The German BioNTech announced on Tuesday a takeover agreement for the acquisition of the British InstaDeep, specialized in the research of artificial intelligence and machine learning, for nearly half a billion euros.
Now known for having developed (in partnership with Pfizer) one of the messenger RNA vaccines against Covid-19, the company BioNTech made its cash flow speak to announce, on January 10, the upcoming takeover of the African-born company. North InstaDeep. It is considered by the CB Insights ranking as one of the 100 most promising start-ups on the planet, incidentally specializing in decision-making AI systems. This acquisition, estimated at more than 400 million euros (not counting the additional 225 million euros that InstaDeep shareholders should receive afterwards) follows an initial investment by BioNTech in the start-up in January 2022. , as part of a Series B fundraiser. So what does this takeover entail?
A takeover that meets BioNTech’s ambitions in the drug market
BioNTech does not hide its ambition: the company wants to become a world leader in the discovery of AI-driven drugs, and the development of next-generation vaccines and immunotherapies, with the aim of combating diseases whose medical needs are not still satisfied remain important.
The acquisition of InstaDeep should allow BioNTech to deploy new artificial intelligence and machine learning models within its platforms, and to connect them to an automated laboratory infrastructure, all via the DeepChain tool of InstaDeep. The general idea remains to develop and then test new drug solutions with very high throughput, based on AI and machine learning.
” The acquisition of InstaDeep allows us to integrate the ever-evolving capabilities of AI into our technologies, research, drug discovery, manufacturing and deployment processes. Our goal is to make BioNTech a technology company where AI is seamlessly integrated into all aspects of our work commented BioNTech CEO and co-founder Ugur Sahin.
Towards AI-assisted drug discovery, design and development
The two companies are no strangers to each other. They have been working together since 2019 and had already announced, in November 2020, a multi-year strategic collaboration and a joint AI innovation laboratory around the development of new drugs for a range of cancers and infectious diseases.
As part of this acquisition, InstaDeep’s workforce (composed of 240 AI, machine learning, data science, bioengineering and software development) will be integrated with those of BioNTech. At the same time, the German firm will develop its network of international research collaborators. It plans to expand its presence in major talent centers around the world, in Europe, the United States, Africa and the Middle East.
Once the takeover was finalized, InstaDeep “ will operate internationally from its headquarters in London as a BioNTech group company “, indicate the two companies. The operation, which will as always require the approval of the competent authorities, should be finalized during the first quarter.
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