What AffinityAI ApS does

AffinityAI ApS is a Copenhagen-based biotechnology company founded in 2025 that develops AI-powered de novo protein binders called Designerbodies™ for pharmaceutical and biotech customers. The company operates its proprietary Apex protein design platform, which designs fully synthetic small proteins (typically 6-15 kDa) engineered to bind specified epitopes on target proteins with single-shot affinities in the pM-nM range. Designs are produced in cell-free or microbial systems, achieving validated binders in a 3-8 week turnaround. The platform positions itself around "hard" targets such as membrane proteins and conformational epitopes that defeat conventional immunization and library-based antibody discovery.

The product surface spans multiple protein modalities beyond the core miniprotein binder: full-size IgG formats (for effector function and extended half-life), nanobodies/VHHs (for established regulatory tracks), and designed peptides (for minimal footprint applications). The team emerged from one of the world's leading protein design laboratories and has co-authored publications in Nature (2025) on de novo designed proteins neutralizing lethal snake venom toxins and in Science (2025) on pMHC binders enabling T cell-mediated cancer cell killing. The core technical differentiation is the ability to specify binding epitopes by construction and to simultaneously optimize for specificity, stability, expression, manufacturability, and predicted function in silico.

Revenue is generated through project-based professional services engagements that deliver custom designed binders to enterprise biopharma customers, with inquiries routed through an early partnership program at [email protected]. Distribution is direct B2B enterprise sales complemented by participation in European accelerator programs. Strategic infrastructure partnerships include an integration with LenioBio's ALiCE cell-free expression platform (to close the design-test feedback loop), acceptance into Scaleway's Growth Stage Startup Program (to scale GPU compute), and selection into the pan-European AI Launchpad innovation program. The company is privately held, operates with 1-10 employees from DTU Skylab in Kongens Lyngby, Denmark, and has no disclosed external funding to date.

Name

AffinityAI ApS

Legal name

AffinityAI ApS

Website

https://affinityai.dk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2025

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

AffinityAI ApS is a Copenhagen-based biotech that uses its proprietary Apex AI platform to design de novo protein binders called Designerbodies for pharmaceutical and biotech customers, targeting hard epitopes with 3-8 week validated turnaround.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

AI Protein Design Platform

NAICS

Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)

SIC

Pharmaceutical Preparations (2834)

akta.pro primary industry

Protein Engineering & Directed Evolution Platforms (enzyme/therapeutic protein optimization) (HLAAAIAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Engineered Protein Therapeutics (de novo/AI-designed proteins, novel scaffolds) (HLAAAAAJ), Therapeutic Peptides & Protein/Peptide Biologics (HLAAAAAH), Library & Diversity Generation Platforms (display libraries, DNA-encoded libraries for biologics, variant libraries) (HLAAAIAL)

Keywords

• Protein design services
• AI drug discovery
• De novo proteins
• Therapeutic antibodies
• Biotechnology research

Headquarters

HQ city

Copenhagen

HQ country

Denmark

HQ region

Europe

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. Designerbodies Development Services: AI-guided protein design services delivering custom de novo designed protein binders to pharmaceutical and biotech partners. Revenue generated through project-based collaborations and early partnership programs.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

AffinityAI develops and operates Apex, a proprietary AI-guided protein design platform that designs de novo protein binders (Designerbodies™) directly to specified target epitopes. The platform generates fully synthetic miniprotein binders (6-15 kDa) as well as IgG, Nanobody/VHH, and peptide formats, optimized in silico for specificity, function, stability, and developability. Deliverables are wet-lab validated protein binders delivered to pharmaceutical and biotech partners, typically within 3-8 weeks from concept to in vitro validated proteins.

Product overview

AffinityAI offers a unified platform built around Apex, its proprietary protein design engine, which generates de novo protein binders to specified targets and epitopes. The primary offering is Designerbodies—small, stable miniprotein binders (6-15 kDa) validated in 3-8 weeks with pM-nM affinity. The platform extends to multiple protein modalities including IgG formats (for effector function and half-life), Nanobodies/VHHs (for established regulatory paths), and designed Peptides (for minimal footprint applications). Designerbodies serve as the core product and foundation, with IgG, Nanobody, and Peptide formats available as modality variants depending on customer requirements for developability, tissue penetration, or regulatory considerations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Apex: Proprietary protein design platform that takes a target and epitope of interest and designs binders directly, specifying binding engagement before bench validation.
• Designerbodies™

Products and services

• Apex Protein Design Platform Proprietary protein design platform that takes a target and epitope of interest and designs binders directly, specifying where each binder engages before bench validation. Builds custom binders in the required modality, optimized for specificity, function, and developability from the first design. Sold to pharmaceutical and biotech partners through direct partnership engagements.
• Designerbodies De novo miniprotein binders, typically 6-15 kDa. Exceptionally stable, fast and cheap to produce in microbial systems. Excel in deep tissue penetration, demanding manufacturing, and rapid turnaround applications. Delivered to pharmaceutical and biotech partners as wet-lab validated binders.
• Designerbodies IgG Formats Full-size IgG and fragment formats for therapeutic and reagent applications requiring conventional antibody scaffold, effector function, or extended half-life. In development and available through early partnerships.
• Nanobodies/VHHs Single-domain antibody fragments pairing small size and robustness with a familiar, well-characterised scaffold and established development and regulatory track record.
• Designed Peptides Short, designed binders for minimal footprint applications including targeting small or constrained sites, conjugation, and detection/imaging tools.

