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Reimagining
Drug Discovery
with AI
Stripes is an NYC-based growth equity firm led by entrepreneurs and operators. We invest in and actively support best-in-class, category-defining companies. We believe Isomorphic Labs will revolutionize drug discovery.
Our recent investments
Stripes partners with founders building n-of-1, category-defining companies with enormous opportunity. We look for amazing products with amazing market opportunities.
| Company | Overview | Round |
|---|---|---|
| Leading data infrastructure platform | $10B, Dec 2024 | |
| Finance automation platform | $150M, Dec 2024 | |
| Autonomous mobility solutions | Undisclosed | |
| AI-powered public safety | $275M, Mar 2025 | |
| Premium athleisure brand | $825M, Nov 2024 |
R&D is getting more expensive
without getting faster
Convergence of challenges require new approaches to R&D. Structural pressures across pharma are creating a generational opening for AI-native drug discovery.
| Metric | Then | Now | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avg. annual R&D expenditure (top 15) | $5.3B (2011-15) | $6.0B (2016-20) | ▲ Rising |
| Avg. years to complete Phase 2 & 3 | 6.5 years | 7.1 years | ▲ Worsening |
Compounding Challenges & Delays
| Increasing Pressure | Challenging Backdrop | Resulting Impact |
|---|---|---|
| 50% decrease in years of MOA exclusivity (8 yrs in 2000-04 vs. 4 yrs in 2016+) | 53% of sites indicate insufficient bandwidth to run trials | 22% of trials have delays >40% |
| 40% increase in patient trial slots in oncology (2016-21) | 56% increase in trial complexity vs. 3 years ago | 80% of sponsors not meeting DEI goals |
Source: Schumacher "Analysis of pharma R&D productivity" (Oct 2023); Bain "Clinical Trials at a Crossroads" (Jan 2023); Bain "Benchmarking and TSR" (Oct 2023)
Big pharma pulling back on trials
smaller players filling the gap
Top pharma companies are rationalizing trial portfolios — while smaller, more nimble companies (including AI-native biotechs) are driving the majority of new clinical activity.
| Year | Total Starts | "Others" Share | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 3,951 | 53% | +6% p.a. |
| 2020 | 5,213 | 69% | |
| 2021 | 6,368 (peak) | 72% | +7% p.a. |
| 2024 | 5,614 | 75% | -3% p.a. |
Source: Citeline Trialtrove as of July 2025; PharmaCo rankings by reported 2024 revenue
AI adoption is scaling rapidly
>50% of pharma have at least a POC
The industry has moved past experimentation — the question is no longer "if" but "how fast."
| Stage | Company | Use Case | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery | Moderna + IBM | mRNA Candidate ID | Using GenAI to rapidly identify new mRNA vaccine candidates |
| Discovery | AstraZeneca | ML Pattern Recognition | Partnering with academia to spot patterns between healthy, diseased, and drug-treated tissue |
| Development | Sanofi | Clinical Trial Optimization | Plai app identifies promising trial locations and participant information |
| Development | Eli Lilly + Yseop | Study Report Automation | Automating patient narratives and clinical study reports |
| Development | Pfizer + Concreto | Regulatory Filing | Accelerating outcome studies and regulatory submissions |
| Supply | Eli Lilly | Robotic Process AI | AI solutions to automate robotic manufacturing and identify inefficiencies |
| Launch | GSK + Tempus | Personalized Treatment | AI-enabled platform for personalized treatment; improving trial design |
| Launch | Novartis + Aktana | HCP Engagement | Better segmenting, engaging, and following up with healthcare providers |
Source: Bain GenAI in Pharma Survey (N=100), Sept 2023; Company websites and earnings calls
Three macro shifts are reshaping
how pharma discovers drugs
From new modalities to decentralized trials to ecosystem partnerships — the R&D landscape is transforming.
