Earlier this month, Owkin announced a $25 million Series A extension. On this occasion, the start-up was able to count on the investment of Bpifrance, via its Large Venture fund, which thus became a new reference shareholder of the company. Cathay Innovation, already present in the capital, continues its commitment to this fast-growing startup.

Bpifrance and MACSF (Mutuelle d’Assurances du Corps de Santé Français), which is also participating in the transaction, join a circle of prestigious international investors including GV (ex-Google Ventures) as well as F-Prime Capital and Eight Roads Ventures.

Owkin is a startup created in 2016 offering artificial intelligence-based solutions to pharmaceutical companies with the aim of increasing the performance of their research and development activities. For several decades now, the pharmaceutical industry’s R&D productivity has been gradually attrition, resulting in an ever smaller number of new products being brought to market compared to the sums invested in developing them.
This situation is all the more unsustainable in a general trend towards reducing the costs of healthcare systems in order to ensure their sustainability. Through its innovative technologies, Owkin aims to help industry players to make more new treatments available to patients in a shorter timeframe.

The funds raised through this Series A expansion will allow Owkin to continue to expand its catalogue of models for its customers and to increase the number of partnerships with major hospitals and academic institutions. The latter are the suppliers of the medical data required to train the algorithms developed by the company, giving them the best possible predictive power.
Owkin is also one of the pioneering companies in “federated learning”. This technological choice, initiated at its inception, results in a decentralized approach to AI in which the data does not need to be grouped together beforehand to be usable. Maintaining them in the institutions where they were generated thus enables Owkin to operate with the greatest respect for patient confidentiality and privacy.

Laurent Higueret, Investment Director of Bpifrance’s Large Venture fund:

“We are particularly proud with this investment to be associated with the construction of a new leader in the field of artificial intelligence, with a global track record, and led by a leading international management and investor syndicate. This operation is also a new illustration of Bpifrance’s ambitions in the field of deeptech”.

Thomas Clozel, Chairman of Owkin:

“This investment by the Large Venture fund marks the first step in a long-lasting collaboration between Owkin and Bpifrance, driven by a common ambition to help bring faster and more innovative solutions to patients”.

Jacky Abitbol, Partner at Cathay Innovation:

“Since 2017, we have been supporting Owkin’s talented team and share their vision of using artificial intelligence to fight one of the world’s most painful diseases: cancer. Owkin has established itself as one of the leading companies in the world of digital health. We are delighted to reinforce our commitment to enable Owkin to become the world leader in artificial intelligence applied to medical research, while respecting the confidentiality of patient data”.

Stanislas Subra, Head of Venture Capital Investments at MACSF :

“In just a few years, Owkin has succeeded in building a global artificial intelligence technology platform with an innovative and ethical approach to serve healthcare professionals and medical research. MACSF is pleased to invest in the company to support its development and accompany the evolution of its members’ businesses”.

Speakers Bpifrance Investissement :
Large Venture Fund :
Maïlys Ferrère, Fund Director; Laurent Higueret, Investment Director; Audrey Cacaly, Project Manager
Legal Department: Charlotte Sorin-Voinis, Senior Legal Officer

Translated from Owkin boucle une extension de Série A de 25 millions de dollars et fait entrer Bpifrance au capital