Apheris, a startup specializing in federated computing, has successfully raised $8.25 million in a Series A funding round. The investment, co-led by OTB Ventures and eCAPITAL, will fuel the company's mission to facilitate secure AI model training using decentralized data. This funding underscores a growing recognition of the critical role of data privacy in AI advancements, particularly within sensitive fields like healthcare and pharmaceuticals.
The core challenge in leveraging AI, particularly in life sciences, lies in accessing and utilizing vast amounts of health data, which is often restricted due to privacy concerns, regulations, and intellectual property protection. Apheris addresses this by employing federated computing. This method allows for AI computations to be performed directly on local datasets, without the need to transfer sensitive information. Only the output, such as model parameters, is aggregated centrally.
Apheris's technology is designed to integrate with various third-party software tools, including open-source federation engines, and privacy-enhancing technologies like homomorphic encryption, further solidifying its position in the evolving data ecosystem. The company's approach is gaining traction, with clients including pharmaceutical giant Roche and numerous hospitals.
Notably, Apheris underwent a significant shift in 2023, redirecting its focus from competing with open-source federated learning frameworks to concentrating on data owners within the pharmaceutical and life sciences sectors. This strategic pivot has reportedly resulted in substantial revenue growth, quadrupling since the launch of its new product in late 2023.
The Apheris Compute Gateway, a software agent that provides a secure bridge between local data and AI models, is already being utilized by the AI Structural Biology (AISB) Consortium. This consortium brings together industry leaders such as AbbVie, Boehringer Ingelheim, Johnson & Johnson, and Sanofi to collaborate on AI-driven drug discovery, demonstrating the value proposition in the life sciences domain.
With this new infusion of capital, Apheris plans to expand its team, particularly hiring senior talent with life science backgrounds, and will explore applications such as protein complex prediction. The company's goal is to unlock the potential of AI in these data-rich industries while ensuring data security and regulatory compliance.
