BigHat Biosciences has closed a $75M Series C co-led by DFJ Growth and Premji Invest, taking total funding at the San Mateo company to $223M. Catalio Capital Management, LG Technology Ventures and Sigmas Group joined as new backers, alongside existing investors that include Amgen Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Eli Lilly and Merck’s global health innovation fund.
The money lands as BHB810, BigHat’s first AI-designed therapeutic, begins Phase 1 testing. The candidate is a CDH17-directed antibody-drug conjugate aimed at gastric cancer and other advanced gastrointestinal tumors, and the first patient was dosed this month.
A second asset, BHB299, goes after CEACAM6-expressing solid tumors with an avidity-driven T-cell engager design. It is nearing the end of preclinical work, with human trials planned for 2027.
Where the training data comes from
What separates BigHat from most AI drug designers is the origin of its data. The Milliner platform pairs frontier models with automated, high-throughput experimentation, so each design the model proposes gets built in a lab and measured. Results feed the next design cycle rather than being borrowed from public datasets that every competitor can read.
Co-founder Mark DePristo previously co-directed medical and population genetics at the Broad Institute and founded Google Brain’s genomics team. Co-founder and CEO Peyton Greenside came from Stanford. BigHat has run work with Amgen, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, AbbVie and Lilly.
