Manifold Bio
Manifold Bio is a Boston-based platform therapeutics company that combines AI-guided protein design with massively multiplexed in vivo screening to discover tissue-targeted biologics, serving pharmaceutical partners through licensing deals anchored by a flagship Roche BBB-shuttle collaboration.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2020
- HeadquartersBoston, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Manifold Bio does
Manifold Bio is a Boston-based, venture-backed platform therapeutics company founded in 2020 out of George Church's Harvard lab. It builds an AI-guided direct-to-vivo drug discovery platform, the mDesign engine, that combines AI-powered protein design with massively multiplexed in vivo screening to engineer tissue-targeted biologics. The company's wetware layer is built around mCodes, inert peptide barcodes decoded via next-generation sequencing that allow quantification of hundreds to thousands of candidate molecules across tissues in a single animal, and an mShuttle Portfolio of tissue-targeting shuttle molecules, including blood-brain barrier shuttles for CNS delivery. Supporting AI assets include mBER, an open-source AlphaFold-Multimer-based framework for de novo antibody binder generation, and EpiTome, a proprietary epitope-to-biodistribution data resource that feeds into a longer-term "virtual organism" predictive model of in vivo biology.
The company's internal pipeline is anchored in CNS-targeted therapeutics for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease (antibodies and oligonucleotides against Abeta, tau, and alpha-synuclein) and is expanding into peripheral-targeted cardiometabolic indications. Manifold operates a partnership-driven business model, monetizing its platform through research collaboration and license agreements with pharmaceutical partners structured around upfront payments, research/preclinical/clinical/commercial milestones, and tiered royalties. Its flagship commercial relationship is a November 2025 collaboration with Roche for next-generation BBB shuttles, which delivered a $55 million upfront and over $2 billion in potential milestones plus royalties; Manifold leads discovery while Roche leads preclinical, clinical, and commercialization, and Manifold retains rights to co-fund one program for enhanced royalties and to apply shuttles to non-licensed targets. A March 2026 joint study with NVIDIA validated million-scale AI-driven binder design using the company's platform, and the open-sourcing of mBER on GitHub signals a strategy of building an external ecosystem around its core AI tools.
Manifold Bio firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Manifold Bio
- Legal name
- Manifold Biotechnologies, Inc.
- Website
- https://manifold.bio
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2020
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Manifold Bio is a Boston-based platform therapeutics company that combines AI-guided protein design with massively multiplexed in vivo screening to discover tissue-targeted biologics, serving pharmaceutical partners through licensing deals anchored by a flagship Roche BBB-shuttle collaboration.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Manifold Bio industry classification
Industry- Product category
- AI-Guided Biologics Drug Discovery Platform
- NAICS
- Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714)
- SIC
- Biological Products, (No Disgnostic Substances) (2836)
- akta.pro primary industry
- AI/ML-Enabled Biologic Discovery Platforms (computational design, in silico screening) (HLAAAIAE)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Antibody Discovery & Engineering Platforms (display tech, bispecifics, Fc engineering) (HLAAAIAB), Protein Engineering & Directed Evolution Platforms (enzyme/therapeutic protein optimization) (HLAAAIAC)
Keywords
Where Manifold Bio is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Boston
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Manifold Bio business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Strategic Partnerships and License Agreements: Manifold Bio generates revenue through research collaboration and license agreements with pharmaceutical partners. These deals include upfront payments, research and preclinical milestones, clinical milestones, and commercial milestones plus tiered royalties. The company also retains rights to co-fund development of product candidates for enhanced royalty participation.
- Venture Funding: Series A funding round of $40 million led by Triatomic Capital to support drug programs, expand protein engineering platform, and enable internal development in oncology.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels3 records
Manifold Bio product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Manifold Bio operates a direct-to-vivo drug discovery platform that combines massively multiplexed in vivo screening with AI-guided protein design to engineer tissue-targeted biologics including antibodies and oligonucleotides. The platform is built around the proprietary mDesign Engine and supporting technologies such as mCodes molecular barcoding, the mBER AI antibody design framework, and the mShuttle Portfolio for tissue-specific delivery including BBB shuttles. Revenue is generated primarily by licensing the platform and shuttle technology to global pharmaceutical partners through research collaborations with upfront payments, milestones, and tiered royalties, while the company retains an internal pipeline of CNS and cardiometabolic therapeutic candidates.
Product overview
Manifold Bio is a platform therapeutics company offering a unified direct-to-vivo drug discovery platform consisting of multiple integrated products. The core mDesign Engine combines AI-guided protein design with massively multiplexed in vivo screening. Supporting technologies include mCodes (molecular barcoding), mBER (open-source AI antibody design framework), and the mShuttle Portfolio for tissue-targeted delivery. The company is building EpiTome, a proprietary epitope-to-biodistribution data resource, toward a virtual organism model. The platform enables testing thousands to millions of biologic variants directly in living systems for tissue-targeted biologics development.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Direct-to-Vivo Discovery Platform (mDesign Engine) AI-guided direct-to-vivo drug discovery platform that combines massively multiplexed in vivo screening with AI-powered protein design to engineer tissue-targeted biologics including antibodies and oligonucleotides, with the long-term goal of building a virtual organism model.
- mShuttle Portfolio (BBB Shuttles and Tissue-Targeting Shuttles)
Quantifiable outcome
- 68% of targets achieved specific binder identification in NVIDIA validation study
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Manifold Bio
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Manifold Bio technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability7 records
Feature6 records
Manifold Bio partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.
