Seed8 July 2021

Kuano secures £1m in seed funding to advance its quantum drug discovery platform.

The seed round was backed by ACF Investors, o2h Ventures, and angel investors to fund team expansion and platform development.

£1.0MSeed

Kuano is a drug discovery enterprise that merges quantum mechanics with artificial intelligence to engineer next-generation medicines targeting enzymes. Based in Cambridge, the firm develops simulation platforms to model enzyme behaviour for precision drug design.

Kuano has secured £1m in a seed funding round backed by ACF Investors, o2h Ventures, and a group of Cambridge-based angels. The company applies quantum modelling and artificial intelligence to design enzyme inhibitors, addressing a major category of drug targets. The capital will support technology team expansion, platform development, and the advancement of its internal therapeutic pipeline. The funding follows recent collaborative research efforts with the University College London Drug Discovery Institute to target neurological disorders.

From the founder

"With this investment, our investors have affirmed the strength of our technology and its commercial potential. Building upon years of research, this funding will drive the development of our platform, facilitate the rollout of our own range of therapeutics and expand our team. As our recent collaboration with the UCL Drug Discovery Institute has shown, we are beginning to have a potent effect on the pharmaceutical industry and I am looking forward to the many ways in which we can make a decisive contribution to medicine worldwide"

Vid Stojevic

Co-founder and CEO at Kuano

Investor perspective

"Kuano is a great exemplar of the strength of deeptech in the UK. Harnessing the step change in capability delivered by quantum analysis techniques and advanced machine learning and pushing the boundary of medicinal chemistry, Kuano’s platform has the potential to transform the discovery of enzyme inhibitors and create significantly more effective medicines. We are delighted to be supporting Vid and the highly experienced Kuano team on their growth journey. With a targeted range of therapeutics and a platform with enormous commercial potential, Kuano is set to make a major impact in the delivery of future therapeutics."

Tim Mills

managing partner, Angel CoFund