- Round led by Heran Partners and joined by Clave Capital, Inveready and Bio&Tech Smart Capital
- Financing will enable Pharmacelera to build ongoing relationships with major pharm and biotech customers in the US
- Pharmacelera's platform scours vast chemical 'exaSpace' accurately for novel molecules
BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Pharmacelera, a deep tech company applying Quantum Mechanics and Artificial Intelligence to revolutionize drug discovery, has closed a €6 million investment round to accelerate its expansion in the United States and grow the capabilities of its proprietary platform.
Utilizing its proprietary Quantum Mechanics and Artificial Intelligence ("QaiM") algorithms, Pharmacelera is revolutionizing drug discovery by finding novel and diverse molecular candidates across the vast chemical "exaSpace" with unprecedented speed, efficiency and accuracy. It can generate molecules that are up to 10 times better, 75,000 times faster, than traditional AI-led drug discovery approaches. Its technology can be applied to small molecules and small peptides in all stages of drug discovery - from hit identification, through hit-to-lead, to lead optimization.
This investment round will help Pharmacelera grow further and faster - firstly, by establishing a permanent team in the U.S., and secondly, by enabling the Company to expand the technical capabilities of its unique QaiM drug discovery engine in key growth areas.
The round was led by Heran Partners, a leading life sciences investor, and joined by Clave Capital, a long-standing tech transfer investor; Inveready, a Spanish alternative asset manager with a dedicated life sciences strategy; and Bio&Tech Smart Capital, a specialist investor in healthtech and science-based innovation.
Pharmacelera has already participated in more than 100 projects to date, including several notable successes in GPCRs. It has won repeat business from customers in both Europe and the U.S., including three big pharma companies and numerous highly-regarded biotechs.
Enric Gibert, Chief Executive Officer of Pharmacelera, said: "The first wave of AI-powered drug discovery promised a lot but delivered comparatively little. Pharmacelera is changing the picture, by coupling AI with quantum-based simulations to leverage the exaSpace - the vast, undiscovered universe of trillions of molecules - to find highly novel drug candidates that are up to 10 times better, using a process that's up to 75,000 times faster than traditional AI-led approaches."
He continued: "The backing of these leading investors, who have a deep understanding of drug discovery, is a strong validation of our revolutionary technology. The funding will enable us to establish a team in the U.S. - a natural next step to continue strengthening our relationships with large pharmaceutical and biotech companies on both the East and West coasts. It will also help us to greatly widen the capabilities of our QaiM engine."
Raf Roelands, Partner at Heran Partners and new member of Pharmacelera's Board of Directors, said: "By combining physics-based algorithms with machine learning, Pharmacelera enables the design of molecular candidates for novel targets and modes of action with a higher probability of success. We have a high conviction in this company, which was reinforced through direct discussions with its customers, including leading pharmaceutical companies, who have already experienced the significant impact of its technology."
The funding round follows the signing of a strategic alliance between Pharmacelera and Silicon Valley company igniter General Inception (GI) in 2023, in which Pharmacelera became GI's AI drug discovery strategic partner. Venkat Reddy, GI's Chief Scientific Officer, sits on Pharmacelera's Board of Directors. Since then, Pharmacelera's technology has strengthened the intellectual property of several of GI's portfolio companies.
About Pharmacelera
Pharmacelera is a deep tech computational drug discovery company applying its advanced 3D Quantum Mechanics and Artificial Intelligence ("QaiM") engine to explore the vast chemical "exaspace" - which potentially comprises trillions of molecules - with unprecedented speed, efficiency and accuracy. This engine can significantly outperform traditional methods in its ability to identify structurally diverse, novel, and synthesizable compounds. Using this technology, the Company's world class, cross-disciplinary team has already participated in more than 100 projects. Pharmacelera's diversified and scalable business model has attracted recurrent customers including several big pharma firms and many prominent biotechs. Founded by AI engineers, drug hunters from industry and top academic profiles, its founders have co-authored more than 500 publications and hold more than 50 patents on technology and drug discovery. It is backed by Heran Partners, Clave Capital, Inveready and Bio&Tech Smart Capital and based at the Parc Científic de Barcelona, one of Europe's premiere life science hubs. For more information, please visit https://pharmacelera.com/
About Heran Partners
Heran Partners is a specialist venture capital investor committed to creating transformative impact within the life sciences and healthcare industry. It is a Belgium-based investment fund driven by a dedicated team with strong scientific and entrepreneurial backgrounds. It provides venture and growth capital accompanied by a strong network, expertise and mentorship to start-ups and scale-ups with a solid technology platform and strong market potential.
Heran's investment philosophy centers on addressing emerging health challenges such as an ageing population, the surge in chronic diseases, and associated increases in healthcare costs. Heran believes in harnessing the revolutionary potential of technology, science, and data to meet these challenges head-on. It focusses on solutions for unmet needs in the market. For more information, please visit https://www.heranpartners.com/
About Clave Capital
Clave Capital is an independent alternative asset management firm specialized in innovative projects and industrial SMEs. The firm has extensive experience in creating business value from scientific research results, with more than 20 years of expertise in investing, building, and supporting technology projects from their early stages, with a clear focus on technology transfer. Currently, the firm manages €173 million, with a highlight being Clave Innohealth F.C.R., a €50 million fund specialized in medical technologies and promoted with the support of CDTI Innvierte and several private investors linked to the healthcare sector. For more information, please visit https://clave.capital/
About Inveready
Inveready is a leading financial services firm specialized in Alternative Assets, Wealth Management, and Investment Funds. Founded in 2008 as a venture capital fund, Inveready has evolved into one of the most active investment firms for small and medium-sized enterprises in Spain, currently managing over €2.4 billion.
The financial group organizes its services into three main business lines: Alternative Assets, which includes various direct investment strategies (Venture Capital, Life Sciences Venture Debt, Strategic Public Equity, Private Equity, and Infrastructure); Wealth Management, which advises clients across a range of high-value products and services; and Investment Funds, investing in small-cap equities with a value investing approach through its management company True Value.
With a team of 60 employees, Inveready is headquartered in San Sebastián, with offices in Barcelona and Madrid. The firm has been recognized as "Best Venture Capital Firm" by SpainCap in 2017 and "Best European Venture Debt Fund" by Preqin in 2023, among other awards. For more information, please visit https://inveready.com/
About Bio&Tech Smart Capital
Bio&Tech Smart Capital, FCRE is an early-stage venture capital fund based in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, focused on investing in life sciences, healthtech and science-driven technology companies. The fund is managed by Noso Capital and is deeply connected to Galicia's growing innovation ecosystem, combining strong regional roots with an active investment focus across Spain.
The fund was created with the mission of translating scientific knowledge into scalable, high-potential businesses, supporting founders at Seed and Series A stages. Bio&Tech Smart Capital is led by a team combining venture capital experience, scientific research and entrepreneurship, backing differentiated technologies with clear and meaningful applications in healthcare. For more information, please visit https://biotechsmartcapital.com/, https://nosocapital.com/es-es/index
About General Inception
General Inception (GI) is pioneering company creation as an Igniter company. General Inception partners with extraordinary scientific founders at the inception of their journey to efficiently translate their groundbreaking innovations into transformational companies that address humanity's grand challenges. As a business co-founder, GI brings together domain and functional expertise, executive talent, infrastructure and development resources, and capital to ignite, nurture and scale the company journey. GI is backed by leading venture capital firms Genoa Ventures, Hughes Ventures, Northpond Ventures, OMX Ventures, Paladin Capital Group, and Vertical Venture Partners. For more information, please visit https://www.generalinception.com/
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