Mandrake Bio, a Bengaluru-based biotechnology company focused on designing programmable gene-editing enzymes, has raised approximately ₹16 crore in a pre-seed funding round co-led by Activate and Antler. The round also saw participation from Spectrum Impact, DeVC and several prominent angel investors, including Dr Vijay Chandru, Paras Chopra, Sanjiv Rangrass and Vatsal Dusad.
The fresh capital will be used to strengthen the company’s artificial intelligence-driven protein design platform, expand its research team specialising in AI and biophysics, and accelerate laboratory validation of gene-editing technologies for applications in agriculture and healthcare.
Gene editing has emerged as a transformative technology with the potential to reshape crop development and medical treatment. While existing technologies such as CRISPR have enabled major scientific advances, their size and technical limitations continue to pose challenges for several agricultural and therapeutic applications. Mandrake Bio aims to address these limitations by designing entirely new gene-editing enzymes tailored for specific applications instead of relying solely on naturally occurring proteins.
The company combines artificial intelligence with biophysics to create compact, highly precise and programmable gene editors. Each design is subsequently validated through laboratory testing, enabling faster development of customised editing tools for agricultural innovation and next-generation medical therapies.
Mandrake Bio has already gained international recognition for its research capabilities. Earlier this year, the company won the global GEM × Adaptyv RBX1 Protein Design Competition held during the International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR) 2026 in Rio de Janeiro. Among more than 12,000 submissions from research teams worldwide, Mandrake’s AI platform delivered the only design to receive the competition’s highest “Strong” rating, demonstrating the effectiveness of its protein design technology.
Founded by Tanay Lohia and Dr Kutubuddin Molla, the company brings together expertise in biotechnology, agriculture, artificial intelligence and molecular biology. Dr.Molla, a senior scientist at ICAR-Central Rice Research Institute, is recognised for pioneering work on compact gene-editing systems in plants. The broader research team includes scientists and engineers with experience from leading global research institutions and biotechnology companies.
Tanay Lohia, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Mandrake Bio, said the company is developing entirely new biological tools using artificial intelligence to overcome the limitations of conventional gene-editing technologies. He added that the goal is to make crop improvement faster and advanced genetic therapies more accessible by creating purpose-built proteins from the ground up.
Pratyush Choudhury, Co-Founder of Activate, said the convergence of artificial intelligence and biology presents one of the most significant opportunities in deep technology. He noted that Mandrake Bio is building foundational capabilities that could position India as a global leader in next-generation biotechnology innovation.
Nitin Sharma, Partner at Antler India, said the company is tackling one of biology’s most complex challenges by combining artificial intelligence, biophysics and laboratory science. He expressed confidence that Mandrake Bio has the potential to build globally relevant gene-editing technologies from India.
With the new funding, Mandrake Bio plans to accelerate research and product development as it works towards creating advanced gene-editing solutions that support sustainable agriculture and precision medicine while strengthening India’s deep-tech innovation ecosystem.
Mandrake Bio is a protein-design company developing the next generation of programmable gene-editing enzymes. Its platform combines generative AI, first-principles biophysics, and wet-lab validation to design editors from the ground up, delivering the compactness, precision, and controllability needed for transformative applications in agriculture and medicine. Founded in 2025, the company is headquartered in Bengaluru, India.
Activate is an early-stage venture capital firm built on the conviction that AI will have a transformative impact in India. The firm partners with exceptional technical founders from the earliest stages—even before a company or pitch deck exists—helping validate ideas, shape products, and investing $500,000 to $3 million as the first institutional investor. Beyond capital, Activate connects founders with a network of leading AI researchers, experienced operators, and unicorn founders across the India–US corridor. It also runs Asia’s largest generative AI community of more than 15,000 practitioners and publishes Signal, a leading platform highlighting India’s AI ecosystem.
Antler India is one of the country’s leading early-stage investment platforms, backing exceptional founders from Day Zero. Led by Rajiv Srivatsa and Nitin Sharma, Antler India has invested in more than 80 startups through its inaugural ₹600 crore ($75 million) pre-seed fund, spanning AI, SaaS, fintech, consumer technology, deep tech, health, and climate. Selecting fewer than one in 1,000 founders it engages with, Antler takes a high-conviction, hands-on approach to building companies from inception
