Deep Apple Therapeutics Secures $52 Million in Series A Financing
Deep Apple Therapeutics, a San Francisco, CA-based company specializing in the discovery of novel small molecule therapeutics for high-value targets using AI-generated virtual libraries and virtual screening, has raised $52 million in Series A funding.
This funding round was led by Apple Tree Partners.
The company plans to utilize the funds to expand its operations and further its development efforts.
Led by founding CEO Spiros Liras, Ph.D., Deep Apple utilizes a discovery engine that integrates ensemble cryo-EM, deep learning, and molecular docking screens of large libraries. This approach allows them to progress from target identification to lead optimization in under 12 months, targeting biological signaling pathways that are inaccessible to conventional discovery methods. Their discovery engine is versatile across disease areas and particularly effective for expedited hit-finding against integral membrane proteins. Currently, the company is advancing multiple programs focused on GPCR modulators, a target class with applications in metabolic disorders, inflammation, immunology, and endocrine diseases.
Deep Apple’s drug discovery engine is built upon the expertise and technologies of its academic co-founders: Georgios Skiniotis, Ph.D., of Stanford University, a renowned expert in cryo-EM and GPCR structural biology; Brian Shoichet, Ph.D., of the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), a pioneer in virtual screening; and John Irwin, Ph.D., of UCSF, a computational library expert known for creating the widely used ZINC free virtual library containing over 10 billion synthesizable compounds.
