Isomorphic Labs, the Alphabet/DeepMind spinoff led by AI pioneer Demis Hassabis, raised $600 million in its first external funding round — the largest AI-related healthcare venture raise of 2026 — as Eli Lilly and Novartis have collectively pledged nearly $3 billion to tap its drug discovery platform.

The round was led by Thrive Capital with participation from GV and follow-on capital from Alphabet. The funding will accelerate development of Isomorphic's AI drug design engine, advance its therapeutic pipeline into clinical trials, and expand its team.

Isomorphic's technology builds on AlphaFold 3, developed with Google DeepMind in May 2024, which can predict the structure and interactions of all biological molecules. The company's newer AI models have reportedly doubled AlphaFold 3's accuracy in protein-ligand predictions — the core capability for computational drug design.

The Lilly and Novartis partnerships, worth nearly $3 billion combined, validate AI drug discovery as a commercial reality rather than a research exercise. For healthcare investors and industry watchers: AI-driven drug development is attracting capital at a pace that will reshape the pharmaceutical pipeline within this decade.

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