Nanite
Nanite is a Boston-based biotech developing AI-designed polymer nanoparticles for non-viral gene delivery, serving pharmaceutical partners and research foundations across cystic fibrosis, HIV, and cell therapy applications.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2021
- HeadquartersBoston, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Nanite does
Nanite is a Boston-based, privately held biotechnology company founded in 2021 that develops AI-designed polymer nanoparticles (PNPs) for non-viral gene delivery. The company's core technology is the SAYER™ platform, a high-throughput closed-loop system that integrates computational design, rapid polymer synthesis, and first-principles characterization with machine learning to rationally engineer delivery vehicles with tissue-specific targeting. Nanite's PNPs are positioned as a third alternative to viral vectors and lipid nanoparticles, offering resorbable, modular, thermally stable, and re-doseable carriers for DNA, mRNA, and DNA-encoded biologics. In 2025 the company introduced ChainSpace™, a sequence-first polymer design framework, and demonstrated 56-day durability of DNA-encoded antibody expression in vivo, alongside 85% transfection efficiency in optimized polymer designs.
Nanite operates a B2B go-to-market model centered on strategic research collaborations with pharmaceutical and biotech companies (notably SalioGen Therapeutics for cystic fibrosis co-development) and grant-funded programs with disease-focused foundations including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation ($1.8M for HIV) and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (up to $2M for lung delivery). Customer segments include genetic therapy developers focused on lung indications, global health therapeutics organizations, and cell and gene therapy companies pursuing CAR-T and in vivo gene editing applications. The company is pre-commercial, with 11-50 employees, and has raised approximately $9.8 million across a $6M seed round led by Zetta Venture Partners and foundation grants.
The company is led by co-founders Sean Kevlahan (CEO, PhD in Chemical Engineering, former Bio-Techne cell and gene therapy division head and Quad Technologies founder acquired by Bio-Techne) and Thomas Neenan (CBO, PhD in materials chemistry, co-founder of Panbela Therapeutics and AbFero Pharmaceuticals). Its technology has been validated through peer-reviewed publication including a Journal of Polymer Chemistry cover feature, and Nanite maintains an active scientific publishing and conference presence as a top-of-funnel channel.
Nanite firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Nanite
- Legal name
- Nanite Inc.
- Website
- https://nanitebio.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2021
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Nanite is a Boston-based biotech developing AI-designed polymer nanoparticles for non-viral gene delivery, serving pharmaceutical partners and research foundations across cystic fibrosis, HIV, and cell therapy applications.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Nanite industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Non-Viral Gene Delivery Technology
- NAICS
- Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714), Biological Product (except Diagnostic) Manufacturing (325414), Research and Development in Nanotechnology (541713)
- SIC
- Biological Products, (No Disgnostic Substances) (2836), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Non-viral Gene Delivery & Gene Therapy (LNP, polymers, electroporation, physical methods) (HLAAACAC)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Gene Therapy CMC/Process Development Platforms (capsid engineering, producer cell lines, plasmids, upstream/downstream) (HLAAACAN)
Keywords
Where Nanite is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Boston
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Nanite business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Research Grants: Grant funding from foundations (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation) for specific therapeutic development programs
- Strategic Research Collaborations: B2B partnerships with pharmaceutical and biotech companies for development of targeted nanoparticle delivery systems
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels3 records
Nanite product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Nanite designs and develops polymer nanoparticles (PNPs) for non-viral gene delivery through its SAYER™ platform, which combines AI, high-throughput synthesis, and first-principles characterization to engineer tissue-specific delivery vehicles for DNA, mRNA, and DNA-encoded biologics. The company monetizes via B2B research collaborations with pharmaceutical/biotech firms and grant-funded development with research foundations, rather than selling finished therapeutic products. Its deliverables include AI-designed PNP candidates, the ChainSpace™ polymer design framework, and co-developed therapeutic delivery programs.
Product overview
Nanite offers a unified platform architecture centered on its SAYER™ AI-driven system for designing polymer nanoparticles (PNPs) for non-viral gene delivery. The core product is the SAYER platform, which combines high-throughput synthesis, computational design, and machine learning to create precision delivery vehicles. Supporting capabilities include the ChainSpace™ framework for polymer sequence design and DNA-encoded biologics delivery applications. Together, these products enable programmable, targeted, and safe delivery of genetic cargoes for a broad range of therapeutic modalities including antibodies, enzymes, and peptides.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- SAYER™ Platform
- Polymer Nanoparticles (PNPs)
- ChainSpace™
- DNA-Encoded Biologics Delivery
Quantifiable outcome
- 85% transfection efficiency achieved with optimized polymer design
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Nanite
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Nanite technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability7 records
Feature5 records
Nanite partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- SalioGen TherapeuticscoreStrategic research collaboration to develop a lung-targeting polymer nanoparticle for cystic fibrosis. Nanite's SAYER platform will be used to create a PNP designed to integrate the CFTR gene directly into lung cells using SalioGen's novel Gene Coding technology.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Nanite competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Beam Therapeutics: Beam is a clinical-stage base-editing company with active programs in non-viral delivery for in vivo gene editing. It shares Nanite's interest in tissue-specific, re-doseable delivery vehicles and competes for the same pharma partnership capital.
