Alphabet Inc.’s Isomorphic Labs raised $2.1 billion in its second round of outside capital, with new support from sovereign wealth funds, as it seeks to make artificial intelligence-designed drugs a reality. 

Venture firm Thrive Capital led the round, which also included Alphabet, Abu Dhabi’s MGX, Singapore’s Temasek and the UK’s Sovereign AI fund, Isomorphic Labs said in a statement Tuesday. Bloomberg News previously reported on the financing plans. 

London-based Isomorphic Labs was formed in 2021 out from Google DeepMind with the goal of commercializing the lab’s breakthrough AlphaFold protein-folding model. It competes with an array of businesses trying to apply the latest AI advances to medicine. That includes OpenAI, which recently released a model for life sciences research. While AI developers promise to dramatically reduce the time and cost of developing drugs, few have progressed to clinical trials and none have brought medicine to the market.

For Isomorphic Labs, the funding marks a key step in its technological development and potentially brings it closer to becoming an independent company. In the longer term, Isomorphic could look to spin out of Alphabet entirely, according to Chief Executive Officer Demis Hassabis, who also runs DeepMind. “That’s definitely one of the options,” he said in an interview ahead of the announcement.

Isomorphic Labs has announced partnerships with major pharmaceutical firms, including Eli Lilly & Co. and Novartis AG, and shared plans to focus on treating cancer and immune disorders. Hassabis said the new funding will help expand his company’s headcount from over 350 people currently and improve its internal software for the drug design process. 

Thrive Capital also led Isomorphic Labs’ first external round in 2025, when it raised $600 million. Hassabis said picking an existing investor to lead was best for expediency and trust, given his company’s work.  “We didn’t want to spend months road-showing,” Hassabis said. “Also, there’s a confidentiality aspect — not talking too much about all of our plans and the technicals under the hood.”

Thrive Capital is a major OpenAI backer. MGX, a new investor in Isomorphic Labs, has also put money into OpenAI and Anthropic PBC.

Isomorphic Labs has faced criticism for secrecy. Earlier versions of DeepMind’s AlphaFold model were made widely available to biology researchers, while the latest one isn’t. Hassabis said the company has to be more protective of research due to its partnerships and potential risks of powerful biological models.

Some AI drug developers have stumbled, with early efforts in the field facing technical hurdles and regulatory challenges. Shares of Recursion Pharmaceuticals Inc. are down nearly 90% from its public listing in 2021, while British firm BenevolentAI de-listed last year. Insilico Medicine passed the mid-stage clinical study last year for a AI-designed drug for lung disease, although some of the data from its study were inconclusive. 

Last year, Hassabis predicted Isomorphic Labs would enter clinical trials with proposed drugs by the end of 2025. On Monday, he said that he “misspoke” and was referring to pre-clinical trials, which his company has started. “That’s all going very well, and we’re on track,” he said. He declined name the drug or disease.

Alphabet’s venture firm GV and its growth fund, CapitalG, both participated in the new round. Hassabis said Alphabet provided a “large part” of the financing. He declined to comment on Alphabet’s stake or his company’s valuation.

Some futuristic units born inside Google, like self-driving firm Waymo, have raised outside funds. Many of the internet giant's other efforts, particularly in health, have failed to find commercial models.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

Published on May 13, 2026