1Rapid Expansion of Treatment Modalities
- •Massive expansion from frontier (CRISPR, microbiome) to emerging (gene/cell therapies, bispecific antibodies) to mature (mAbs, small molecule)
- •Significantly more complex choice set for R&D orgs to prioritize across TAs, modalities, and MOAs
- •Ramifications cascade across the entire value chain: manufacturing, distribution, and customer engagement
2New Clinical Development Paradigms
- •Disruption of traditional Phase I → II → III paradigm — adaptive trial designs, fast-tracking, post-market evidence
- •Growing adoption of decentralized / virtualized trial designs, accelerated by persistent site resourcing challenges
- •Increased blending of clinical and real-world data to reduce costs (e.g., digital twins)
3Diverse Ecosystem Engagement Models
- •Increasing growth and maturity in pharma-enabling ecosystem, seeded by recent venture funding boom
- •Expansion of collaboration models — academia, startups, big tech, CRO/CDMO
- •Managing complex ecosystem partnerships has become a core competency
Source: Bain R&D Analysis; Industry participant interviews
The pharma industry is at
an inflection point
Pharma is under unprecedented pressure to do more with less — creating a "burning platform" for AI-enabled drug discovery.
Pharma's Response: Embracing AI
| Finding | Detail |
|---|---|
| Top 20 Pharma AI Adoption | 50% of Top 20 Pharma and 55% of $1B–$10B companies prioritize tool adoption |
| AI POC Penetration | >50% have POC for AI in R&D; only 15% in full rollout — massive whitespace |
| Vendor Scrutiny | 41% of sponsors being more cost-conscious with vendors |
| AI Governance | Pharma restricting AI to approved use cases — favors secure, enterprise-grade platforms like Isomorphic |
What we heard from
customers & experts
Stripes conducted expert calls with senior pharma and biotech leaders to validate Isomorphic's competitive position.
Why we believe in
Isomorphic Labs
A category-defining company with an amazing product in a market worth winning.
Best-in-Class AI for Drug Discovery
AlphaFold 2 achieved 86% experimental accuracy in protein structure prediction — up from 40% prior state-of-art — declared "solved" by competition organizers.
Massive Market Opportunity
Global pharma R&D spend is $351B and growing, but productivity declining. Phase 2/3 timelines extended to 7.1 years while MOA exclusivity windows halved.
Powerful Strategic Advantages
Alphabet/DeepMind lineage provides unmatched talent — John Jumper (AlphaFold 2 inventor, Nobel Prize) and Demis Hassabis are "outliers — rare talent not found in biopharma."
Clear Growth Levers
Expansion from protein structure prediction → small molecule design → ADMET optimization → clinical pharmacology.
What sets Isomorphic apart
| Dimension | Our Perspective | Market Commentary |
|---|---|---|
| DeepMind-Caliber AI | Foundation in AlphaFold, generalized to broader molecular modeling. Holistic diffusion-based approach. Trained on validated X-ray crystallography and NMR data. | "Models are way ahead because they approach the entire problem holistically" — Abbott Labs |
| Pipeline Breadth | Spans target ID, hit finding, lead optimization, ADMET, binding dynamics, co-folding. Aspires to predict full clinical pharmacology. | "Will aspire to predict affinities, clinical pharmacology, whole ADMET properties" — Eli Lilly |
| World-Class Team | Demis Hassabis (Nobel Prize) & John Jumper lead a team combining frontier AI + deep biology. Attracts top talent from both AI and biopharma. | "These two are outliers — rare talent not typically found in biopharma" — Eli Lilly |
| Superior UX | Actionable insights for molecular screening, binding analysis, and target characterization with intuitive interface. | "More user-friendly… saving a lot of time… giving us new chemical space" — Estée Lauder |
Estée Lauder — AI Discovery in Action
Real-world platform adoption for dermatology R&D demonstrates commercial traction beyond traditional pharma.
| Dimension | Customer Feedback |
|---|---|
| Time-to-Insight | "Saving a lot of time. Can screen pretty fast a bunch of molecules and understand whether or not they have relevancy to a target of interest." |
| Differentiation | "Unlike other software, Isomorphic is a little bit more clear in depth in terms of what types of binding capabilities certain molecules have." |
| New Chemical Space | "Giving us new chemical space to find different molecules. Rather than probing through traditional methods, we can speed up doing things in silico." |
| Preference | "Like Isomorphic more, to be honest. More comfortable using it." (vs. Insilico Medicine, Profluent, Generative Biologics) |
| Duration & Spend | ~8 months active use; ~$100K+ subscription, deployed globally |
Leading the AI drug
discovery race
| Company | AI Sophistication | Partnerships | Data/Compute Moat | Platform UX | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leader | |||||
| Multiple clinical trials | Contender | ||||
| Contender | |||||
| Limited | Emerging | ||||
| Broad pharma client base | Contender |
Significant growth
opportunities lie ahead
Drug Discovery Pipeline
Current capabilities and expansion roadmap
Target ID
AlphaFold structure prediction
Hit Finding
Molecular screening & generation
Lead Optimization
Property optimization
ADMET
Absorption, distribution, metabolism
Clinical Pharm
Digital twins, trial design
Platform Expansion
Expand from small molecules into biologics (antibodies, ADCs, immunotherapies) — the largest and fastest-growing segments.
