Owkin alum raises $25M seed to build AI world model for human cells

A researcher who previously worked at Owkin, an AI-focused biotech company, has raised $25 million in seed funding to build what the startup describes as a world model for human cells. The funding will support development of machine learning systems designed to simulate and predict how cells behave under different conditions, potentially accelerating drug discovery and biological research.

World models are neural networks trained to learn and predict how systems change over time. Applied to cellular biology, such a model could help researchers understand cell responses to treatments without running every experiment in the lab, reducing time and cost in drug development.

The startup represents a growing intersection of AI and life sciences, where companies are using advanced machine learning to model complex biological systems.