- NVIDIAcoreJoint study to validate NVIDIA's generative model Proteina-Complexa for protein binder design. Manifold used its proprietary platform to test 1 million binder designs against 127 targets in a single multiplexed experiment, measuring over 100 million protein-protein interactions. Study established Proteina-Complexa as competitive with state-of-the-art methods, validating the approach of matching generative AI throughput with experimental validation at equivalent scale.
- RocheflagshipStrategic research collaboration and license agreement to develop multiple next-generation blood-brain barrier (BBB) shuttles for neurological and neurodegenerative diseases. Manifold receives $55 million upfront and potential for over $2 billion in research, preclinical, clinical, and commercial milestones, plus tiered royalties. Manifold leads discovery while Roche leads preclinical, clinical, and commercialization. Manifold retains right to co-fund development of one program for enhanced royalties and rights to apply BBB shuttles to non-licensed targets.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Manifold Bio competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Generate Biomedicines: Generate Biomedicines is a generative biology platform using AI to design novel protein therapeutics across modalities. Directly comparable to Manifold's mDesign engine and AI-guided protein design approach, both targeting de novo biologics creation rather than screening natural repertoires.
- Absci: Absci combines generative AI with a wet-lab platform for de novo antibody design and synthesis. Overlaps with Manifold's mBER framework and EpiTome data resource, both focused on AI-driven antibody binder generation at scale.
- BigHat Biosciences: BigHat Biosciences uses ML-guided antibody design integrated with high-throughput wet-lab validation, similar to Manifold's ML2 (Machine Learning + Multiplexed Libraries) approach combining AI design with in vivo/in vitro measurement.
- Cradle Bio: Cradle applies generative AI and protein language models to engineer improved biologics. Shares Manifold's emphasis on AI-guided protein engineering for therapeutic applications and serves pharma partners with platform licensing.
- Genesis Therapeutics: Genesis Therapeutics develops AI models for protein structure and molecular design to discover novel therapeutics. Comparable to Manifold in combining generative protein modeling with pharma partnerships and target-based drug discovery.
Broad incumbents
- Insitro: Insitro is a larger, well-funded AI-driven drug discovery company combining ML with high-throughput biology. While broader in scope (small molecules, cell biology, multiple therapeutic areas) than Manifold, it shares the ML × wet-lab integration thesis and pharma partnership model.
- Isomorphic Labs: Isomorphic Labs (Alphabet/DeepMind spinoff) applies AlphaFold-derived AI to drug discovery. Significantly larger and broader in scope than Manifold, but competes for similar pharma partnerships and AI-bio talent targeting novel protein therapeutics.
- Recursion Pharmaceuticals: Recursion is a publicly traded AI-driven drug discovery company combining high-throughput biology with ML at industrial scale. Broad incumbent in the AI-bio space, more focused on small molecules and target ID but addresses similar pharma partnership customers.
Emerging players
- EvolutionaryScale: EvolutionaryScale is building frontier AI models for biology (ESM family) including protein design. Adjacent to Manifold's mBER/mDesign work; provides complementary foundational AI tools rather than a direct competing drug discovery platform.
- Adaptyv Bio: Adaptyv Bio operates a high-throughput protein engineering platform combining automated wet-lab experimentation with ML-driven protein design. Overlaps with Manifold's ML2 approach at smaller scale and narrower therapeutic scope.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Manifold Bio social profiles
Digital presenceManifold Bio financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Manifold Bio leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles11 records
Manifold Bio funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds4 records
Investors10 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Manifold Bio M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Manifold Bio
What does Manifold Bio do?
Manifold Bio operates a direct-to-vivo drug discovery platform that combines massively multiplexed in vivo screening with AI-guided protein design to engineer tissue-targeted biologics including antibodies and oligonucleotides. The platform is built around the proprietary mDesign Engine and supporting technologies such as mCodes molecular barcoding, the mBER AI antibody design framework, and the mShuttle Portfolio for tissue-specific delivery including BBB shuttles. Revenue is generated primarily by licensing the platform and shuttle technology to global pharmaceutical partners through research collaborations with upfront payments, milestones, and tiered royalties, while the company retains an internal pipeline of CNS and cardiometabolic therapeutic candidates.
Is Manifold Bio a public or private company?
Manifold Bio is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Manifold Bio founded?
Manifold Bio was founded in 2020. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Manifold Bio based?
Manifold Bio is headquartered in Boston, United States, in the North America region.
How does Manifold Bio make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Strategic Partnerships and License Agreements are the primary driver. The others are venture Funding.
Who are Manifold Bio's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Generate Biomedicines, Absci, BigHat Biosciences, Cradle Bio and Genesis Therapeutics. Broad incumbents are Insitro, Isomorphic Labs and Recursion Pharmaceuticals. Emerging players are EvolutionaryScale and Adaptyv Bio.
Does Manifold Bio have an API?
No public API is recorded for Manifold Bio.
What industry is Manifold Bio in?
Manifold Bio's product category is AI-Guided Biologics Drug Discovery Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLAAAIAE, AI/ML-Enabled Biologic Discovery Platforms (computational design, in silico screening), with a secondary code of HLAAAIAB, Antibody Discovery & Engineering Platforms (display tech, bispecifics, Fc engineering). Its NAICS code is 541714 and its SIC code is 2836.