Kartik Sunagar

This is a dream come true! Ecstatic to announce that @LabVenomics at @CES_IISc, @iiscbangalore, in association with @official_ibab, and with funding from @ITBTGoK, the Government of Karnataka, will establish an ‘Antivenom Research and Development Centre’ in Bangalore.

🐍 From Deadly Toxins to Life-Saving Medicines. The Ultimate UNO Reverse! 🔄

I’m thrilled to announce that Venomics AI (@venomicsai), a biotechnology startup spun out of the Indian Institute of Science (@iiscbangalore), has raised US$2.7 million in pre-seed funding! 🚀

This is a particularly special moment for me.

Many years ago, when I started my PhD, I was fascinated by a rather intriguing evolutionary question: How did evolution transform completely harmless proteins, performing everyday functions in our body, into some of the most potent toxins known to science?

I spent years studying how animal venoms evolved over millions of years, tracing the remarkable evolutionary journeys of these proteins as they acquired their deadly functions.

And now, years later, I find myself trying to do almost the exact opposite!

What if we could take these very same toxins and transform them into life-saving medicines?

It’s almost like playing the ultimate UNO reverse card on evolution! 🔄🐍

What evolution transformed into weapons, we want to transform into medicines to fight some of humanity’s greatest health challenges.

That is the vision behind Venomics AI.

Nature has spent millions of years evolving an extraordinary diversity of biologically active molecules. Yet, despite their immense therapeutic potential, the vast majority of animal venoms remain largely unexplored, especially in India.

At Venomics AI, we’re combining cutting-edge experimental science with artificial intelligence to systematically explore this untapped molecular diversity and accelerate the discovery of next-generation therapeutics.

Our pre-seed round was led by Speciale Invest (@SpecialeInvest) and South Park Commons (@spc), with participation from Operators Studio (@OperatorStudios). We are incubated at ARTPARK (@artparkindia).

I’m incredibly grateful to our investors for believing in this vision, and to my co-founder, Vinay Prabhu (@vinayprabhu), Chief Scientific Officer, Purba Sarkar, for joining me on this exciting journey.

We’re proud to be building this company in India, leveraging our scientific expertise and extraordinary biodiversity to develop medicines for the world.

From studying how nature makes toxins to discovering how we can turn them into medicines. Life really does come full circle sometimes.

And we’re just getting started! 🚀

#VenomicsAI #DrugDiscovery #Biotechnology #ArtificialIntelligence #DeepTech #MakeInIndia #VenomResearch

1/4 🐍 Toxin Tuesday is BACK! (After a rather long break!)

And we’re restarting with a fascinating question: Can FIVE tiny antibodies take on the venoms of some of the world’s most dangerous cobras?

Let’s find out! 🧵👇

Following Anthropic and Google Gemini for Science programs, we’re keen to explore how OpenAI’s frontier models could advance our research in venomics & snakebite therapeutics.

Would love to connect with someone at @OpenAI to explore opportunities!

@LabVenomics @venomicsai

Thank you, @AnthropicAI and Irina, for supporting our research! 🐍

I hope this partnership continues to grow, helping us accelerate the development of next-gen treatments for snakebite envenoming, one of the world's most neglected tropical diseases.

@LabVenomics @venomicsai