Atlas Bio emerges from stealth with $12.5m for drug trial simulation

Atlas Bio has emerged from stealth with $12.5m in funding to develop AI simulations of drug efficacy and safety. Creandum led a $10 million seed round, with partner Katharina Wilhelm joining the board. The company also disclosed a $2.5 million pre-seed round led by First Momentum Ventures and LEA Partners.

Its foundation model is trained on roughly 2 million RNA readouts from human tissue, learning patterns of gene activity to simulate drug responses in virtual patient cohorts. The platform aims to identify which patients and diseases could benefit from a treatment before sponsors commit to Phase II trials. Atlas Bio ultimately aims to replace animal studies and parts of clinical testing, rather than focus solely on drug design.

The company is working with a top 10 global pharma company and discussing collaborations with other pharmaceutical groups. A Basel-based biotech customer has eliminated animal testing from a specific drug development workflow, proceeding directly to human trials using Atlas Bio’s simulation output.

Founded in 2024 by Simon Romanski and former Google researcher Sebastian Bayer, Atlas Bio is headquartered in Basel and incorporated in Delaware with a Swiss subsidiary. The funding will support scientific and commercial hiring, further platform validation and additional enterprise customers through 2026.