IAN Alpha Fund, the 2nd in the series of IAN Group’s VC funds, along with Speciale Invest, has co-led a Rs 70 crore Series A funding round in Peptris, a Bengaluru-based AI-powered drug discovery startup.
The round also saw participation from Tenacity Ventures, BYT Capital, and other investors. The investment strengthens Peptris’ proposition as one of the leading Indian AI drug discovery platforms progressing beyond molecule generation towards clinical-ready assets.
Founded in 2019, Peptris has built an AI-led discovery engine that addresses one of the most persistent problems in healthcare: despite scientific advances, drug discovery remains slow, expensive, and failure-prone, leaving large unmet medical needs. This challenge is most acute in the pre-clinical stage, where time, capital, and scientific uncertainty often derail promising programs much before drugs reach the clinical stage.
This fresh capital infusion will be used to advance its existing programmes toward clinical readiness and to significantly expand its pipeline over the next 24 months. The company plans to initiate several new NCE programmes, alongside multiple drug repurposing and rescue programs (shelved clinical stage drugs of other companies).The company will also expand teams across biology, chemistry, data science, and AI, while building dedicated business development capabilities in the US and Europe to deepen partnerships with global pharmaceutical and biotech companies.
Peptris focuses on therapeutic areas including rare diseases, inflammation, oncology, and women’s health to deliver a durable impact for patients, caregivers, and healthcare systems globally.
