BigHat Biosciences
BigHat Biosciences is an AI/ML-guided antibody discovery and engineering company that uses a Milliner platform pairing cell-free synthetic biology with proprietary machine learning to design safer, more effective antibody therapeutics, partnering with leading biopharma (Lilly, J&J, AbbVie, Amgen, Merck) while advancing a wholly-owned pipeline of ADCs and T cell engagers toward the clinic in 2026.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2019
- HeadquartersSan Mateo, United States
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What BigHat Biosciences does
BigHat Biosciences is a Series B biotechnology company founded in 2019 and headquartered in San Mateo, California, that builds an AI/ML-guided antibody discovery and engineering platform called Milliner. Milliner integrates a synthetic-biology-based high-speed wet lab (cell-free protein synthesis, or CFPS) with proprietary pre-trained machine learning models in a weekly design-build-test-learn cycle, producing, purifying, and fully characterizing hundreds of recombinant antibodies per workcell across biophysical and functional assays including affinity, stability, solubility, specificity, and cell-based function. A custom-built cloud-native LIMS++ called Reccy orchestrates the instruments, robots, schedules, and data flows, holds SOC 2 Type 2 certification, and feeds a new AI orchestration layer called RADS (Reccy Antibody Design Studio) that runs a weekly competitive zoo of ML models on the freshest data, selects the best performer, and uses it to design the next week's antibody variants.
The company's business model rests on multi-year strategic collaborations with large biopharma (Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, AbbVie, Amgen, Merck), each typically structured as upfront cash plus R&D funding, success-based milestone payments, and downstream economics on partnered programs. BigHat also retains a wholly-owned pipeline — most notably the next-generation ADC BHB810 for gastrointestinal cancers (paired with Synaffix/Lonza GlycoConnect, HydraSpace, and toxSYN technologies) and an expanding portfolio of T cell engagers including a first-in-class NOT-gated logic-gated design — with multiple programs on track to enter the clinic in 2026. Distribution is relationship-driven via direct enterprise sales to pharma partners, supplemented by technology ecosystem visibility through AWS Life Sciences Agents and thought leadership in peer-reviewed ML venues (ICLR, NeurIPS, PMLR).
BigHat has raised more than $140 million cumulatively from leading investors including Section 32, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), 8VC, Amgen Ventures, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Eli Lilly (via corporate equity under Lilly Catalyze360 in April 2025). Leadership was upgraded in 2025-2026 with co-founder Peyton Greenside moving from CSO to CEO and the appointment of Stefan Weigand (former Head of Large Molecule Research at Roche, overseeing roughly 350 scientists and 60-plus molecules into clinic) as Chief Scientific Officer, formalizing the company's transition from a platform/collaboration business to a clinical-stage biotech.
BigHat Biosciences firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- BigHat Biosciences
- Legal name
- BigHat Biosciences, Inc.
- Website
- https://bighatbio.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2019
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- BigHat Biosciences is an AI/ML-guided antibody discovery and engineering company that uses a Milliner platform pairing cell-free synthetic biology with proprietary machine learning to design safer, more effective antibody therapeutics, partnering with leading biopharma (Lilly, J&J, AbbVie, Amgen, Merck) while advancing a wholly-owned pipeline of ADCs and T cell engagers toward the clinic in 2026.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
BigHat Biosciences industry classification
Industry- Product category
- AI-Driven Antibody Discovery & Engineering Platform
- NAICS
- Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714)
- SIC
- Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Antibody Discovery & Engineering Platforms (display tech, bispecifics, Fc engineering) (HLAAAIAB)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Synthetic Biology & Genetic Circuit Design Platforms (pathway engineering, chassis development) (HLAAAIAD), Library & Diversity Generation Platforms (display libraries, DNA-encoded libraries for biologics, variant libraries) (HLAAAIAL)
Keywords
Where BigHat Biosciences is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Mateo
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
BigHat Biosciences business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Strategic biopharma collaborations: Multi-program discovery and engineering partnerships with leading biopharma (Eli Lilly, J&J, AbbVie, Amgen, Merck). These typically include upfront cash, R&D funding, success-based milestone payments, and downstream economics tied to development and commercialization.
- Equity investments from pharma partners: Strategic partners take equity stakes in BigHat alongside collaboration agreements (e.g., Eli Lilly equity investment under Lilly Catalyze360™ in April 2025). Equity capital supplements R&D funding and aligns partner incentives.
- Technology licensing (ADC platform inbound): Licenses inbound enabling technologies for internal programs — e.g., Synaffix (a Lonza company) GlycoConnect™, HydraSpace® and toxSYN® ADC technologies licensed for BigHat's next-gen ADC program, with associated development and manufacturing services from Lonza. BigHat retains full global rights to its programs.
