{
  "id": 9424453,
  "title": "Colorado-based Enveda, which uses AI to discover new drugs in the natural world, raised a $311M Series E at a $2B valuation, double its valuation a year ago (Marina Temkin/TechCrunch)",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/23/colorado-based-enveda-which-uses-ai-to-discover-new-drugs-in-the",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-23T22:05:01.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Techmeme",
    "slug": "techmeme",
    "url": "https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/23/enveda-secures-311m-to-bring-more-nature-derived-ai-drugs-into-clinical-trials/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "Colorado-based Enveda, a biotech startup, has raised $311 million in a Series E funding round at a $2 billion valuation. This represents a doubling of its valuation from a year ago. The funding was led by Catalio Capital Management, with participation from Iconiq and others.\n\nEnveda uses AI to discover new drugs in the natural world, specifically harnessing powerful medicines from plants and microbes. The company was founded in 2019 by Viswa Colluru, an early employee of Recursion Pharmaceuticals. Enveda is currently testing several drugs in patients, including one targeting severe skin conditions and another designed to help maintain weight loss after stopping GLP-1s.\n\nThe startup plans to advance three drug candidates into later-stage trials using its AI platform for discovering compounds in nature, according to Quartz. Enveda is among the wave of companies advancing AI-discovered candidates into human clinical trials, although AI has not yet produced any FDA-approved drugs.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}