Cradle的AI蛋白质押注：7300万美元B轮融资，诺和诺德和强生为客户

做的是什么生意

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.

启动资金：$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.

起因

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.

经过

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.

结果

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.

可借鉴之处

卖铲子，不挖矿：Cradle选择SaaS而非药物共同开发；生物技术低成本采用AI，其湿实验室复合数据优势，制药公司在产品交付前就付费。