What Exscientia does

Exscientia is a pharmatech company that uses an end-to-end AI platform to design and discover new small molecule drug candidates. Founded in 2012 in Oxford, UK, the company's core technology combines generative AI models, machine learning, deep learning, and predictive analytics to automate the design-make-test-learn cycle, integrating multi-omics patient sample data (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics) with proprietary biological and chemical datasets. The proprietary platform (including the Centaur Chemist system) has generated eight differentiated clinical candidates and produced DSP-1181 — the first AI-designed drug to enter human clinical trials — advancing to Phase I in 12 months versus a typical 4+ year preclinical timeline. AI capability depth is evidenced by reported hit rate improvements from traditional ~2% to 22-46%.

The company operates exclusively as a B2B technology partner to major pharmaceutical companies via co-development agreements, with no direct-to-consumer or self-service distribution. Customers include Sanofi (strategic research collaboration worth up to $5.2 billion across up to 15 oncology and immunology candidates), Merck KGaA (three-program collaboration), Bristol Myers Squibb, Sumitomo Pharma, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (neglected tropical diseases). Revenue mechanics rely on upfront payments, R&D funding, milestone payments tied to IND filings and clinical/regulatory progress, and tiered royalties on net sales; pricing is not publicly disclosed.

Exscientia raised approximately £299 million in cumulative funding across multiple rounds including a $225 million Series C led by SoftBank Vision Fund in 2021. The company was acquired by Recursion Pharmaceuticals on November 20, 2024, in an all-share transaction valued at approximately $650 million, and now operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Recursion, with the combined entity headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah while maintaining significant UK operations.

Name

Exscientia

Legal name

Exscientia plc

Website

https://exscientia.ai

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Acquired

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

Exscientia is an AI-native pharmatech company using generative AI and multi-omics data to design small molecule drug candidates, serving major pharmaceutical companies via co-development partnerships that generated eight clinical candidates and the first AI-designed drug in human trials.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

AI-Driven Drug Discovery

NAICS

Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417), Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology) (541715)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

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

akta.pro secondary industries

Target Identification & Validation Platforms (omics-driven, chemoproteomics, genetic validation) (HLAAAIAI), Regulatory Strategy & IND/NDA/BLA Submissions Support (HLAIALAH)

Keywords

• AI drug discovery
• Small molecule design
• Generative chemistry
• Computational drug discovery
• Pharmaceutical AI platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Oxford

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Strategic Research Collaborations: Exscientia enters into strategic partnerships with pharmaceutical companies where it receives upfront cash payments, research funding, milestone payments upon achieving development milestones, and tiered royalties on net sales of any approved products. The Sanofi partnership exemplifies this model with $100M upfront and up to $5.2B in potential milestones plus royalties.
2. Milestone Payments: Revenue generated through achievement of specific development milestones including IND filings, clinical trial phases, regulatory approvals, and commercial launch milestones under partnership agreements.
3. AI Platform Services: Exscientia generates revenue through collaborations where partners access its AI platform capabilities for drug discovery programs, with compensation tied to program success and advancement.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Exscientia operates an end-to-end AI-driven drug discovery platform that uses generative AI, machine learning, and patient-derived multi-omics data to design, optimize, and advance small molecule drug candidates. The company enters strategic co-development partnerships with pharmaceutical companies such as Sanofi, Merck KGaA, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Sumitomo Pharma, leading drug design and lead optimization while partners fund preclinical and clinical development, manufacturing, and commercialization. Revenue is generated through upfront payments, development milestone payments, and tiered royalties on approved products.

Product overview

Exscientia operated as an AI drug discovery company offering a unified AI-driven platform for pharmaceutical research. The company's platform leveraged generative AI and patient sample data to design and optimize small molecule drug candidates across oncology and immunology. Exscientia has generated eight differentiated clinical candidates using its platform, including DSP-1181 (first AI-designed drug in human trials), and maintained strategic collaborations with major pharmaceutical partners including Sanofi ($5.2 billion deal) and Merck KGaA. The company was acquired by Recursion Pharmaceuticals in November 2024.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• AI Drug Discovery Platform

