What Persist AI does

Persist AI (legal entity Persist AI Formulations Corp) is a privately held, San Francisco Bay Area-based biotechnology company founded in 2022 that applies AI-guided formulation design together with robotic laboratory execution to accelerate drug formulation development. Its core thesis is that pharmaceutical formulation is bottlenecked by slow, manual iteration, and that a closed-loop system in which an AI designs candidate formulations, robots execute the experiments, and the resulting data is fed back to the AI can compress development timelines dramatically. Documented case studies include nanoparticle formulations reaching 60% drug loading in 28 days (vs. a 3-6 month industry standard), extended-release formulations achieved in two weeks (vs. six months of prior customer effort), and a 14-day half-life extension for a peptide in three months (vs. three years of prior effort).

The product portfolio is structured in three layers: the Persist AI Suite, a self-improving AI model deployed on the customer's own cloud that builds a proprietary organizational knowledge base; the Cloud Lab, a remote robotic laboratory service where customers design experiments and stream results to a dashboard; and a Full Service Formulation Development offering that takes a molecule from candidate to in-vivo-ready formulation. Persist AI has extended this base with two co-developed platforms: the Micromill Formulation Platform (with Microsize and Micromacinazione), which enables formulation decisions using milligrams rather than grams of API, and a fully automated Single Particle Analysis platform (with The Solubility Company Oy). A separate strategic collaboration with CyanoCapture is building what is described as the world's first robotic GMP manufacturing facility for oral protein and peptide drugs, expected operational in Q4 2026.

Commercially, Persist AI sells B2B to pharmaceutical and biotechnology enterprise customers through direct enterprise sales, with revenue streams spanning subscription/recurring (Cloud Lab access, AI Suite) and professional services (full-service formulation development). Pricing is not publicly disclosed. The company has raised a disclosed total of approximately $16 million across a $4 million seed round in August 2023 led by 2048 Ventures (post-Y Combinator) and a $12 million oversubscribed Series A in May 2025 led by Spero Ventures with participation from Eli Lilly & Company and Global Brain. Named commercial or strategic counterparts include Nivagen Pharmaceuticals, OSD Pharmaceuticals Solutions Inc., Eli Lilly, CyanoCapture, Microsize/Micmac, The Solubility Company, and Scispot. Headcount is reported at 1-10 employees, with explicit expansion of computational modeling and product development teams in mid-2025.

Name

Persist AI

Legal name

Persist AI Formulations Corp

Website

https://www.persist-ai.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Persist AI is a San Francisco Bay Area-based biotech company that uses AI-guided formulation design with robotic laboratory execution to accelerate pharmaceutical drug formulation development, serving enterprise pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers via Cloud Lab, AI Suite, and full-service formulation offerings.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

AI-Driven Pharmaceutical Formulation Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132), Custom Computer Programming Services (541511), Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing (32541)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371), Services-Medical Laboratories (8071)

akta.pro primary industry

AI/ML Platforms for Drug Discovery & Experiment Optimization (HLAGAJAO)

akta.pro secondary industries

AI Application Enablement Platforms (Copilot/Agent Frameworks, SDKs) (HDAEANAJ), End-to-End Enterprise AI Platforms (MLOps & Model Lifecycle Management) (HDAEANAA)

Keywords

• Drug formulation development
• AI-driven formulation
• Pharmaceutical formulation
• Robotic laboratory automation
• Long-acting injectables

Headquarters

HQ city

West Sacramento

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Cloud Lab Access: Pharmaceutical companies access robotic laboratories remotely to develop formulations, with results streamed to their dashboard. Revenue generated through platform access fees.
2. Persist AI Suite Subscription: AI models deployed on customer cloud, providing self-improving formulation AI that builds proprietary knowledge bases. Sold as subscription to pharmaceutical companies.
3. Full Service Formulation Development: End-to-end formulation services from molecule to in-vivo ready formulation. Customers send molecules and Persist AI designs, executes, and optimizes formulation strategy using AI, robotics, and expertise.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Persist AI combines AI-guided formulation design with robotic laboratory automation to develop pharmaceutical drug formulations for enterprise pharma and biotech customers. Its core offering is a three-part platform: Persist AI Suite (AI software deployed on customer cloud), Cloud Lab (remote robotic lab execution service), and Full Service Formulation Development (end-to-end outsourced formulation work from molecule to in-vivo-ready product), supported by specialized platforms such as Micromill and Automated SPA. Customers receive iterative AI-experiment loops that close on target product profiles substantially faster than manual formulation workflows.

