Start-up behind ‘ChatGPT for nature’ raises $60m

Basecamp Research claims its BaseFold model outperforms the Nobel-prize winning AlphaFold 2 for predicting large protein structures.

London-based start-up Basecamp Research, which is building artificial intelligence (AI) models for life sciences, pharma and biotech, has completed a $60m funding round.

The start-up has also entered into a multiyear collaboration with Dr David R Liu’s laboratory at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

Basecamp aims to develop models with better insights into biology than any human by training its AI on a vast amount of “ethically sourced” biological data. However, instead of feeding the model the thousands of published research papers in the field of biology, the start-up is gathering very particular data, building the model from the ground up.

“We use a combination of exploration – literally going around the world to pick up data, understand hot springs, volcanoes, those sorts of things – and combine that with an artificial intelligence program that is focused purely on training massive language models to build, effectively, a ChatGPT for nature,” Glen Gowers, the co-founder and CEO of Basecamp Research told Tech Crunch.

The Series B funding round was led by French venture capital firm Singular and saw participation from S32; redalpine; André Hoffmann, the vice-chair of Roche; Feike Sijbesma, chair of Royal Philips and the former CEO of DSM; and Paul Polman, the former CEO of Unilever.

The funding will go towards scaling the pace and volume of the start-up’s data collection endeavours, the company said.

Since starting in 2019, Basecamp has designed a number of AI models that work in the synthetic biology sector. The company claims its BaseFold model outperforms Google DeepMind’s AlpaFold2, the creators of which, Demis Hassabis and John M Jumper, just won a Nobel Prize for their work predicting protein structures.

In its collaboration with Dr Liu’s laboratory, Basecamp Research aims to develop novel fusion proteins and other large molecules to enable the next generation of genetic medicines.

“We are pushing past AI’s limits in biological design by doubling down on solving the fundamental data gap that the entire biotech industry faces,” said Gowers.

“Basecamp Research is using its technology to generate new and deeper insights, going beyond known biology and each day expand what we can offer to our partners in the biopharma ecosystem.”

The start-up has raised $85m to date and works with more than 100 partners to expand its database and deliver biological breakthroughs.

Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.