Anima Biotech

What Anima Biotech does

Anima Biotech is a privately held Tech.Bio company founded in 2013 as a spinout from the Weizmann Institute of Science and headquartered in Bernardsville, New Jersey, with R&D operations in Israel and additional presence in the UK and UAE. The company specializes in the discovery of small molecule drugs that modulate mRNA biology — primarily translation control — by combining high-content phenotypic screening with AI-driven mechanism-of-action elucidation. Its core technology is the BioGPU platform, a proprietary runtime that converts visual representations of cellular biology into textual 'Visual Biology Tokens,' enabling AI models to design, execute, and analyze massive parallel visual biology experiments inside living cells through a closed experimental-reasoning loop. Supporting products include the mRNA Lightning discovery platform, the Translation Control Therapeutics platform, and the TranslationLight high-content imaging platform, supported by a 60+ person team spanning visual biology, AI, software, computational biology, and chemistry.

Anima operates a partnership-driven business model, generating revenue exclusively through strategic co-development agreements with major pharmaceutical companies. Three enterprise partnerships anchor the revenue base: Eli Lilly (signed 2018, $30M upfront + $14M research + up to $1.05B in milestones), Takeda (signed 2021, ~$120M upfront + up to $1.1B+ in milestones), and AbbVie (signed 2023, $42M upfront + up to $540M in milestones), each with tiered royalty structures. Beyond partnered programs, Anima maintains a proprietary internal pipeline including a preclinical idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis candidate. The company does not sell its platform or products directly; its go-to-market is business-development-led, with deal economics tied to upfront payments, R&D milestones, clinical/regulatory milestones, and commercial royalties. Distribution is global via co-development rather than direct sales channels, and the company supplements BD with academic collaborations across 17+ institutions and thought-leadership through the LightON mRNA Biology Masterclass series and industry conferences.

Name

Anima Biotech

Legal name

Anima Biotech Inc.

Website

https://animabiotech.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Anima Biotech is a Tech.Bio company that combines AI with visual biology to discover small molecule mRNA drugs, using its proprietary BioGPU platform to run massive parallel experiments inside living cells for big pharma partners including AbbVie, Takeda, and Eli Lilly.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

AI Drug Discovery Platform

NAICS

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

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

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

akta.pro secondary industries

AI/ML-Enabled Biologic Discovery Platforms (computational design, in silico screening) (HLAAAIAE), Bioinformatics & Multi-omics Analysis Software (HLAGAJAD), Cell-Based & Potency Assays (Bioassays) (HLAGADAH)

Keywords

• MRNA drug discovery
• AI drug discovery
• Phenotypic screening
• Visual biology platform
• Translation control therapeutics

Headquarters

HQ city

Bernardsville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Strategic Pharma Partnerships: Anima generates revenue through strategic co-development partnerships with pharmaceutical companies. Partners pay upfront fees, research milestones, and option fees as programs progress through discovery and development. Anima receives tiered royalties on net sales of any approved products resulting from collaborations.
2. Milestone Payments: The company earns milestone payments upon achieving research, clinical, and commercial development objectives. These include preclinical, IND-enabling, clinical trial, and regulatory milestones across partnered programs.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Anima Biotech is a Tech.Bio company that discovers small molecule mRNA drugs and their mechanisms of action through phenotypic screening combined with AI-driven MOA elucidation. Its proprietary BioGPU platform enables AI models to visually compute inside cells via massive parallel visual biology experiments, resolving causal biology across pathways, targets, and compounds. The company monetizes this technology through strategic co-development partnerships with major pharmaceutical companies including AbbVie, Takeda, and Eli Lilly, with cumulative potential deal value exceeding $4 billion.

