Participated · Seed · Apr 2024

Stanhope AI is developing a brain-inspired system called “Active Inference,” which lets machines learn and adapt on the fly rather than depending on large, static datasets like those used by current LLMs. This adaptive capability targets mission-critical applications across autonomous systems, defence technology, industrial automation, and embedded devices where efficiency and reliability are paramount. The company is led by CEO Professor Rosalyn Moran alongside Professor Karl Friston, both noted researchers in computational neuroscience. With its technology, Stanhope AI aims to bridge the gap between biological cognition and machine learning, offering more efficient and resilient AI solutions. The startup plans to use newly secured capital to accelerate product development and scale operations. To date, its external financing totals $8 million, and no additional operating metrics such as revenue or user figures have been disclosed.

Participated · Equity · Apr 2021

Baseimmune develops a computational platform and proprietary deep-learning algorithm that predicts pathogen evolution and designs synthetic antigenic proteins intended to elicit broad protective immune responses. Its antigen designs integrate genomic, epidemiological, immunological, clinical and evolutionary data and can be applied across vaccine platforms including mRNA, DNA and viral vectors. The company aims to create cross-protective, “future-proof” vaccines engineered to be effective against current and emerging variants. With the new funding, Baseimmune plans to accelerate three preclinical vaccine programs targeting African swine fever, coronavirus, and malaria, expand its team, advance its technology, and increase the number of programs in development. Baseimmune was founded in 2019 by Joshua Blight, Ariane Gomes and Phillip Kemlo, who developed their approaches while at the Jenner Institute, University of Oxford. The company announced a Series A financing to support scaling and expedited delivery of vaccine candidates. Baseimmune uses an algorithm that combines genomic, epidemiological, immunological, clinical and evolutionary data to design synthetic 'pick and mix' antigens. Those antigens are intended to present the immune system with the components most likely to evoke strong protective responses. The designs can be fed into multiple vaccine platforms, including mRNA, DNA and viral vectors. The company grew out of Jenner Institute research by Dr Josh Blight and Dr Ariane Gomes, who teamed with software engineer Phillip Kemlo to build the platform. Baseimmune has partnered with DNA vaccine developer Touchlight to pursue a universal coronavirus vaccine and the team reports the algorithm predicted major SARS-CoV-2 variants such as Alpha and Delta from limited early data. It recently secured £3.5M (~$4.8M) to expand its pipeline, develop more vaccines in parallel, and broaden the diseases it can tackle. Baseimmune is a discovery‑phase biotech that uses big data, high-performance computing and machine learning to design complex antigen candidates and so-called "variant-proof" vaccines. Its platform combines pathogen and epidemiology datasets with biological expertise to generate antigens intended to protect against current and future strains. The company reports five antigens in various stages of development and collaborations that include a human vaccine candidate with Vaccitech and a malaria vaccine with Imperial College London. It has begun preclinical development of multiple candidates, including a universal COVID vaccine and a veterinary vaccine against African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV). Baseimmune says the new funding will enable further development of its platform and the start of preclinical lab work.