Private Equity PE-VC Fund Investments
Mandrake Bio raises Rs.16-Cr in pre-seed round
Source Mandrake Bio (opens in a new tab)Economic Times (opens in a new tab)
Bangalore-based Mandrake Bio has raised INR 16 crore in a pre-seed funding round co-led by Activate and Antler, with participation from Spectrum Impact and DeVC. The round also included investments from angel investors Vijay Chandru, Paras Chopra, Sanjiv Rangrass, and Vatsal Du.Founded in 2025 by Tanay Lohia and Kutubuddin Molla, Mandrake Bio is a foundational protein design company. It develops programmable gene editing enzymes by utilizing generative AI, biophysics, and wet lab validation.The company intends to use the capital to advance its AI-based protein design platform, expand its research team across AI and biophysics, and scale wet lab validation of its gene editing enzymes for agricultural and medical applications.