Enveda, a biotechnology firm leveraging AI for natural drug discovery, has successfully secured a $311 million Series E funding round, achieving a valuation of $2 billion. This new investment, spearheaded by Catalio Capital Management alongside participation from Iconiq and others, represents a doubling of Enveda’s valuation over the past year.

Enveda operates on the premise that significant therapeutic agents can be derived from plants and microbes instead of being artificially created in laboratory settings. Founded in 2019 by Viswa Colluru, a former employee of Recursion Pharmaceuticals, Enveda aims to expedite the identification of these innovative drugs through AI and additional methodologies.

Although AI has yet to yield any drugs approved by the FDA, Enveda is part of the emerging cohort of companies progressing AI-generated candidates into clinical trials involving humans. The startup is actively evaluating multiple drugs in patients, including one aimed at treating severe skin issues and another intended to aid in sustaining weight loss after discontinuing GLP-1 therapies.