Foundational protein design startup Mandrake Bio has raised around Rs 16 crore in a pre-seed funding round co-led by Activate and Antler, with participation from Spectrum Impact and DeVC. The round also saw investment from angel investors, including Vijay Chandru, Paras Chopra, Sanjiv Rangrass, and Vatsal Du. The proceeds will be used to advance the company’s 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, Mandrake Bio said in a press release. Founded in March 2025 by Tanay Lohia and Kutubuddin Molla, Mandrake Bio develops programmable gene editing enzymes using generative AI, biophysics, and wet lab validation. The startup aims to design compact and precise enzymes for applications across agriculture and medicine. The company says its technology can help reduce the time required to develop improved crop varieties through gene editing, while also supporting the development of therapies for genetic diseases. Unlike conventional approaches that rely on naturally occurring gene editing systems such as CRISPR Cas9, Mandrake Bio designs custom gene editing enzymes from scratch using generative AI and structural biology. It plans to license these enzymes to seed companies and therapeutic developers.

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