Poland-based Deepflare has picked up €1.5mn in a pre-seed funding round to expedite mRNA vaccine development with AI.

The equity round was led by German fund Sunfish Partners, with the participation of Estonian VC Lemonade Stand and angel investors Przemek Kowalczyk and Szymon Sypniewicz, co-founders of Ramp.

The R&D grants were provided by Poland’s National Centre for Research and Development and the Polish Development Fund.

Founded by Piotr Grzegorczyk, Grzegorz Preibisch and Stanisław Gizinski in Warsaw, the company was launched back in 2020 with the initial goal to help develop next-gen RT-PCR tests for SARS-CoV-2. The technology was used to analyse around 50% of all SARS-CoV-2 genomes sequenced in Poland. Now, the company is using its technology and AI prediction models to boost the development of mRNA vaccines and drugs against other viral diseases.

Grzegorczyk, co-founder and CEO of Deepflare, said: “During the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw an unprecedented pace of vaccine and drug development worldwide and massive adoption of mRNA vaccines. It has almost instantly caused the next wave of scientific innovations and the accelerated development of mRNA vaccines targeting other deadly pathogens, including Ebola, HIV, Malaria, Zika, and many more. We’ve developed AI technology and ML models that help both accelerate the drug development process and increase vaccine efficacy against current and future variants of the viruses.”