Toronto-based Deep Genomics has raised a US$180-million Series C round led by SoftBank, marking the second Canadian investment from the Japanese conglomerate’s Vision Fund 2 after Clearco earlier this month.

It’s a sign, founder and CEO Brendan Frey said in an interview with The Logic, that deep-pocketed investors are on board with a “new era” of biotech, where artificial intelligence—not just chemists—can uncover breakthrough drugs. 

On the tech: Frey and Deep Genomics have been a fixture of Toronto’s AI community after a demonstration at the Vector Institute’s launch in 2017.

Deep Genomics’ artificial intelligence scans the human genome to target disease-causing genetic mutations. The AI evaluates how different therapeutics might reconstruct the gene’s function, and ranks which RNA therapies are likely to have the best results. The revelation, said Frey, is that biologists can prioritize treatments that have the best chance of succeeding before sending a drug into testing and development. 

“With our AI systems, it’s as if we can do wet-lab experiments instantaneously, and free of charge,” said Frey. 

On the funding: SoftBank rarely invests in Canada, but it’s shown burgeoning interest in biotech companies and genetics firms. Frey said he wanted to work with the Japanese investment giant’s strong health-care tech team—and SoftBank Investment Advisers investment director Elena Viboch is joining Deep Genomics’ board. 

“We’re not interested in acquisition. We’re not interested in some sort of liquidity event,” said Frey. “Our focus is on building a $100-billion company.”

True Ventures, Amplitude Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Magnetic Ventures and Fidelity Management and Research are also in the round. CPP Investments joined, which he said was Deep Genomics’ biggest Canadian backer to date. 

The company did not disclose the valuation at which the funds were raised.

On scale: The money will go toward tripling the size of its Toronto and Cambridge, Mass., facilities, as well as shipping, robotics, manufacturing and patents. The company will double the software team and quadruple its experimental biology team on top of research partnerships. 

“When you add one AI researcher you increase productivity fivefold, so you need five times more biologists,” said Frey.

On Canadian talent: Like the “mafia” of PayPal veterans, Vector Institute co-founders like Frey and Raquel Urtasun have become entrepreneurs and are capturing interest from international financiers. Proximity to the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research at the University of Toronto also helps, said Frey, who will prioritize scooping up “top-of-the-market” software and AI developers locally.