Quantifiable outcome

• Single-shot Kd's in pM-nM range with 3-8 week turnaround from concept to in vitro validated proteins

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

AI capability3 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered major and core.

• AI LaunchpadmajorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 October 2025Pan-European AI startup acceleration platform supported by Rise Europe and ELIAS - European Lighthouse of AI for Sustainability. Unites innovation hubs including DTU Skylab, ETH AI Center, KTH Innovation, UnternehmerTUM, Campus Founders. Operates through 'visiting hub' model engaging with new ecosystems. Grants access to Europe's AI Factories and GPU compute capacity for research and model training. AffinityAI's journey begins at KTH Innovation Stockholm in December.
• ScalewaymajorTechnology or Integration · 10 September 2025European cloud provider accepted into Growth Stage Startup Program to boost GPU compute capacity. Moving compute infrastructure to Scaleway to ramp up GPU capacity and accelerate protein design pipeline. Partnership enables cutting development times significantly for faster Designerbody delivery to customers. Scaleway provides renewable energy powered data centers and strong multi-cloud capabilities.
• LenioBio GmbHcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 September 2025Strategic partnership combining LenioBio's proprietary cell-free protein expression platform ALiCE with AffinityAI's Designerbodies design engine. Closes the traditional 'lab-in-loop' gap by enabling design, testing, and feedback cycles at unprecedented speed. ALiCE platform enables immediate expression and scalable production without limitations of living cells, creating an automated high-throughput pipeline for next-generation protein products.
• DTU SkylabcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-located at DTU Skylab innovation facility in Kongens Lyngby, Denmark. Company originated from one of the world's leading protein design laboratories at DTU. Partnership provides access to research infrastructure and connection to technical talent ecosystem.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Absci: Absci is an AI-driven biologics company combining generative AI with high-throughput wet-lab screening to design novel antibodies and protein therapeutics. Its zero-shot AI antibody design ambition parallels AffinityAI's epitope-precise design approach for Designerbodies.
• Arzeda: Arzeda uses AI and physics-based modeling to design novel proteins and enzymes for industrial and pharmaceutical applications. It shares AffinityAI's core premise of de novo protein design using computational methods, though historically focused more on industrial enzymes than therapeutic binders.
• Generate:Biomedicines: Generate:Biomedicines applies generative AI to design de novo protein therapeutics across multiple modalities. It is the most well-funded direct competitor to AffinityAI in the AI-designed de novo protein binder space, with a similar technical thesis around generative protein design.
• Profluent: Profluent builds AI foundation models for protein design, with applications in therapeutic binders and gene editing tools. It directly overlaps with AffinityAI's premise that generative AI can design novel functional proteins beyond what natural evolution produces.
• Cradle: Cradle is an AI-guided protein engineering company offering a platform for designing improved proteins across therapeutics and industrial enzymes. It is a direct competitor to AffinityAI's Apex platform, pursuing the same AI-driven binder/enzyme design market with a similar B2B pharma/biotech go-to-market motion.
• BigHat Biosciences: BigHat Biosciences combines AI with high-throughput wet-lab experimentation to design next-generation antibodies. It competes with AffinityAI in the AI-designed binder market, particularly for therapeutic applications where iteration speed and developability are critical.
• Iambic Therapeutics: Iambic Therapeutics (formerly Menten AI) uses AI to design de novo proteins and small molecules for therapeutic applications. It is a direct competitor with overlapping platform ambitions around AI-designed protein binders and a similar customer base of pharma partners.

Broad incumbents

• Isomorphic Labs: Isomorphic Labs is Alphabet's AI-driven drug discovery subsidiary, applying DeepMind's protein structure and design technologies (AlphaFold) to therapeutics. It is a broad incumbent operating across the AI protein design value chain and represents both a potential partner and competitive threat to AffinityAI.

Emerging players

• Nabla Bio: Nabla Bio is an AI-driven antibody design company leveraging generative models and high-throughput experimentation to discover therapeutic antibodies. It overlaps with AffinityAI's therapeutic binder focus, though with a narrower antibody-centric modality set.
• EvolutionaryScale: EvolutionaryScale develops frontier AI models for biology, including protein language models (ESM3) used to design novel proteins. While more model-focused than AffinityAI's service-oriented approach, it represents an emerging competitive force in AI-driven protein engineering.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/affinityaibio
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/affinityaibio

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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 AffinityAI ApS