--- title: Rivercell raises $25M to build an AI model of how cells... description: Paris-based startup Rivercell raised a $25M seed round led by HV, with HCVC, Alven and Bpifrance Digital Venture participating, to build an AI world model of... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/rivercell-raises-25m-to-build-an-ai-model-of-how-cells-respond-to-drugs-jiiz2yknn twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Rivercell raises $25M to build an AI model of how cells respond to drugs | daily.dev og:description: Paris-based startup Rivercell raised a $25M seed round led by HV, with HCVC, Alven and Bpifrance Digital Venture participating, to build an AI world model of... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/rivercell-raises-25m-to-build-an-ai-model-of-how-cells-respond-to-drugs-jiiz2yknn og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/jIIZ2YKnn.png og:image:alt: Rivercell raises $25M to build an AI model of how cells respond to drugs og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Rivercell raises $25M to build an AI model of how cells respond to drugs **[The Next Web](https://daily.dev/sources/tnw)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Paris-based startup Rivercell raised a $25M seed round led by HV, with HCVC, Alven and Bpifrance Digital Venture participating, to build an AI world model of the cell that predicts how human cells respond to drugs and genetic changes. The funds will support a data platform, an expanded wet lab in Paris, and an AI Virtual Cell programme that generates proprietary experimental data rather than relying on existing public datasets. Founded by Yann Fleureau (previously of Cardiologs, acquired by Philips) and CSO Eric Durand (formerly of Novartis, Owkin, Bioptimus), the company joins other players like Relation (with GSK), Chai Discovery, and ByteDance's Anew Labs in the AI drug discovery space. No valuation or model timeline was disclosed. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How much funding did Rivercell raise and who led the round? Rivercell raised a $25M seed round led by HV, with participation from HCVC, Alven, and Bpifrance Digital Venture. The Paris-based startup will use the money to build its data platform, expand its wet lab in Paris, and launch its AI Virtual Cell programme, which aims to simulate how cells respond to drugs and genetic changes. _Track early-stage AI biotech funding rounds like this one on daily.dev._ ### Who founded Rivercell and what is their background? Rivercell was founded by Yann Fleureau in summer 2025; he previously co-founded Cardiologs, an AI heart diagnostics company acquired by Philips in 2021. Eric Durand joined in 2026 as co-founder and chief scientific officer after seven years leading oncology data science at Novartis, running data science at Owkin, and co-founding Bioptimus. _Developers curious about AI-in-biotech founder trajectories can follow similar stories on daily.dev._ ### Why can't AI cell models reuse the approach AlphaFold used for protein structures? AlphaFold succeeded by drawing on decades of existing public protein structure data, but no comparably large dataset exists for how cells respond to drugs over time. Existing cell data mostly records associations rather than tested interventions, and typically measures only one aspect of a cell at a single moment across too few cell types, so Rivercell plans to generate its own data by filming living cells through experiments and reading gene activity. _Engineers building AI-driven scientific models can find similar data-strategy breakdowns on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Relation unveils MORGAN, a cell model, plus a $110M GSK deal](https://daily.dev/posts/relation-unveils-morgan-a-cell-model-plus-a-110m-gsk-deal-m3jbdhi6m) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [AI is spitting out more potential drugs than ever. This start-up wants to figure out which ones matter.](https://daily.dev/posts/ai-is-spitting-out-more-potential-drugs-than-ever-this-start-up-wants-to-figure-out-which-ones-matt-usqozoajm) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Xaira’s X-Cell model for Drug Discovery \(Bo Wang & Ci Chu, Chief Discovery Officer & Chief AI Scientist\)](https://daily.dev/posts/xaira-s-x-cell-model-for-drug-discovery-bo-wang-ci-chu-chief-discovery-officer-chief-ai-scient-gxtj6ukmf) · Latent Space · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [ByteDance’s AI drug unit Anew Labs raises $290M at $1.5B valuation, Reuters reports](https://daily.dev/posts/bytedance-s-ai-drug-unit-anew-labs-raises-290m-at-1-5b-valuation-reuters-reports-igbtigrgt) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#startup](https://daily.dev/tags/startup), [#biotech](https://daily.dev/tags/biotech) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/rivercell-raises-25m-to-build-an-ai-model-of-how-cells-respond-to-drugs-jiiz2yknn) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Rivercell raises $25M to build an AI model of how cells respond to drugs","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/rivercell-raises-25m-to-build-an-ai-model-of-how-cells-respond-to-drugs-jiiz2yknn","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/rivercell-raises-25m-to-build-an-ai-model-of-how-cells-respond-to-drugs-jiiz2yknn"},"datePublished":"2026-10-07T13:47:07.672Z","dateModified":"2026-10-07T13:58:38.648Z","description":"Paris-based startup Rivercell raised a $25M seed round led by HV, with HCVC, Alven and Bpifrance Digital Venture participating, to build an AI world model of...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/bf39b4a0f6a9a37b975ddc040fb2a804?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/bf39b4a0f6a9a37b975ddc040fb2a804?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"The Next Web","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Next Web","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/tnw","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/rivercell-raises-25m-to-build-an-ai-model-of-how-cells-respond-to-drugs-jiiz2yknn","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"startup,biotech","timeRequired":"PT3M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Next Web","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Rivercell raises $25M to build an AI model of how cells respond to drugs"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/rivercell-raises-25m-to-build-an-ai-model-of-how-cells-respond-to-drugs-jiiz2yknn#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How much funding did Rivercell raise and who led the round?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Rivercell raised a $25M seed round led by HV, with participation from HCVC, Alven, and Bpifrance Digital Venture. 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