Funding supports global expansion of ScalaOS, a hybrid AI-driven protein design software platform enabling faster design and optimization of biologics, enzymes, antibodies, and vaccines
TEL AVIV, Israel–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#AI—Scala Biodesign, a biotech company transforming protein development through its powerful computational design technology for therapeutic and industrial applications, today announced the close of a $16M Series A financing led by Grove Ventures, with participation from TLV Partners, Deep Insight, the Israel Innovation Authority, and other investors. This round brings the company’s total funding to $21.5M since its inception in 2022.
The funding will support global expansion of ScalaOS, the company’s production-grade protein design platform, and further development of its integrated computational architecture for optimizing proteins used in medicines, vaccines, and industrial applications. Proceeds will also support broader commercial adoption, expansion of the company’s engineering and scientific teams, and continued advancement of Scala’s technology.
Protein engineering remains a major bottleneck in therapeutics and industrial biotechnology. Natural proteins are rarely optimized for performance, stability, or manufacturability, and conventional approaches rely on iterative, trial-and-error lab cycles that can take years and cost millions. ScalaOS addresses this constraint by embedding computational protein design directly into R&D workflows.
Over the past eight months, ScalaOS has onboarded nine of the world’s top 20 pharmaceutical companies, in addition to leading chemical corporations. The platform supports applications across antibodies, enzymes, vaccines, diagnostics, and industrial biotech. By integrating physics-based modeling, evolutionary data, and best-in-class LLM-based AI models, ScalaOS optimizes protein performance, often in a single design cycle, reducing experimental iterations and accelerating development timelines.
“Having worked closely with the industry’s most advanced R&D teams, even the most sophisticated organizations are held back by the complexity of protein engineering,” said Dr. Ravit Netzer, Co-Founder and CEO, Scala Biodesign. “Today’s researchers are often forced into years of iterative, high-failure lab experiments simply because they lack the computational bandwidth to fully predict a candidate’s potential. At Scala, we are eliminating this bottleneck. By replacing traditional trial-and-error with a scalable, AI-driven platform, we empower scientists to turn complex engineering into a predictable, high-success engine, bringing life-saving medicines to market faster than ever imagined.”
One example of Scala Biodesign’s impact comes from its collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim, where Scala’s platform helped stabilize multiple highly challenging drug targets in their development pipeline. Using Scala’s technology, BI obtained drug targets that expressed at much higher levels, remained active, and enabled more effective drug discovery, allowing BI to move the programs forward. This illustrates how ScalaOS can remove key bottlenecks in drug discovery and help accelerate development timelines.
“Scala Biodesign has been a trusted partner for us across multiple targets for more than two years,” said Dr. Dirk Kessler, Global Head Structural Research, Boehringer Ingelheim. “ScalaOS helps remove a critical barrier in protein work that can otherwise hold programs back, allowing teams to advance more quickly from target to downstream discovery and toward new medicines.”
“Improving the speed and reliability of protein design remains one of the most impactful opportunities in biotechnology,” said Ms. Renana Ashkenazi, Managing Partner at Grove Ventures. “Scala’s computational platform allows research teams to tackle protein engineering challenges earlier and more systematically within their own workflows. We believe this capability can materially accelerate development timelines across therapeutic and industrial programs.”
Founded in 2022 by Dr. Ravit Netzer and Dr. Adi Goldenzweig, together with Chief Scientist Prof. Sarel Fleishman of the Weizmann Institute of Science, Scala Biodesign builds on more than a decade of validated protein design research spanning 80+ laboratories worldwide and over 150 scientific publications, now translated into an enterprise-ready software platform for industry R&D. Combining elite engineering talent with world-leading protein designers, Scala’s team leverages decades of domain expertise to deliver best-in-class software that empowers R&D organizations worldwide.
Through ScalaOS, the company supports programs ranging from optimizing therapeutic enzymes, antibodies, and gene therapy components to stabilizing vaccine antigens, addressing challenging drug targets, and enabling efficient microbial production of human proteins, demonstrating its versatility across biotherapeutics and biomanufacturing.
About Scala Biodesign
Scala Biodesign develops advanced computational protein design technologies that accelerate the development of protein-based medicines and biological products across industries. Its integrated platform combines deep scientific validation with scalable computational architecture to enable faster, more reliable protein optimization directly within industry R&D environments. ScalaOS, the company’s protein design platform, empowers partners to overcome critical development bottlenecks, compress timelines, and advance applications spanning biologics, vaccines, industrial biotechnology, and sustainable chemistry. For more information, visit www.scala-bio.com.
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