Excelsior Sciences, a biotech startup pioneering machine-friendly chemistry for AI-driven drug discovery, announced it has raised $95 million to transform how small molecules are discovered and manufactured.

The financing includes a $70 million Series A co-led by Deerfield Management, Khosla Ventures, and Sofinnova Partners, alongside a $25 million grant from New York’s Empire State Development. Other investors include Cornucopian Capital, Eli Lilly and Company, Illinois Ventures, and MIT.

“Drug discovery and manufacturing are at a crossroads in the West. To stay competitive, we must discover and develop better medicines—faster. This can only be achieved through automated synthesis platforms capable of rapidly producing purified compounds and testing them across multiple assays simultaneously—generating the rich data AI needs to cut years off traditional discovery timelines,” said Michael Foley, co-founder and CEO of Excelsior Sciences.

“Our proprietary smart bloccs platform is the first system to seamlessly integrate discovery and scale-up chemistry, enabling the reshoring of drug discovery and manufacturing. We are starting with drug discovery but will work across multiple sectors.”

The launch comes amid rising pressure on the pharmaceutical industry to secure supply chains and reshore manufacturing. The U.S.’s dependence on overseas production has exposed vulnerabilities in drug supply, prompting investments exceeding $250 billion to regain domestic control.

Excelsior aims to make reshoring affordable and strategic, shielding nations from geopolitical disruptions.

“The idea that sparked Excelsior arose via the company-building relationship Deerfield cultivated with Marty Burke, whose lab at the University of Illinois discovered and patented the insights that power the smart blocc technology,” said Jim Flynn, Managing Partner at Deerfield.

“We view Excelsior’s applications to drug discovery and manufacturing as transformational, and we are pleased to have attracted such strong syndicate partners to advance what we have begun.”

The Series A will allow Excelsior to scale its platform, advance its internal pipeline, and forge partnerships across therapeutics and materials science.

“Everyone’s talking about AI-designed drugs, but they cannot become a reality without scalable chemistry. Excelsior is the missing piece. They’ve built the right chemistry for the AI era, where design, synthesis, and testing happen in a closed loop. It’s turning theory into tangible molecules and real medicine. That’s why we backed this exceptional team as part of the Sofinnova Digital Medicine strategy,” said Edward Kliphuis, Partner at Sofinnova Partners.

“Excelsior is closing the gap between what AI can model in theory and what chemistry can make in the real world,” said Nessan Bermingham of Khosla Ventures. “Being able to manufacture small molecules this way opens the door to breakthroughs in new medicines and materials science, and it’s a critically strategic capability to build here in the US.”

Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner Hope Knight added, “Excelsior Sciences exemplifies how New York continues to attract companies redefining the frontiers of life sciences.

"Their technology will help address one of the most pressing challenges in American pharmaceutical manufacturing—securing domestic drug supply chains—while establishing our state as a leader in AI-powered chemistry and advanced manufacturing. Empire State Development is proud to support their work as they help shape the future of scientific discovery and production in New York.”