Proxima
Proxima is an AI-native biotech that develops programmable proximity-modulating therapeutics, using its proprietary Neo-1 atomistic foundation model and NeoLink structural proteomics platform to design molecular glues, PROTACs, and related modulators for major pharmaceutical partners.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2022
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Proxima does
Proxima (formerly VantAI) is an AI-native biotech company that develops programmable medicines designed to modulate protein-protein interactions to address disease processes. The company was founded in 2022 and is headquartered in New York, NY, with an additional presence in Boston, MA, and operates with approximately 40+ team members. Proxima's integrated discovery platform is built around three complementary pillars: Neo-1, an all-atom atomistic foundation model that unifies structure prediction and de novo molecular generation across proteins, small molecules, peptides, and nucleic acids; NeoLink, a proprietary cross-linking mass spectrometry (XLMS) data generation platform that maps protein-protein interactions across approximately 70% of the human proteome and exceeds Protein Data Bank coverage by over 1.5-fold; and the ProMods therapeutic modality portfolio spanning Inducers (molecular glues), Modulators, and Blockers (PROTACs) targeting the over 95% of human protein-protein interactions not yet structurally characterized.
Proxima operates a B2B enterprise go-to-market via bespoke, negotiated multibillion-dollar research collaboration and licensing agreements with major pharmaceutical companies. Disclosed partners include Johnson & Johnson (Janssen), Bristol Myers Squibb, Blueprint Medicines, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Halda Therapeutics, with the Halda RIPTAC alliance worth over $1 billion in total potential value. Deal economics consist of upfront payments, multi-year research funding, development milestones, and downstream royalties. Proxima also maintains a deep strategic technology partnership with NVIDIA, integrating BioNeMo Agent Toolkit, NVentures investment, and compute-optimized inference paths. First co-developed programs are expected to enter clinical trials in 2026.
In January 2026, Proxima rebranded from VantAI and closed an oversubscribed $80 million seed financing round led by DCVC with participation from NVentures, Braidwell, Roivant, and additional investors. The company is led by co-founders Zachary Carpenter (CEO) and Luca Naef (CTO), with Michael Bronstein (DeepMind Professor of AI at Oxford) serving as Chief Scientist in Residence and a Scientific Advisory Board chaired by external academic and industry leaders including PROTAC co-inventor Dr. Raymond Deshaies, Dr. Lyn Jones (former Pfizer), and Dr. Juri Rappsilber (XLMS pioneer).
Proxima firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Proxima
- Legal name
- Proxima
- Website
- https://proximabio.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2022
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Proxima is an AI-native biotech that develops programmable proximity-modulating therapeutics, using its proprietary Neo-1 atomistic foundation model and NeoLink structural proteomics platform to design molecular glues, PROTACs, and related modulators for major pharmaceutical partners.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Proxima industry classification
Industry- Product category
- AI drug discovery
- NAICS
- Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714)
- SIC
- Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Target Identification & Validation Platforms (omics-driven, chemoproteomics, genetic validation) (HLAAAIAI)
Keywords
Where Proxima is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Proxima business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Research Collaboration & Licensing Agreements: Multibillion-dollar research collaborations and licensing deals with major pharmaceutical companies. Includes upfront payments, research funding, milestone payments, and potential royalties on commercialized products developed through partnerships. Key partners include Johnson & Johnson, Bristol Myers Squibb, Blueprint Medicines, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Halda Therapeutics.
- Strategic R&D Partnerships: Co-development partnerships with major biopharmaceutical companies where Proxima contributes its AI platform and proximity therapeutics expertise in exchange for research funding, milestone payments, and downstream economics. Halda Therapeutics RIPTAC alliance alone is worth over $1 billion in total potential value.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Custom negotiated multibillion-dollar research collaboration and licensing deals |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Proxima product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Proxima is an AI-native biotech company that develops programmable proximity-based therapeutics. The company combines a proprietary all-atom foundation model (Neo-1) with a proteomics data-generation platform (NeoLink) and a portfolio of Proximity Modulator (ProMods) therapeutic modalities—including molecular glues, monovalent glues, and heterobifunctional degraders—to discover small molecules that redirect protein interactions for previously undruggable targets.
Product overview
Proxima (formerly VantAI) is an AI-native biotech company operating an integrated discovery platform composed of three complementary pillars: the Neo-1 all-atom atomistic foundation model (the core AI engine that unifies structure prediction and de novo molecular generation), the NeoLink structural proteomics platform (the proprietary XLMS-based data generation engine that feeds Neo-1), and the ProMods therapeutic modality portfolio (spanning Inducers such as molecular glues, Modulators, and Blockers such as PROTACs). Together with multibillion-dollar pharma collaborations with Bristol Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson (Janssen), Blueprint Medicines, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Halda Therapeutics, these components form a closed-loop discovery engine in which NeoLink data continually improves Neo-1, Neo-1 designs and prioritizes ProMod candidates, and those candidates advance through partnered pharma pipelines toward clinical trials expected to begin by 2026.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Neo-1: Proxima's first foundation model that unifies structure prediction and de novo generation at an atomic level, enabling design of proximity modulators, proteins, small molecules, and antibodies.
