$26m · Series B · Healthtech · Paris, France
Paris-based WhiteLab Genomics has raised a $26m Series B led by AVP. New investors Yaday Health and Blast Club joined existing backers Omnes Capital and Debiopharm Innovation Fund. The company says it will use the financing to expand in-vivo validation across viral and non-viral delivery technologies and programmable genetic payloads, while growing commercial operations in North America, Europe and Asia.
WhiteLab develops the components that carry genetic instructions into cells. Its ALFRED platform combines biological datasets, computational models and structural biology to design viral vectors such as adeno-associated viruses, non-viral carriers such as lipid nanoparticles, and payloads that control where and when a therapeutic gene is expressed. Candidates are then tested experimentally and in living systems before WhiteLab advances them internally or with pharmaceutical partners.
Validation turns a model into a medicine-building asset
For gene therapies, identifying a promising sequence is only the first step. A delivery vehicle must reach the intended tissue, avoid unwanted organs, carry a useful payload and remain manufacturable. WhiteLab says work with the Paris Brain Institute produced AI-designed AAV candidates that crossed the blood-brain barrier in in-vivo studies while showing a strong brain-to-liver targeting ratio and no detectable liver signal. Those are company-reported preclinical results, not evidence of safety or efficacy in patients.
That distinction explains the round's focus. The financing is not just paying for more computation; it is funding the experiments that can turn a digital design into a differentiated biological asset. Positive in-vivo data can give a pharmaceutical partner something concrete to license or develop, while weak translation would leave the model's predictions commercially unproven.
WhiteLab is moving closer to the therapeutic value chain
WhiteLab says it is building a portfolio of validated bio-assets that it can advance independently and with biopharma partners, rather than limiting the business to computational services. That model can capture more value from a successful delivery vehicle or payload because the company retains an asset that can support multiple development programmes. It also requires more capital, longer validation cycles and careful choices about which candidates deserve laboratory and animal work.
The Series B gives WhiteLab room to test that model across more modalities and markets. It plans to strengthen its Boston hub for North American partnerships, add a US West Coast presence and pursue opportunities in Japan and South Korea. AVP's François Robinet and Yaday Health's Daniel Teper are also joining the board. The next meaningful proof point is not the number of designs ALFRED can propose, but whether repeatable experimental results lead partners to adopt, license or co-develop the resulting assets.
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WhiteLab announcement · EU-Startups · AVP news · ALFRED platform · WhiteLab in-vivo update · Tech.eu Funding Explorer