Product overview

Persist AI offers a three-part product portfolio for AI-driven drug formulation: Persist AI Suite (AI platform deployed on customer cloud), Cloud Lab (remote robotic laboratory execution service), and Formulation Development Full Service (end-to-end outsourced formulation development). The portfolio is complemented by specialized platforms including the Micromill Formulation Platform (milligram-scale early-stage formulation decisions with Microsize/Micmac) and the Automated SPA Platform (Single Particle Analysis with The Solubility Company). All offerings leverage AI-guided design and robotic execution to accelerate drug development timelines.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Persist AI Suite AI software platform deployed on the customer's own cloud environment, featuring a self-improving proprietary AI model that continuously builds the customer's organizational knowledge base and multiplies the expertise of in-house formulation staff. Designed for enterprise pharmaceutical R&D teams seeking proprietary AI formulation capabilities.
• Cloud Lab Remote robotic laboratory service where pharmaceutical customers design formulation experiments with full control, Persist AI executes them using robotics, and results stream directly to customer dashboards online. Designed for enterprise R&D teams seeking hands-off physical execution of AI-designed experiments.
• Formulation Development (Full Service) End-to-end outsourced formulation development service where customers send molecules and Persist AI designs, executes, and optimizes formulation strategy from molecule to in-vivo-ready product using AI, robotics, and deep formulation expertise. Targeted at pharmaceutical companies seeking turnkey formulation development without in-house resources.
• Micromill Formulation Platform First-of-its-kind integrated early-stage formulation platform launched in partnership with Microsize and Micromacinazione (Micmac), combining the SSM20 mini mill with AI-driven experimentation and proprietary process analytical technology. Enables oral formulation decision-making using only milligrams of active pharmaceutical ingredient instead of grams, reducing API costs in early-stage development.
• Automated SPA Platform Fully automated Single Particle Analysis platform launched in partnership with The Solubility Company Oy, combining ultra-low sample solubility measurement with automated wet-lab workflows and predictive AI models. Generates thousands of data points at milligram scale to enable early identification of optimal delivery vehicles for drug formulation development.

Quantifiable outcome

• Reduces drug development time by 50%
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.

• MicrosizecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 June 2026Strategic collaboration to launch Micromill platform. Microsize recently acquired Micmac and Schedio Group, creating integrated global micronization platform with dual-source manufacturing across FDA-inspected US facilities and GMP-inspected Swiss operations.
• Micromacinazione (Micmac)coreTechnology or Integration · 3 June 2026Partner in Micromill platform providing SSM20 mini mill technology. Combined with Persist AI's AI-driven experimentation and process analytical technology to enable oral formulation decisions using only milligrams of API.
• The Solubility Company OycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 May 2026Finnish company partnered to launch first fully automated SPA (Single Particle Analysis) platform combining ultra-low sample solubility measurement with automated wet-lab and predictive AI models. Generates thousands of data points at milligram scale.
• CyanoCaptureflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 February 2026Strategic collaboration to build world's first robotic GMP manufacturing facility for oral protein and peptide drugs in San Francisco Bay Area, expected operational Q4 2026. Combines CyanoCapture's cyanobacteria-based oral drug delivery platform with Persist AI's robotic formulation systems.
• Nivagen PharmaceuticalscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 22 May 2025Partnership announced alongside Series A funding to improve manufacturing of long-acting injectable drugs. Nivagen is a pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organization.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Benchling: Benchling provides a cloud-based R&D platform with lab informatics and notebook solutions for biotech and pharma. Persist AI's Cloud Lab shares the same remote-experiment, dashboard-streaming model targeting similar life sciences enterprise customers, with Persist AI differentiating on the robotic execution and formulation-specific AI.
• Strateos: Strateos operates remote robotic laboratories where scientists design experiments and receive streamed results, directly comparable to Persist AI's Cloud Lab offering. Both target pharma and biotech customers with cloud-controlled laboratory automation.
• Emerald Cloud Lab: Emerald Cloud Lab provides a fully remote, automated laboratory accessible via the cloud, conceptually aligned with Persist AI's Cloud Lab. Both companies are building the "lab-as-a-service" model where customers execute experiments remotely and receive streamed data.
• Schrödinger: Schrödinger provides computational chemistry and predictive modeling software for drug discovery and materials science, including formulation applications. Both companies sell AI-driven scientific software platforms to pharmaceutical enterprise customers.
• Recursion Pharmaceuticals: Recursion combines high-throughput wet-lab automation with AI/ML to drive pharmaceutical R&D at scale. Persist AI shares the AI + robotics thesis applied to drug formulation rather than phenotypic discovery, targeting similar pharma customers and partners.
• Insilico Medicine: Insilico Medicine operates an AI-driven drug discovery platform that has produced clinical-stage assets and pharma partnerships. Persist AI applies a similar AI-first pharmaceutical development approach but focuses specifically on formulation rather than target identification.
• Aprecia Pharmaceuticals: Aprecia uses proprietary 3D printing technology for advanced oral drug formulation and manufacturing. Persist AI's robotic GMP facility for oral peptides and proteins targets adjacent advanced oral formulation opportunities with a different but overlapping modality.
• Exscientia: Exscientia is an AI-driven pharma company with enterprise partnerships to accelerate small molecule drug discovery. Both companies sell AI capabilities to top-tier pharma with a focus on speed and capital efficiency in pharmaceutical R&D.
• Culture Biosciences: Culture Biosciences offers cloud-based bioprocess development with remotely monitored bioreactors. The remote-execution, dashboard-streaming model directly parallels Persist AI's Cloud Lab, though Culture focuses on upstream bioprocess rather than formulation.

Emerging players

• Aizon: Aizon provides AI-powered pharmaceutical manufacturing analytics and process optimization. While Aizon focuses on commercial-scale pharma manufacturing rather than formulation R&D, both companies target pharma operations with AI-augmented process improvement.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/persist-ai

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors17 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Persist AI