Animol Discovery, Inc. Announces Series B Financing of $34.0 million to Advance Its Pipeline of Novel Veterinary Pharmaceuticals
Animol Discovery, Inc., a pioneer in veterinary pharmaceutical discovery, today announced it has raised $34.0 million in Series B financing. The investment was led by Novalis Lifesciences, with participation from Finistere Ventures and existing investor Anterra Capital. The proceeds allow the company to expand and advance its pipeline of novel active pharmaceutical ingredients through clinical development and further enhance its cutting-edge drug discovery platform.
The $40Bn animal health industry continues to demand novel medicines to treat infectious and chronic diseases in companion and production animals. Recent successes, such as Apoquel™ from Zoetis and Nexguard™ from Boehringer Ingelheim, demonstrate the potential to build towards blockbuster franchises in the sector with novel pharmaceutical products.
“Pet parents and livestock farmers continue to demand novel veterinary pharmaceuticals that can protect animals against diseases and improve quality of life,” said Andrew Plant PhD, chief executive officer, Animol Discovery. “Despite this strong demand, innovation is lagging. At Animol, we seek to address this innovation gap by leveraging the most advanced tools from human pharma to bring forward a wealth of new medicines that can benefit animals and the people who care for them.”
Founded in 2020 and incubated by Anterra Capital, Animol is pioneering the use of DNA Encoded Library (DEL) drug discovery technology coupled with powerful machine learning approaches to enable the rapid discovery of novel veterinary medicines.
“We have built Animol on the same cutting edge discovery techniques that we are using to disrupt drug discovery in human pharma (ZebiAI - acquired by Relay Therapeutics) and crop protection (Enko Chem),” said Philip Austin, Managing Partner at Anterra Capital. “Translating these tools to the massive opportunity available in veterinary pharma was the next obvious step and we are already seeing their use successfully build into a rich pipeline of promising compounds.”
Animol also announced that Marijn Dekkers PhD, founder & chairman of Novalis LifeSciences LLC will join the Board of Directors. Dr. Dekkers formerly served as the CEO of Bayer AG, and as the CEO of Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. At Bayer he oversaw one of the largest global animal health companies.
“Most current medicines in the $40B veterinary pharma market are derived from drugs that have been originally developed for humans. There is of course nothing wrong with that, but there are many animal-specific diseases that require a targeted effort. I like Animol Discovery’s approach to use its breakthrough drug discovery platform to specifically address significant unmet needs in animals. I am looking forward to working with the team to optimize the opportunity ahead,” said Dr. Dekkers.
“It is a great pleasure to be able to welcome Marijn Dekkers to our Board of Directors. Dr. Dekkers is an exceptional industry leader with a track record of turning innovation into successful businesses across the spectrum of life sciences, including in animal health,” said Andrew Plant PhD, chief executive officer, Animol Discovery. “He is an excellent addition to our team of experienced industry leaders.”
“I am also delighted to bring Doug Hutchens on board as chief scientific officer. Dr. Hutchens brings a wealth of industry experience in animal health research and product development; having someone who has also served as Chief Veterinary Officer within a major animal health company brings huge value to our expanding team,” added Dr. Plant.
“I am thrilled by the prospect of joining Animol’s dynamic and experienced team as chief scientific officer,” said Doug Hutchens, DVM, PhD. “The company’s ability to interrogate protein targets with billions of DNA-tagged molecules and, using DNA sequencing, identify selective inhibitors from numerous diverse chemical families is game changing in animal health drug discovery. Leveraging these data with proprietary, highly predictive machine learning algorithms, is enabling the identification of novel drug-like compounds in a matter of weeks from the initial DEL screen. This technology platform greatly expands the opportunities, significantly increases the probability, and accelerates the timeline in developing new classes of therapeutic molecules.”
About Animol
Animol is a pioneer in using state of the art drug discovery technology to discover small molecule active pharmaceutical ingredients to transform standards of care in veterinary medicine. The company is reducing the time and cost to discover novel active ingredients utilizing DNA-encoded libraries, machine learning/AI and structure-based design.
