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§ Private Profile · San Diego, CA, USA
AI & high-throughput screening technology for early-stage drug discovery in biopharmaceuticals, accelerating compound testing.
1859 is a San Diego, California-based biotechnology company that accelerates early-stage drug discovery by combining artificial intelligence with high-throughput empirical screening. The company utilizes a proprietary technology platform capable of rapidly testing custom chemical compound libraries containing over 120 billion targets. Operating within the biopharmaceutical and life sciences sectors, the firm generates revenue through strategic business-to-business partnerships with pharmaceutical enterprises while simultaneously developing its own internal pipeline of therapeutic candidates. In April 2022, the enterprise emerged from stealth mode and announced a $40 million Series A funding round led by Northpond Ventures. Concurrently, the organization established a strategic partnership with Charles River Laboratories to integrate its AI-driven screening technology into the partner's broader client services. 1859 was founded in 2019 by Devon Curnutte, Andrew MacConnell, and Ramesh Ramji.
1859 has raised $40.0M across 1 funding round.
1859 has raised $40.0M in total across 1 funding round.
1859 has raised $40.0M across 1 funding round. Most recently, it raised $40.0M Series A in February 2022.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 7, 2022 | $40M Series A | Lily LI, Northpond Ventures, Daniel Fero | FusionX Ventures, Paul Conley, Vertical Venture Partners | Announced |
1859 has raised $40.0M in total across 1 funding round.
1859's investors include Lily Li, Daniel Fero, FusionX Ventures, Paul Conley, Vertical Venture Partners.
1859, Inc. is a biotechnology company that develops an AI-driven platform combining artificial intelligence with empirical screening data to accelerate small molecule drug discovery.[1][2][3] It builds a "design, build, test, learn" engine using next-generation DNA-encoded libraries and proprietary pico-scale screening to explore billions of molecular starting points, identify high-potential candidates, and optimize leads for therapeutics in oncology, immunology, and inflammation.[1][3] The platform serves pharmaceutical and biotech companies by generating proprietary datasets at scale to train robust AI/ML models, solving the challenge of slow, costly traditional drug discovery through rapid iteration and validation of predictions.[1][3] Founded in 2019 and headquartered in San Diego, 1859 raised a $40 million Series A in 2022, employs around 40-53 people, and shows growth through leadership expansions targeting high-value pipelines.[1][3]
1859 was founded in 2019 by Devon Cayer, Ph.D., and Andrew MacConnell, incubated at JLABS in San Diego.[1][2] Cayer, the initial CEO, brought expertise from The Scripps Research Institute where he invented DNA barcoding technologies, plus experience at Omniome (acquired by PacBio) and Singular Genomics in next-generation sequencing.[1] The idea emerged from combining chemical biology innovations with AI to industrialize medicine discovery, addressing limitations in computational-only or empirical-only methods by integrating massive-scale screening data.[1] Early traction included the 2022 Series A launch, highlighting their pico-scale platform's ability to test hundreds of thousands of predictions.[1] Leadership evolved with Sanket Agrawal as current CEO and additions like Consulting CSO Jeff Hager, Ph.D., and advisors Michael Howell, Ph.D., and Venkat Reddy, Ph.D., bringing oncology and immunology depth.[3]
1859 rides the AI-drug discovery wave, merging computational prediction with wet-lab validation amid a surge in biotech AI adoption to cut development timelines and costs.[1][3] Timing aligns with post-2022 funding recovery and advances in DNA-encoded libraries, enabling exploration of vast chemical spaces inaccessible to conventional screening.[1] Market forces favoring it include pharma's demand for faster small molecule leads in high-unmet-need areas like oncology and immunology, plus proximity to San Diego's ecosystem of research institutions and big pharma.[1][3] It influences the landscape by pioneering hybrid platforms that generate proprietary data flywheels, potentially setting standards for industrialized discovery and partnering with larger players to advance clinical assets.[3]
1859 is positioned to scale its pipeline into clinical stages, leveraging 2024+ expansions in oncology and immunology amid AI-biotech convergence.[3] Trends like multimodal AI training on empirical data and rising M&A in efficient discovery platforms will propel it, with potential for partnerships or further funding to validate leads.[1][3] Its influence may grow by disrupting siloed discovery models, delivering patient-impacting medicines faster—echoing its launch promise to industrialize new medicine via AI and scale.[1]