Product overview

Anima Biotech operates as a Tech.Bio company offering the BioGPU platform—a unified system combining AI with visual biology experimentation. The core BioGPU platform enables AI models to reason inside cells through massive parallel visual biology experiments, supported by the BioGPU Agent for natural language interaction and the BioGPU Runtime for experiment execution. The mRNA Lightning Platform and Translation Control Therapeutics Platform (distinct but related discovery systems) leverage AI-driven mRNA biology visualization for small molecule drug discovery. Visual Biology Tokens bridge visual and textual representations of biological activity. The company also offers the TranslationLight high-content imaging platform for specific screening applications, alongside educational programs through the mRNA Biology Masterclass series. The platform is validated through pharmaceutical partnerships including AbbVie, Takeda, and Eli Lilly.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• BioGPU (Biology GPU)

Quantifiable outcome

• From 300 ALS-associated genes, BioGPU identified 3 novel targets through closed-loop experimental reasoning
• +2 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 capability8 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• AbbViecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 January 2023AbbVie partnered with Anima to discover and develop mRNA biology modulators for three oncology and immunology targets. Anima uses its mRNA Lightning platform to discover novel mRNA biology modulators. AbbVie receives exclusive rights to license and further develop and commercialize programs. Deal structure includes $42M upfront, up to $540M in option fees and R&D milestones, plus tiered royalties.
• Takeda PharmaceuticalcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 March 2021Takeda collaboration to discover and develop mRNA translation modulators for neurological diseases including Huntington's disease. Initial programs include early Huntington's HD program against HTT target and two additional targets. Takeda receives exclusive rights to develop and commercialize. Deal includes ~$120M upfront and preclinical milestones, up to $1.1B in clinical and commercial milestones, plus tiered royalties. Takeda has option to expand with up to three additional targets.
• Eli LillycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 23 July 2018Multi-year strategic collaboration for discovery and development of translation inhibitors for several undisclosed protein targets. Anima uses its Translation Control Therapeutics platform to discover lead candidates. Lilly responsible for clinical development and commercialization. Deal includes $30M upfront, $14M research funding, up to $1.05B in milestones, plus low to mid single-digit tiered royalties.
• Academic CollaborationssupportingOthersAcademic partnerships with leading research institutions including Duke University, Oxford University, The Scripps Research Institute, University of Bologna, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Gutenberg University, Haifa University, Hamburg University, Jefferson University, Massachusetts General Hospital, Penn University, Tel-Aviv University, Texas University, UNIST, Torino University, and Western University for research collaboration.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Recursion Pharmaceuticals: AI-driven drug discovery company using high-throughput biology, automated phenotypic screening, and foundation models to discover novel therapeutics. Directly comparable to Anima's BioGPU as both combine large-scale biological experimentation with AI for target identification and mechanism-of-action elucidation.
• Atomwise: AI-driven small molecule discovery using structure-based convolutional neural networks. Comparable to Anima as an AI-driven small molecule discovery company with pharma partnerships (e.g., AbbVie, Lilly).
• Genesis Therapeutics: AI-driven small molecule drug discovery combining graph neural networks and high-throughput experimentation. Comparable to Anima as an emerging AI-discovery company with major pharma partnerships (Eli Lilly).
• Insitro: Machine learning-driven drug discovery combining induced pluripotent stem cell biology with high-content imaging and predictive models. Closely comparable to Anima's visual biology + AI approach and pharma partnership business model.
• BenevolentAI: AI-driven drug discovery combining knowledge graphs, target identification, and clinical development. Comparable as an AI-discovery platform with major pharma partnerships, though it has faced clinical pipeline setbacks.
• Isomorphic Labs: Alphabet-owned commercial spinout of DeepMind's AlphaFold work, applying AI to drug discovery. Comparable as an AI-native drug discovery platform pursuing strategic pharma partnerships.
• Exscientia: AI-native pharma using patient-derived biology and active learning to design small molecule drugs. Comparable as an AI-driven small molecule discovery platform with major pharma partnerships (Sanofi, BMS, Roche).
• Schrödinger: Physics-based computational chemistry platform combined with ML/AI for drug discovery and materials science. Comparable to Anima as a software/AI-driven drug discovery platform with co-development partnerships and a public-market valuation benchmark.

Emerging players

• e-Therapeutics: Computational biology company using network analysis and AI for drug discovery in oncology and rare diseases. Partial overlap with Anima's computational biology + AI platform approach though smaller scale.
• Owkin: AI biotech applying federated learning to multi-omics data and pathology for target discovery and clinical trial optimization. Partial overlap with Anima's biology + AI approach though more focused on multimodal patient data than wet-lab visual biology.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/AnimaBiotech
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/anima-biotech

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles18 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 Anima Biotech