The burgeoning field of AI-driven drug discovery is often hampered by the slow and labor-intensive process of validating computationally designed proteins in physical wet labs. Lausanne-based Adaptyv Bio is directly addressing this challenge, securing €34.35 million ($40 million) in Series A funding to scale its automated, AI-native laboratory platform. This investment, led by Highland Europe, with continued participation from existing investors like Ace Ventures, ByFounders, and Y Combinator, will allow the company to significantly expand its capacity and tackle more complex biological problems.

Adaptyv Bio's platform integrates advanced robotics, microfluidics, and synthetic biology to transform digital protein sequences into real-world experimental data. This automated workflow handles everything from in-house DNA synthesis and protein expression to precise binding measurements, drastically reducing the turnaround time for experimental results. By providing rapid and reliable validation, Adaptyv Bio enables protein engineers and AI models to receive faster feedback, accelerating the iterative design cycles crucial for developing novel therapeutics and materials.

The startup's approach is particularly critical as generative AI models become increasingly adept at designing thousands of protein candidates in a short period. Traditional labs are ill-equipped to test such volumes, creating a validation gap that Adaptyv Bio aims to close. The company plans to triple its lab capacity by the end of 2026 and open a new lab and office in London, alongside its Lausanne operations, growing its team from 25 to around 60.

This expansion reflects a broader industry trend towards 'agentic biology,' where AI systems can autonomously design, execute, and learn from biological experiments. Adaptyv Bio's long-term vision is to build a 'biological gigafactory' with enough automated experimental capacity for AI to learn from physical reality as quickly as it learns from text, effectively removing lab throughput as a constraint on biological progress. This move positions Adaptyv Bio as a key infrastructure provider in the evolving landscape of AI-powered life sciences.