges in drug discovery: predicting the likelihood of chemical materials binding to pharmaceutically relevant targets. The competition will be hosted on the data science platform Kaggle. 

Metaplanet Holdings is an early-stage investment firm of Skype’s founder Jaan Tallinn.