- Intellia Therapeutics: Intellia is a clinical-stage in vivo CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing company actively investing in next-generation delivery — including non-LNP and polymer-based approaches — to expand beyond LNP's tissue reach, making it a meaningful comparable in non-viral delivery strategy.
- BioNTech: BioNTech commercialized LNP-delivered mRNA vaccines at scale and continues to invest in next-generation delivery. It represents a broad incumbent that any polymer-based delivery competitor must displace or partner around.
- Moderna: Moderna is the dominant LNP-mRNA platform company with massive capital, manufacturing, and clinical experience. It defines the incumbent competitive context against which any non-viral delivery startup — including Nanite — must justify a differentiated approach.
Emerging players
- Verve Therapeutics: Verve develops in vivo gene editing therapies for cardiovascular disease, requiring efficient non-viral delivery to the liver and other tissues. It is a comparable emerging player whose delivery needs overlap with Nanite's tissue-targeting value proposition.
- SalioGen Therapeutics: SalioGen is Nanite's named co-development partner for a lung-targeting PNP leveraging SalioGen's Gene Coding™ technology for CF. It is a peer on the non-viral gene integration frontier even as it acts as a customer in the CF program.
- Strand Therapeutics: Strand is a programmable mRNA therapeutics company developing self-replicating and tunable expression systems, often paired with novel delivery approaches. It is an emerging peer in the engineered-nucleic-acid-delivery category where Nanite also competes.
Direct peers
- Genevant Sciences: Genevant licenses LNP and other lipid-based delivery technology for RNA therapeutics. It competes head-to-head with Nanite in the non-viral delivery space and serves a similar pharma/biotech partner base.
- Arcturus Therapeutics: Arcturus develops lipid-mediated delivery systems for mRNA and self-amplifying RNA therapeutics. It overlaps with Nanite on the non-viral delivery axis and on partnering economics with larger pharma for nucleic-acid-based drugs.
- Acuitas Therapeutics: Acuitas develops lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery technology for nucleic acid therapeutics and is the LNP provider behind Pfizer/BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine. It is the most direct non-viral delivery comparator to Nanite's PNP platform, addressing the same customers and therapeutic cargoes.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Nanite social profiles
Digital presenceNanite financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Nanite leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles8 records
Nanite funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds3 records
Investors4 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Nanite 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 Nanite
What does Nanite do?
Nanite designs and develops polymer nanoparticles (PNPs) for non-viral gene delivery through its SAYER™ platform, which combines AI, high-throughput synthesis, and first-principles characterization to engineer tissue-specific delivery vehicles for DNA, mRNA, and DNA-encoded biologics. The company monetizes via B2B research collaborations with pharmaceutical/biotech firms and grant-funded development with research foundations, rather than selling finished therapeutic products. Its deliverables include AI-designed PNP candidates, the ChainSpace™ polymer design framework, and co-developed therapeutic delivery programs.
Is Nanite a public or private company?
Nanite is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Nanite founded?
Nanite was founded in 2021. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Nanite based?
Nanite is headquartered in Boston, United States, in the North America region.
How does Nanite make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Research Grants are the primary driver. The others are strategic Research Collaborations.
Who are Nanite's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Beam Therapeutics, Intellia Therapeutics, BioNTech and Moderna. Emerging players are Verve Therapeutics, SalioGen Therapeutics and Strand Therapeutics. Direct peers are Genevant Sciences, Arcturus Therapeutics and Acuitas Therapeutics.
Does Nanite have an API?
No public API is recorded for Nanite.
What industry is Nanite in?
Nanite's product category is Non-Viral Gene Delivery Technology. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLAAACAC, Non-viral Gene Delivery & Gene Therapy (LNP, polymers, electroporation, physical methods), with a secondary code of HLAAACAN, Gene Therapy CMC/Process Development Platforms (capsid engineering, producer cell lines, plasmids, upstream/downstream). Its NAICS code is 541714 and its SIC code is 2836.