Immuto Scientific has closed an oversubscribed Seed 2 financing round, raising a total of $8 million. The company has also announced a collaboration with Daiichi Sankyo, a well-known global pharmaceutical company. Immuto is utilizing its unique AI-enabled structural surfaceomics platform, representing a fresh approach to drug discovery.
The financing round was led by DYDX, a venture fund that specializes in investments related to the Data SuperCycle. Several other notable investors also participated, including WARF Ventures, Gravity Fund, and Great Oaks Venture Capital, among others. Their involvement underlines the confidence these investors have in Immuto’s innovative technology and its potential impact on the pharmaceutical industry.
With the finances secured, Immuto plans to advance its internal oncology pipeline, which focuses on studies necessary for Investigational New Drug applications. Additionally, the company intends to expand its capabilities into other key areas, such as immunology and inflammation.
In this collaboration with Daiichi Sankyo, Immuto aims to discover new targets for the treatment of solid tumors. The partnership will leverage Immuto’s proprietary structural surfaceomics platform to identify these targets and develop antibodies that can effectively target them. Under the terms of their agreement, Daiichi Sankyo has the option to license any of the assets that result from this collaboration. While the specific financial details of this partnership have not been disclosed, the collaboration is expected to yield significant advancements in cancer treatment.
Immuto Scientific has built a strong reputation through its successful collaborations with various pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, focusing on high-resolution structural proteomics. The company utilizes its target discovery platform in conjunction with its structural epitope-mapping engine to identify the specific conformations of surface proteins associated with diseases. These particular protein shapes are often unseen by other omics approaches, allowing Immuto to uncover unique and highly selective therapeutic targets. By integrating technologies such as high-resolution structural proteomics, live-cell protein structural assessments, and advanced analytics powered by artificial intelligence, the platform can simultaneously examine the structural differences of thousands of proteins, even in complex patient-derived samples.
This approach of identifying disease-specific epitopes—small parts of proteins that trigger immune responses—opens the door to discovering groundbreaking therapeutic targets. These targets are particularly beneficial for developing treatments tailored to specific diseases, which can enhance the effectiveness of therapies and increase the likelihood of successful patient outcomes. Immuto has already demonstrated success in identifying promising targets across various tumor types and is currently advancing its leading program through in vivo studies, which involve testing in living organisms.
KEY QUOTES:
“The greatest challenge in drug discovery today is not the lack of modalities; it’s the shortage of truly novel, disease‑specific targets. The vast majority of drug targets overlap with healthy tissues, which drives toxicity and narrow therapeutic windows. Our data‑driven platform reveals a hidden dimension of the cell surfaceome that conventional omics approaches cannot see, opening new therapeutic opportunities across cancer and other diseases.”
Faraz A. Choudhury, Ph.D., co‑founder and CEO of Immuto Scientific
“Our collaboration with Daiichi Sankyo underscores how exploring the structural conformations of cell‑surface proteins represents an untapped frontier in drug discovery. By targeting cancer‑specific surface structures, we have the opportunity to develop first‑in‑class therapies with truly differentiated precision and selectivity.”
Dan Benjamin, Chief Technology Officer of Immuto Scientific
“Immuto Scientific’s approach is highly differentiated, creating and leveraging data that no other group in the world has. The company is driving a step‑change in predictive protein structure based on its data and AI engine. This opens a new world of targets for much‑needed therapies with exceptional specificity. We are excited to be partnering with Immuto and believe the company will be a key part of the new era of data‑driven drug discovery.”
Spencer Maughan, Founder and Managing Partner, DYDX
