Boltz, a public benefit corporation co-founded by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has launched its initial platform, Boltz Lab, aiming to revolutionize the field of AI-driven drug discovery. The company emerged from a research team at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), which gained recognition for achieving AlphaFold 3-level accuracy with its model, Boltz-1, in November 2024. This cutting-edge technology has quickly garnered the attention of over 100,000 scientists across various biotech firms.
Led by newly minted PhD graduates Gabriele Corso and Jeremy Wohlwend, alongside research scientist Saro Passaro, Boltz has already established itself as a key player in the biotech space. The trio, previously mentored by Regina Barzilay, a distinguished professor of AI and Health, has secured $28 million in seed funding from prominent investors, including Amplify, a16z, and Zetta Venture Partners, as well as angel investors like Clement Delangue, CEO of Hugging Face.
Dylan Reid, managing director at Zetta, emphasized the need for an innovative approach in drug discovery, stating that the traditional model, which often involves raising hundreds of millions of dollars for a single breakthrough, felt “super disconnected” from the evolving landscape of technology. He expressed confidence that the success of Boltz would hinge on the widespread adoption of its tools among scientists, noting, “The best tools are the ones that are widely used.”
Rather than simply designing drugs, Boltz aims to create comprehensive AI infrastructures. As the company explains in its manifesto, this platform will enable scientists to transition from therapeutic hypotheses to human-ready molecules without leaving their computers. The Boltz Lab platform seeks to alleviate common obstacles in drug discovery, such as high computational costs and the need for scalable infrastructure, by providing intuitive, collaborative interfaces tailored to scientific workflows.
Corso articulated the motivations behind transitioning from academia to the private sector, citing the necessity for sustained investment in talent, computational resources, and data. He noted that “truly democratizing the technology” would require not just sharing models but also building reliable products that scientists can integrate into their daily work. This vision has already propelled Boltz into a multi-year collaboration with Pfizer, where Boltz will leverage Pfizer’s data to develop exclusive models for structure prediction and small-molecule affinity.
Corso also remarked on the cultural dynamics within the biotech sector, suggesting that many startups emerge from environments where asset value is strictly tied to patents. He highlighted how the open research culture at MIT fostered a different mindset at Boltz, allowing for a stronger community focused on shared progress and collaboration.
As Boltz positions itself at the forefront of AI in drug development, Corso anticipates that the demand for open-source technologies will continue to grow. He believes that researchers will eventually prioritize end-to-end systems that are dependable, scalable, and require minimal operational overhead. This shift could redefine expectations in biotech, steering interest away from raw models towards integrated solutions that streamline the drug discovery process.
With the opening of Boltz Lab and its ambitious objectives, the company is poised to make significant contributions to the field of biotechnology, potentially reshaping how drugs are discovered and developed in the coming years.
MIT | Pfizer | a16z | Amplify | Hugging Face | Zetta Venture Partners
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