AI and Biotech Ventures Secure New Funding: Virginia Tech Grant, Navikenz and ChemT Seed Rounds
Virginia Tech received a $20M NSF grant for an AI semiconductor lab; Navikenz raised $7.5M and ChemT Biotechnology raised $4M in seed funding. The investments support AI-driven research and manufacturing.
Three AI-focused organizations recently secured new funding: the U.S. National Science Foundation awarded a Virginia Tech-based research team $20 million to build an AI-enabled cloud-based semiconductor laboratory, Navikenz raised $7.5 million in seed funding, and Singapore-based ChemT Biotechnology raised $4 million.
The Virginia Tech project is tied to the Department of Energy's Genesis Mission. The lab would be part of the Genesis Mission Platform, which the Energy Department said in July will feature advanced AI models, software and high-performance computing resources that would comprise a nationwide network of AI-enabled automated laboratories accessible to scientists working with Genesis grants. The Virginia Tech Programmable Cloud Laboratory Node is among 20 teams nationwide to receive funding. It is meant to strengthen U.S. semiconductor innovation, manufacturing resilience and workforce development. The project will employ AI-guided workflows that make production faster, repeatable and easy to predict. Project partners include Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, NVIDIA and Amazon Web Services.
Navikenz, an enterprise AI and data transformation company, raised $7.5 million in a seed funding round led by the former CEO of Hexaware and the former CEO of Aricent, along with the company's founders, with participation from existing and new high-net-worth investors. The round brings the company's total funding to $11.6 million. Founded in 2019, Navikenz partners with large enterprises and Global Capability Centers as an AI-first transformation ally, using its in-house platform NAVIO. The company works closely with life sciences and pharmaceutical companies and has achieved quarterly profitability and industry-leading revenue growth. It is present in the U.S. and India and is expanding in Europe and other markets.
ChemT Biotechnology, based in Singapore, secured $4 million in seed funding, anchored by Wavemaker Ventures and SEEDS, with participation from Wavemaker 360 Health, Draper University Ventures and Temasek Life Sciences Accelerator. The round brings ChemT's total funding to $5 million within 18 months, including $1 million in angel investment. The company's platform aims to improve biologics manufacturing, addressing long development timelines, unpredictable yields and high production costs. "Our customers come to us because they are stuck – development timelines stretch for years, processes break when you try to scale them," said the company's co-founder and president. At the center of its technology is CelMo, an AI-powered 'virtual cell' platform trained on proprietary biological sequencing data and validated through laboratory experiments. The fresh capital will be used to expand ChemT's AI and experimental infrastructure, advance its AI-designed molecular products toward regulatory readiness, and grow its commercial partnerships. The company also plans to extend its platform beyond CHO and T cells into stem cells, natural killer cells, and HEK cells.