EvolutionaryScale Raises $162M, Unveils Largest Biological Language Model ESM3 for Protein Design

Jun 25, 2024, 04:05 PM

EvolutionaryScale, an AI startup founded by former Meta scientists, has emerged from stealth mode to announce the release of ESM3, a groundbreaking generative language model for protein design. ESM3, with 98 billion parameters, can simulate 500 million years of evolution to generate new proteins, such as a novel green fluorescent protein. The company has raised $162 million in seed funding, led by Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, and Lux Capital, with backing from Amazon and Nvidia. ESM3 is designed to reason over the sequence, structure, and function of proteins, making it the largest biological language model to date and a powerful tool for biotechnology and drug discovery. A pared-back version of ESM3 will be available for free to academics.