Quantifiable outcome

• 12 months from project initiation to Phase I trials for OCD drug candidate (vs. typical 4+ years)
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 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 capability5 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• Recursion PharmaceuticalsflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 20 November 2024Recursion Pharmaceuticals completed acquisition of Exscientia on November 20, 2024, in an all-share transaction valued at approximately $650 million. Exscientia shareholders received 0.7729 Recursion shares per ordinary share. The combined entity is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah with significant UK presence.
• Bill & Melinda Gates FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 22 April 2024Exscientia announced an expansion of its collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to accelerate drug discovery for neglected tropical diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis. This partnership addresses diseases disproportionately affecting low-income populations.
• SanofiflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Sanofi and Exscientia established a strategic research collaboration to develop up to 15 novel small molecule candidates across oncology and immunology. Under the agreement, Sanofi paid $100 million upfront with potential milestone payments reaching up to $5.2 billion in aggregate if all programs achieve milestones, plus tiered royalties on product sales. Exscientia leads drug design and lead optimization while Sanofi assumes responsibility for preclinical and clinical development, manufacturing, and commercialization.
• Merck KGaAcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Exscientia initiated a new collaboration with Merck KGaA covering three programs in undisclosed therapeutic areas. The company achieved its first milestone in the Sanofi partnership and continues to advance this collaboration.
• Bristol Myers SquibbminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Exscientia had a partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb involving a PKC-theta inhibitor program. BMS later removed this clinical program from its pipeline in October 2025.
• Sumitomo PharmacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Exscientia partnered with Sumitomo Pharma to develop an OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) drug candidate. This collaboration demonstrated Exscientia's ability to move a compound from initiation to Phase I clinical trials in just 12 months of preclinical work, showcasing AI-accelerated drug discovery.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Verge Genomics: Verge applies AI to human multi-omic datasets for target discovery in neuroscience and rare disease, with a wholly-owned pipeline approach. Comparable to Exscientia's patient-data-integration thesis but more focused on upstream target identification.
• Iambic Therapeutics (formerly Entos): Iambic (formerly Entos) develops a generative AI platform for small-molecule drug discovery combining physics-based simulation with neural network models. It is an emerging competitor with partial overlap in generative chemistry and a wholly-owned pipeline focus.

Direct peers

• XtalPi: XtalPi combines AI, quantum physics, and automated robotics for small-molecule and crystal-form drug discovery, with major partnerships including Pfizer. It is a direct peer targeting the same AI-driven pharma partnership market.
• Insitro: Insitro applies machine learning to predictive modeling of disease biology and drug response, integrating induced pluripotent stem cell-derived data with ML to identify targets and design therapeutics. It is one of the closest direct competitors to Exscientia in AI-native small-molecule drug discovery.
• Atomwise: Atomwise applies convolutional neural networks (AtomNet) to structure-based small-molecule design and pursues a partnership-heavy model with pharma and agrochemical clients. Comparable to Exscientia in target customer and AI-first molecule design approach.
• Isomorphic Labs: Alphabet-backed Isomorphic Labs applies DeepMind-derived AI to drug design and operates a partnership-driven model very similar to Exscientia's. It competes for the same large-pharma partnership mandates (Novartis, Eli Lilly) and represents the most capital-rich AI drug-discovery competitor.
• Recursion Pharmaceuticals: Now Exscientia's parent company, Recursion is a direct peer operating an AI-driven drug discovery platform combining phenomics, automated wet labs, and BioHive-2 supercomputer to advance a wholly-owned pipeline across oncology and rare disease. Both target the same pharma partnership buyers with generative and predictive AI for small-molecule discovery.
• BenevolentAI: BenevolentAI combines AI-driven target identification with drug discovery and was recently merged into the combined Recursion/Exscientia entity. It is a direct peer in AI-augmented small-molecule discovery, particularly in inflammation and CNS targets.
• Schrödinger: Schrödinger operates a physics-based computational platform for molecular simulation and drug discovery, with both a software/SaaS offering and a co-owned therapeutic pipeline. It competes directly with Exscientia for pharma partnerships combining computational chemistry with generative design.

Others

• Owkin: Owkin applies federated learning and AI to patient-derived data for drug discovery and clinical development, primarily in oncology. Thematically adjacent to Exscientia's multi-omics/patient-data approach but with a stronger focus on clinical trial optimization rather than de novo molecule design.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/exscientialtd
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ex-scientia

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds9 records

Investors18 records

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M&A2 records

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Exscientia