Venomics AI raises $2.7 million pre-seed round

Business Standard reported on November 5, 2026 that Venomics AI had raised $2.7 million in its first institutional funding round. The Bengaluru biotechnology company said the pre-seed round was co-led by Speciale Invest and South Park Commons, with participation from Operators Studio, according to Business Standard.

The company, which was spun out of the Indian Institute of Science, is trying to turn venom biology into a drug discovery engine. Business Standard reported that Venomics AI combines molecular sequencing, artificial intelligence and experimental screening to identify venom-derived molecules that could become therapeutic leads. Indian Startup News described the workflow as sequencing venoms, ranking candidates with AI and testing them in the company’s own lab, with results feeding into later predictions and molecular design.

What does Venomics AI's platform do?

Venomics AI says its core system, called Venom Atlas, is built to catalog venom molecules and use that dataset to guide discovery. Business Standard reported that the platform uses molecular sequencing and venom biology to build the Venom Atlas, AI to prioritise candidates, and functional screening in the laboratory to test predictions. Experimental results are then fed back into later predictions and molecular design.

That approach is aimed at a search space that remains only partly mapped. Business Standard said much of the molecular diversity across venomous species remains unexplored, while Indian Startup News, attributing a Speciale Invest blog post, said there are about 20 million venom peptides globally and fewer than 0.1% have been studied. The same report said public databases contain only 40,000 to 60,000 venom entries spread across disconnected repositories.

Founder Kartik Sunagar said animal venoms are a rich but underexplored source of medicines and that Venomics AI is using experimental science and AI to unlock that potential. Business Standard also reported that Sunagar’s IISc research spans venom evolution and antivenom development.

Who founded the company and who backed it?

Business Standard reported that Venomics AI was co-founded by Kartik Sunagar and Vinay Prabhu. Entrackr said the company was co-founded in May 2026 by the same pair. Sunagar is an IISc professor, while Prabhu is the company’s co-founder and CTO and holds a PhD from Carnegie Mellon University, with experience in machine learning and large-scale AI systems.

On the investor side, Business Standard identified Speciale Invest and South Park Commons as the co-leaders of the round and said Operators Studio also participated. Speciale Invest’s Arjun Rao said Venomics AI is building the Venom Atlas as a unique dataset intended to power AI drug discovery. South Park Commons’ Prateek Mehta said venom previously had to be searched one molecule at a time and that AI changes that.

Inc42’s X post also described the financing as a $2.7 million pre-seed round and said the funds would support expansion of the Venom Atlas and the company’s AI, laboratory-screening and drug-discovery capabilities.

How will the new capital be used?

Venomics AI said the money will expand its Venom Atlas molecular dataset, strengthen AI and laboratory-screening capabilities, and help build a multidisciplinary team across venom biology, computational science and drug discovery. Business Standard and Economic Times Entrepreneur both reported that the company plans to hire across those functions, while Indian Startup News said it also intends to validate and optimise its most promising molecules.

Business Standard reported that the company’s goal is to discover and develop venom-derived molecules into therapeutic leads, and that it aims to build a drug discovery platform in India for global therapeutics. Sunagar said the investment would accelerate that effort by leveraging India’s biodiversity and scientific talent.

The report also noted that animal venoms contain diverse molecules shaped by millions of years of evolution to act on biological targets. Business Standard cited captopril, inspired by snake venom peptides, and ziconotide, derived from a cone snail venom peptide, as examples of medicines linked to venom research.

What milestones has Venomics AI already reached?

Business Standard reported that the company had established the initial architecture of its platform, joined the NVIDIA Inception programme and been selected among the top five finalists for the 2026 Indo-Boston Biotech Bridge Award. Business Standard presented those as company milestones as Venomics AI builds out its discovery platform.

The cited examples and Sunagar's research background provide context for the company's focus on venom-derived therapeutics. Indian Startup News reported that in February 2024 Sunagar's lab and the Scripps Research Institute reported a synthetic human antibody that neutralised a neurotoxin produced by cobras, king cobras, kraits and black mambas, and said IISc described it as nearly 15 times more effective than conventional antivenom in animal tests.

Indian Startup News also reported that in September 2026, IISc and the Technical University of Denmark published work on a nanobody-based antivenom that protected mice against venom from several Indian cobra species. It said India reports about 50,000 snakebite deaths a year, which it attributed as the highest in the world.