Pharma Partnership Expansion
Deepen existing Eli Lilly & Novartis deals — expanded therapeutic areas, milestone/royalty triggers.
Proprietary Pipeline Optionality
Internal drug candidates create asymmetric upside. Precedent EV for "very good quality" Phase 3 assets has doubled since 2021 to $3.4B.
Technical Moat Deepening
All new DeepMind AI models flow to Isomorphic. Feedback loops from pharma partnerships accelerate model improvement.
Balanced perspective
We help teams with amazing products
build categories that matter
Founded in 2008 with a mission to invest in best-in-class technology and consumer products. Based in NYC, investing globally with $8B AUM.
Key Portfolio Milestones
monday.com
Brand marketing strategy, IPO preparation → NASDAQ: MNDY, $14.9B market cap
On Running
eCommerce optimization, strategic intros → NYSE: ONON, $19.5B market cap
A24
Category-defining entertainment brand → Private valuation: $3.5B+
Dedicated operating resources
to help Isomorphic scale faster
Stripes' in-house Scale Team provides hands-on support across every critical function — not just capital, but execution firepower embedded alongside your team.
Executive search, org design, compensation benchmarking, employer branding
Brand positioning, content strategy, demand generation, event marketing
FP&A setup, audit readiness, legal counsel, entity structuring, tax strategy
Data infrastructure, KPI dashboards, customer analytics, pricing optimization
GTM strategy, enterprise sales playbooks, pipeline management, partnership sourcing
Procurement, vendor management, international expansion, systems & process design
Immediate Value-Add for Isomorphic Labs
Help design and staff the enterprise sales motion for pharma partnerships — including territory planning, pricing strategy, and customer success frameworks
Source and recruit senior commercial leaders with pharma/biotech experience — CRO, VP Sales, Head of Partnerships — through our proprietary network
Leverage advisory council relationships to open doors at top 20 pharma — warm intros to R&D decision-makers and Chief Digital Officers
Position Isomorphic as the category leader in AI drug discovery — conference strategy, media relations, case study development, and analyst engagement
Deep experience in
healthcare & life sciences
Healthcare is a core vertical for Stripes. We've built category leaders across pharma services, health tech, clinical analytics, and digital health — giving us pattern recognition directly relevant to Isomorphic.
Pattern recognition: Across these investments we've learned how to sell complex technology platforms into pharma R&D organizations — long sales cycles, multi-stakeholder buying committees, compliance requirements, and the importance of clinical validation.
Relevant expertise to
help Isomorphic scale
Our Operating Partners are former C-suite executives who work hands-on with portfolio companies — not just advisory, but embedded operational support.
Paul Melchiorre
20+ years leading enterprise sales at SAP, Ariba, and Anaplan. Scaled Anaplan from $50M to $300M+ ARR.
Scott Aronson
Scaled Cloudera's platform business through IPO. Deep experience in enterprise data infrastructure and platform GTM.
Jindra Zitek
Led digital transformation and enterprise data strategy across global operations. Deep expertise in data infrastructure.
Sharon Rothstein
Built Starbucks into a global brand icon. Expert in category creation and premium brand positioning.
Mike Vaughan
Scaled Venmo's operations through hypergrowth and PayPal integration. Expert in organizational design and process.
Julie Herendeen
Led Dropbox's growth marketing through IPO. Deep expertise in product-led growth and enterprise expansion.
Unlock access to our
advisory councils
Five specialized councils of senior executives from the world's leading companies. Direct access to decision-makers who can open doors, validate strategy, and accelerate Isomorphic's commercial traction.
Technology leaders who evaluate and deploy enterprise AI platforms
Healthcare executives who understand pharma procurement and R&D workflows
Finance leaders who influence budget allocation and vendor procurement
Marketing leaders who can advise on brand strategy and market positioning
Our Healthcare Council and CIO Council members include R&D and technology decision-makers at major pharma companies. These relationships provide warm introductions to prospective customers, help validate product-market fit, and give Isomorphic a direct line to the buyers who control AI procurement budgets.
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Thank You
We believe Isomorphic Labs can revolutionize drug discovery. Let's build the future of medicine together.