- Data and platform service arrangements: BigHat contributes best-in-class ML expertise and high-quality Milliner-generated datasets to support external AI-enabled drug discovery platforms (e.g., Lilly TuneLab), enabling model benchmarking and foundation model training in exchange for collaboration value.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | — | Quote-based partnership pricing (not publicly disclosed) |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels6 records
BigHat Biosciences product offering
Product offeringCore offering
BigHat Biosciences develops and operates the Milliner platform, a full-stack antibody discovery and engineering system that integrates a synthetic-biology-based high-speed wet lab (cell-free protein synthesis) with proprietary machine learning models in an iterative weekly design-build-test-learn cycle. The platform is commercialized through multi-program strategic collaborations with large biopharma (Eli Lilly, J&J, AbbVie, Amgen, Merck), supports BigHat's wholly-owned therapeutic pipeline (ADCs and T cell engagers in oncology and immunology), and is paired with technology licensing arrangements and platform service agreements.
Product overview
BigHat Biosciences operates a single integrated platform architecture rather than a portfolio of disconnected products. The core platform, Milliner, pairs a synthetic-biology-based high-throughput wet lab with machine-learning-guided design in a weekly design-build-test cycle. Sitting on top of Milliner is Reccy Antibody Design Studio (RADS), the AI orchestration layer that trains a weekly "zoo" of models and selects the best to design the next batch of antibodies, while Reccy itself (BigHat's custom LIMS++) acts as the data-control plane connecting instruments, robots, schedulers, and ML pipelines. These platform capabilities power BigHat's internal pipeline of wholly-owned therapeutics (BHB810 ADC for GI cancers, BHB299 and the avidity, AND-gated, and NOT-gated TCE programs in oncology and I&I), alongside partner programs with AbbVie, Johnson & Johnson, Amgen, Merck, Eli Lilly, and Lonza/Synaffix.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Milliner: BigHat's AI/ML-powered, high-throughput, automated wet-lab antibody design and engineering platform; central data-generation engine that integrates synthetic biology with machine learning.
- Reccy
- Reccy Antibody Design Studio (RADS)
Products and services
- Milliner Platform
Quantifiable outcome
- Hundreds of recombinant antibodies synthesized, purified, and characterized in a single weekly workcell
- +6 more outcomes
Companies that use BigHat Biosciences
Customer profileNamed customers5 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
BigHat Biosciences technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability10 records
Feature6 records
BigHat Biosciences partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.
- Eli Lilly (Lilly TuneLab)flagshipCollaboration to advance machine learning-enabled biologics discovery through Lilly TuneLab. BigHat will leverage its ML expertise and Milliner platform to rapidly generate diverse, high-quality datasets suitable for use in a generalizable antibody developability foundation model. Expands BigHat's existing relationship with Lilly.
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)coreBigHat uses AWS to build digitally connected labs and is featured among customers in AWS's agentic AI life sciences portfolio announcement, alongside Bayer AG, Natera, Foundation Medicine, and Resilience. AWS previewed BigHat-related demonstrations at re:Invent 2025.
- Johnson & Johnson (Janssen Biotech, Inc.)flagshipStrategic collaboration to leverage BigHat's integrated machine learning platform to design novel and challenging antibodies, successfully completed. Next stage advances multiple novel sequences targeting neuroscience therapeutic area.
- Eli LillyflagshipStrategic collaboration to co-develop up to two antibody therapeutic programs using BigHat's Milliner platform. Lilly Catalyze360™ provides support while BigHat retains full global rights to its GI cancer ADC program. Includes equity investment from Lilly.
- Synaffix (Lonza)coreCommercial license of Synaffix's late-clinical stage, site-specific ADC technology platform (GlycoConnect™, HydraSpace® and toxSYN® linker-payloads) for BigHat's next-gen ADC pipeline program. Through Lonza's umbrella, BigHat also gains access to end-to-end ADC development and manufacturing services (DNA-to-IND). The collaboration is critical for advancing BigHat's next-generation ADC program, currently at IND-enabling stage and on track to become BigHat's first clinical-stage program.
- AbbVieflagshipResearch collaboration to leverage AI/ML to discover next-generation therapeutic antibodies. AbbVie cites the collaboration as evidence of its commitment to integrate AI/ML-based approaches in drug discovery and development. Third-party reporting indicates $30M upfront and up to $325M+ in milestones.
- AmgencoreMulti-phase research collaboration; completion of first stage demonstrated Milliner's ability to quickly and significantly optimize next-generation single-domain antibodies, validating the platform against traditional technologies. Philip Tagari (former VP of Research at Amgen) provided quote endorsing the collaboration.
- MerckcoreResearch collaboration applying AI/ML across Merck's drug discovery capabilities. Merck's Juan Alvarez (VP of Discovery Biologics) cites the agreement as expanding their AI/ML strategy to enable molecular design of novel biologic candidates.
