The archive · Bio & Materials · Product decision · 2022–2024
Cradle's AI-protein bet: $73M Series B, Novo Nordisk and J&J as customers
Amsterdam startup treats proteins as 'an alien programming language' for LLMs; $73M Series B (2024), 21+ customers including Novo Nordisk and J&J.
Cradle
What the business is
Cradle sells generative-AI software for protein engineering: scientists give the model experimental data, it proposes improved sequences (e.g. more heat-stable, more effective proteins), and a wet lab in Amsterdam validates results across protein types.
Starting capital：$24M Series A in 2023 (Index Ventures, Kindred Capital); $73M Series B led by IVP with Index and Kindred continuing (Nov 2024) — total funding over $100M.
How it started
Cradle appeared in 2022 as part of the wave applying language models to biology. Founder and CEO Stef van Grieken called amino-acid sequences 'an alien programming language' that AI can still parse. Its model recommends sequence changes — say, making a protein more heat-resistant — without changing its function, aiming to cut the dozens of experimental rounds pharma runs per candidate. A $24M Series A in 2023 (Index, Kindred) funded the platform and its Amsterdam laboratory.
What happened
Through 2024 Cradle grew customers across pharma and biotech, with van Grieken saying companies primarily value the acceleration and cost savings from fewer experimental runs — rounds that can cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars each. It commercialized the software in 2024 and passed 21 customers and 31 proteins under development, reporting R&D speedups of 1.2–12x and cost reductions up to 90%, with customers including Novo Nordisk, Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, Novonesis and Grifols. In November 2024 it raised a $73M Series B led by IVP, with Index and Kindred continuing, to expand the wet lab, engineering team and go-to-market.
How it ended up
Scaling: as of 2024-11-26 Cradle had $100M+ total funding, named customers including Novo Nordisk, Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, Novonesis and Grifols, and a stated goal of putting its software in the hands of a million scientists.
Background
Cradle, founded in 2022 in Amsterdam by Stef van Grieken, bets that language models can read proteins like code. Its generative-AI software proposes sequence changes that improve a protein's desired properties — heat resistance, efficacy, manufacturability — so scientists run fewer experimental rounds, each of which can cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars and take months.
The business model was deliberately software, not drugs: Cradle sells a SaaS platform with no royalties or revenue share, which van Grieken said proved popular because it removes IP fights and lowers the barrier to trying AI. An in-house Amsterdam wet lab A/B-tests proteins and builds 'foundational datasets' that improve the models for all customers. After a $24M Series A in 2023, Cradle commercialized in 2024 and grew past 21 customers and 31 proteins under development, reporting R&D speedups of 1.2–12x and cost reductions up to 90%.
In November 2024 Cradle raised a $73M Series B led by IVP, with Index Ventures and Kindred Capital continuing, bringing total funding above $100M. Named customers included Novo Nordisk, Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, Novonesis and Grifols, and the stated goal was putting Cradle's software in the hands of a million scientists — a bet that AI protein engineering is a service market, not a drug-development race.
What has to be true
- It is a clean 'pickaxe vs mine' decision: Cradle explicitly avoided drug co-development and built a royalty-free SaaS business instead.
- The traction is concrete and dated: 21+ customers, 31 proteins, 1.2–12x speedups, up to 90% cost cuts (company, 2024-11-25); $73M round covered by TechCrunch (2024-11-26).
- Big-name pharma customers (Novo Nordisk, J&J, Novonesis, Grifols) validate demand without requiring any drug approval.
- The wet-lab strategy turns a software company into a data-compounding platform — a transferable way to keep an AI moat.
What can be applied
Sell the pickaxe, not the mine: Cradle chose SaaS over drug co-development; biotech adopted AI cheaply, its wet lab compounded data advantages, and pharma paid before any product shipped.
Aftermath
As of 2024-11-26, Cradle is scaling: it closed a $73M Series B led by IVP (total funding over $100M), was building out its Amsterdam wet lab, hiring engineers, and expanding go-to-market with a newly appointed Chief Commercial Officer, Sam Partovi, as its 40th team member. The company reports 21+ customers and 31 proteins under development, citing Novo Nordisk, Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, Novonesis and Grifols among them, with R&D speedups of 1.2–12x and cost reductions up to 90%. Its goal is to put AI-powered protein engineering in every lab, beginning with a million scientists.
Sources
- Cradle builds out its protein-design AI platform (and wet lab) with $73M in new funding
- Cradle raises $73M Series B to Put AI-Powered Protein Engineering in Every Lab
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