Animol is a private company based in Boston, Massachusetts. For more information see www.Animol-discovery.com
About Novalis LifeSciences LLC
Novalis LifeSciences LLC is an investment and advisory firm for the Life Science industry that was founded in 2017 by Marijn E. Dekkers. With a team of experienced operating executives from the Life Science industry, Novalis funds and advises visionary Life Science entrepreneurs. In addition to making financial investments, Novalis provides strategic and operational advice to portfolio companies that are at a critical growth stage in their development. For more information, visit www.novalislifesciences.com
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220728005186/en/
Contact information
Dr. Andrew Plant
CEO
Animol Discovery, Inc.
andrew.plant@animol-discovery.com
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Suzano Starts Up New Production Line, Boosting Its Fluff Pulp Capacity by 400%17.12.2025 22:50:00 EET | Press release
Suzano, the world’s largest pulp producer, has commenced operations this week at its new fluff pulp production line located in its Limeira unit in Brazil’s São Paulo state. This R$490 million investment increases Suzano’s total fluff pulp production capacity by more than 400%, from 100,000 to 440,000 tonnes per year. The project involved converting the existing pulp line at the Limeira unit into a flexible machine, capable of producing both Eucafluff® and market pulp. Eucafluff® is used in the production of absorbent and personal hygiene products, such as baby and adult diapers, sanitary pads and pet pads. Then market pulp is supplied for making products including toilet paper, printing and writing papers, and paper packaging. Launched in 2015, Eucafluff® is the world’s first fluff pulp made from eucalyptus, delivering unique advantages like enhanced softness and flexibility, which translate into thinner, more discreet and comfortable products. Its high compression capability enables s
SES Acknowledges Moody’s Rating Action and Reiterates Deleveraging Commitments17.12.2025 22:36:00 EET | Press release
SES S.A. (“SES” or the “Company”), a leading space solutions company, acknowledges the credit rating action announced by Moody’s Investor Service today, which follows the release of SES’ Q3 2025 results and Intelsat integration update. SES management reiterates that the Company continues to execute on its strategy with a clear plan to strengthen its key credit metrics over time. Consistent with this plan, it remains management’s intention to de-lever and return to credit metrics that are commensurate with investment grade, with a policy objective of reducing adjusted net leverage1 to at least 3.0x or below. Today’s rating action does not change the Company’s ability to operate its business, serve customers, or execute its strategic plan. SES maintains a balanced weighted average debt maturity profile of approximately five years, and the rating action from Moody’s is not expected to have a material impact on the interest payable under the Company’s existing debt facilities. SES also ben
Picsart and Zazzle Power the Creator-to-Commerce Evolution with Print-On-Demand Integration17.12.2025 21:47:00 EET | Press release
Picsart, the world’s leading digital creation platform with over two billion downloads and more than 100 million monthly active users, is partnering with Zazzle, the global leader in customized products and designs, to deliver an end-to-end printing solution for Picsart users. The new “vibe-design-to-print” integration works seamlessly with Picsart’s recently expanded suite of AI products, including AI Assistant and Flows, enabling creators to ideate, iterate, design, and bring their work to life as physical art and products. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251217882832/en/ Picsart and Zazzle Power the Creator-to-Commerce Evolution with Print-On-Demand Integration “At Picsart, our mission has always been to give creators the tools they need to bring their ideas to life,” said Hovhannes Avoyan, Founder and CEO of Picsart. “As we enter what we believe will be the year of the creative entrepreneur, creators are i
Inspiring Leadership Recognised: Anna Byrne Named Finalist at CIPD 2026 HR Awards17.12.2025 20:58:00 EET | Press release
ProAmpac, a global leader in flexible packaging and material science, is proud to announce that Anna Byrne has been selected as a finalist in the “Most Inspirational and Impactful Leader” category at the CIPD 2026 HR Awards in Ireland. This recognition highlights Anna’s exceptional leadership, her unwavering commitment to people-first practices, and her meaningful influence across the organisation. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251217690526/en/ The CIPD HR Awards in Ireland The CIPD HR Awards highlight the people profession’s crucial role in driving strategy, leading transformation, and enabling organisations to thrive. Overseen by CIPD Ireland and supported by independent academic expertise, the awards celebrate innovation, integrity, and impact within modern HR practice. This year, the awards introduce four new categories, including the “Most Inspirational and Impactful Leader” award, reflecting the evolvi
GeologicAI Announces Acquisition of Lumo Analytics to Complete Its Integrated Sensor Suite Across Critical Minerals and Rare Earth Elements17.12.2025 18:53:00 EET | Press release
GeologicAI, the global leader in High-Resolution Decision Engineering for the critical minerals sector, today announced its acquisition of Lumo Analytics, a provider of the most compact and efficient Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) scanner in the market. LIBS is a rapid, non-destructive technique that uses a high-energy laser pulse to vaporize a tiny spot on a rock, creating a short-lived plasma which emits light unique to the elements present when it cools. This spectral “fingerprint” provides immediate chemical information about the material. For the mining sector, this means faster geochemical insights directly at the source, enabling more efficient exploration and resource evaluation. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251217715846/en/ The transaction firmly cements GeologicAI’s position as the only truly comprehensive and integrated source of sensor data for the critical minerals industry. Buildi
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom