Tolemy Bio, the London-based biology software startup, has raised €1.4 million in pre-seed funding to develop Orbit, an AI-native software platform designed to help scientists understand, predict, and direct cellular behavior. The round was led by Norrsken Evolve and Big Sur Ventures, with participation from JME Ventures, Masia, Redbus Ventures, and a group of angel investors including David Ola, Marcel Hedman, Simon Franks, and Amar Shah.
Orbit is designed as a control panel for the cell, enabling scientists to model and direct complex cellular systems in ways that current tools do not. The company describes existing software as failing to keep pace with how scientists experiment today, particularly in cell therapy and biomanufacturing, where control over cell behavior has direct implications for product reliability, manufacturing consistency, and patient access to advanced medicines.
The platform is built and driven by scientists, for scientists, reflecting Tolemy Bio’s view that tools in this space need to be grounded in the realities of laboratory practice rather than developed at a remove from it. The problem the company is working on sits at the intersection of biology, AI, software, data infrastructure, and real-world experimentation.
The pre-seed capital will be used to scale Orbit, deepen customer relationships, and build out the team. Tolemy Bio is actively recruiting across scientific and technical disciplines.