- NeoLink
Products and services
- Neo-1 Foundation Model An all-atom foundation model that combines physics-based simulation with a learned framework to predict and design protein-protein interactions and drug-target behavior at atomic resolution. Used as the computational engine for Proxima's drug discovery programs and partnership pipeline.
- NeoLink Proteomics Data Platform A proprietary proteomics platform that generates high-throughput, residue-level proximity data for small molecules across approximately 70% of the human proteome, producing the labeled training data that powers Neo-1.
- ProMods Therapeutic Modality Portfolio A portfolio of proximity-based therapeutic modalities including molecular glues, monovalent glues, PROTAC-like heterobifunctional degraders, and induced proximity agents designed against previously undruggable disease targets.
- PINDER / PLINDER Datasets Open-source benchmark datasets (PINDER and PLINDER) for protein-protein interaction prediction, released to support the broader computational biology community.
Companies that use Proxima
Customer profileIdeal customer profiles1 record
Proxima 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
Proxima partnerships and signals
Strategic signalRecent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Proxima competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Genesis Therapeutics: AI-driven drug discovery company combining graph neural networks, molecular simulation, and a foundation-model approach to design small molecules against hard-to-drug targets; comparable in applying deep learning to protein-ligand and protein-protein interaction design with pharma partners.
- Schrödinger, Inc. Physics-based computational chemistry platform providing drug-discovery software, collaborative programs, and an internal pipeline; comparable to Proxima in serving pharma customers with a computational platform and co-developing assets in oncology and other areas.
- Recursion Pharmaceuticals: AI-enabled biotech combining high-throughput wet-lab experimentation with machine learning to discover and develop small-molecule therapeutics; comparable in pairing an AI/data platform with partnered and internal pipeline assets in oncology and rare disease.
- Isomorphic Labs: Alphabet-backed AI drug-discovery company building foundation models for biology (AlphaFold3 and successor platforms) to design novel therapeutics; directly comparable to Proxima's Neo-1 foundation-model approach to protein and small-molecule design for pharma partners.
- Atomwise: AI-driven small-molecule discovery company using convolutional neural networks for structure-based design and a network of pharma partnerships; comparable in its structure-based AI platform serving large-pharma partners for hit discovery and lead optimization.
- Generate Biomedicines: AI-first biotech developing generative biology models to design novel protein therapeutics; directly comparable in its foundation-model approach to creating programmable medicines and in its mix of partnered and internal pipeline.
- Insilico Medicine: AI-driven drug discovery company combining generative chemistry, target identification, and clinical development across multiple therapeutic areas; comparable in its use of AI for end-to-end small-molecule and induced-proximity-style drug discovery with pharma partnerships.
- Exscientia: Pioneer in AI-driven small-molecule drug discovery, with partnered and internal programs across multiple therapeutic areas; comparable as a directly competing AI-bio platform with established pharma partnerships and clinical-stage assets.
- Iambic: AI-native drug discovery company building foundation models for predicting and generating molecular structures and properties; comparable in its multimodal, atomistic foundation-model architecture and focus on AI-driven therapeutic design for pharma collaborations.
Emerging players
- EvolutionaryScale: Frontier AI research company building large-scale biological foundation models with roots in the ESM protein language model family; comparable as an emerging player in protein/generative biology foundation models, with overlapping technology and ecosystem rather than direct therapeutic competition.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Proxima social profiles
Digital presenceProxima financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Proxima leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles8 records
Proxima funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors9 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Proxima 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 Proxima
What does Proxima do?
Proxima is an AI-native biotech company that develops programmable proximity-based therapeutics. The company combines a proprietary all-atom foundation model (Neo-1) with a proteomics data-generation platform (NeoLink) and a portfolio of Proximity Modulator (ProMods) therapeutic modalities—including molecular glues, monovalent glues, and heterobifunctional degraders—to discover small molecules that redirect protein interactions for previously undruggable targets.
Is Proxima a public or private company?
Proxima is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Proxima founded?
Proxima was founded in 2022. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Proxima based?
Proxima is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
How does Proxima make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Research Collaboration & Licensing Agreements are the primary driver. The others are strategic R&D Partnerships.
Who are Proxima's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Genesis Therapeutics, Schrödinger, Inc., Recursion Pharmaceuticals, Isomorphic Labs, Atomwise, Generate Biomedicines, Insilico Medicine, Exscientia and Iambic. EvolutionaryScale is listed as an emerging player.
Does Proxima have an API?
No public API is recorded for Proxima.
What industry is Proxima in?
Proxima's product category is AI drug discovery. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLAAAIAI, Target Identification & Validation Platforms (omics-driven, chemoproteomics, genetic validation). Its NAICS code is 541714 and its SIC code is 8731.