Scale indicators12 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
BigHat Biosciences competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Generate Biomedicines: Flagship-backed AI-driven generative biology company developing de novo protein therapeutics, including antibodies, using foundation models and a wet-lab learning loop. Most direct competitor to BigHat's ML-guided antibody discovery and engineering model.
- Insitro: ML-driven drug discovery company combining high-throughput biology, induced pluripotent stem cell-derived disease models, and ML to discover and develop therapeutics, including biologics. Overlaps with BigHat on the wet-lab-plus-ML platform thesis and biopharma partnership model.
- AbCellera Biologics: Public antibody discovery company combining high-throughput single-cell screening with computational/ML approaches to discover and optimize antibody therapeutics, with a similar partnership-driven business model serving top biopharma.
- Isomorphic Labs: Alphabet-backed drug discovery company spun out of DeepMind applying AlphaFold-derived AI to therapeutics design, including biologics. Direct competitor in the AI/ML-driven protein and antibody design space with substantially greater capital and compute resources.
Emerging players
- Tessera Therapeutics: Flagship-backed gene writing company combining ML-driven protein engineering with synthetic biology. Shares BigHat's integration of ML and synthetic biology, though focused on genome engineering rather than antibody therapeutics.
- Cradle Bio: Amsterdam-based AI company applying generative ML to protein engineering across modalities, with a partnership-led business model. Comparable in applying foundation models and ML to protein design, though its primary focus is broader than antibodies.
- LabGenius: London-based AI-driven antibody discovery company using a closed-loop design-build-test-learn cycle to engineer next-generation antibody therapeutics. Closely mirrors BigHat's automation-plus-ML approach in the antibody niche, with a more recent funding history.
- Adaptyv Bio: Early-stage protein engineering company using high-throughput wet-lab experimentation and ML to accelerate protein design. Smaller and earlier-stage than BigHat, but operates in a similar ML-guided biologics design space.
Broad incumbents
- Recursion Pharmaceuticals: Public techbio company combining high-throughput automated wet-lab experimentation with ML at scale, focused on small molecule and target identification. Adjacent platform model with overlap in ML-guided biology and biopharma partnerships, though concentrated in small molecules rather than antibodies.
- Ginkgo Bioworks: Public synthetic biology platform company combining automated high-throughput biology with ML for cell engineering and protein production. Overlaps with BigHat on the synthetic-biology-plus-ML platform concept, though Ginkgo's primary focus is organism engineering and biomanufacturing rather than antibody therapeutics.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
BigHat Biosciences social profiles
Digital presenceBigHat Biosciences compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
BigHat Biosciences financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
BigHat Biosciences leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles10 records
BigHat Biosciences funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds5 records
Investors21 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
BigHat Biosciences M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A1 record
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about BigHat Biosciences
What does BigHat Biosciences do?
BigHat Biosciences develops and operates the Milliner platform, a full-stack antibody discovery and engineering system that integrates a synthetic-biology-based high-speed wet lab (cell-free protein synthesis) with proprietary machine learning models in an iterative weekly design-build-test-learn cycle. The platform is commercialized through multi-program strategic collaborations with large biopharma (Eli Lilly, J&J, AbbVie, Amgen, Merck), supports BigHat's wholly-owned therapeutic pipeline (ADCs and T cell engagers in oncology and immunology), and is paired with technology licensing arrangements and platform service agreements.
Is BigHat Biosciences a public or private company?
BigHat Biosciences is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was BigHat Biosciences founded?
BigHat Biosciences was founded in 2019. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is BigHat Biosciences based?
BigHat Biosciences is headquartered in San Mateo, United States, in the North America region.
How does BigHat Biosciences make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Strategic biopharma collaborations are the primary driver. The others are equity investments from pharma partners, technology licensing (ADC platform inbound) and data and platform service arrangements.
Who are BigHat Biosciences's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Generate Biomedicines, Insitro, AbCellera Biologics and Isomorphic Labs. Emerging players are Tessera Therapeutics, Cradle Bio, LabGenius and Adaptyv Bio. Broad incumbents are Recursion Pharmaceuticals and Ginkgo Bioworks.
Does BigHat Biosciences have an API?
No public API is recorded for BigHat Biosciences.
What industry is BigHat Biosciences in?
BigHat Biosciences's product category is AI-Driven Antibody Discovery & Engineering Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLAAAIAB, Antibody Discovery & Engineering Platforms (display tech, bispecifics, Fc engineering), with a secondary code of HLAAAIAD, Synthetic Biology & Genetic Circuit Design Platforms (pathway engineering, chassis development). Its NAICS code is 541714 and its SIC code is 8731.