Founded in 2023, Helical is a AI-for-bio startup which is taking on the biotech industry with its open-source LLM platform for DNA and RNA data. Having recently raised €2.2m from notable industry leaders, grown its team to 9 and been selected for by Luxembourg’s Fit 4 Start programme, the startup is well on its way to making 2025 an important year of growth. Co-founders Rick Schneider (CEO), Mathieu Klop (CSO) and Maxime Allard (CTO) shared their progress and vision for the future of bio foundation models.
Helical is tackling one of the major hurdles in pharmaceutical development: the long and complex drug discovery process, which often takes more than a decade. By lowering the barrier of entry to bio foundation models, Helical’s platform supports researchers and pharmaceutical companies in accelerating development, especially in hypothesis testing and model integration.
As Maxime Allard, CTO of Helical, explains, “In pharma, you always have delays—testing, approvals, and feedback loops that can take months, even years. Our platform addresses this by accelerating the computational steps involved.” He adds, “By optimizing these steps, we’re shortening the time from hypothesis to validated results, making the process faster and more precise.”
From in vitro to in silico
Committed to accelerating drug discovery, Helical democratizes access to advanced AI tools through its open-source platform. By offering biologists and bioinformaticians powerful large language models (LLMs) trained on DNA and RNA data, the platform simplifies complex research tasks, allowing integration without the steep learning curve traditionally associated with AI.
The platform also enables researchers to conduct tests digitally before proceeding to physical trials. “In silico testing helps us significantly cut down on trial and error, which is essential in minimizing time and costs,” Mathieu, CSO of Helical explains.
This approach, termed “in silico” as opposed to lab-based “in vitro” experiments, has the potential to transform how pharmaceutical companies test drugs, making it a cornerstone of Helical’s vision for the future of biotech solutions. Mathieu adds, “I hope Helical will become the go-to tool for quickly testing and iterating on drug hypotheses, enabling researchers to develop more precise and less toxic drugs.”
“In pharma, you always have delays—testing, approvals, and feedback loops that can take months, even years. Our platform addresses this by accelerating the computational steps involved.”
Maxime Allard, CTO of Helical
Expanding pharma partnerships
Helical’s platform has attracted significant interest from several global pharmaceutical giants, validating its practical applications. Helical has extended one of its partnerships with one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies. Initially a pilot to showcase the platform’s capabilities, the collaboration has evolved into a year-long engagement, expanding to explore additional use cases and integrations. “We showed that our models could be effectively integrated into their workflow, demonstrating real value,” Rick explains.
This partnership’s early successes have been encouraging. “The first preliminary results from our engagement validated the potential of our platform, and it’s exciting to see this level of interest from such major players,” says Rick.
The demand is particularly strong in the United States, where pharmaceutical companies are more open to collaborating with AI-driven startups. “Most of our projects are currently U.S.-based, which is exciting for us as it shows the demand for this technology abroad,” he notes.
Drug research with bio AI agents
The pharmaceutical industry’s lengthy drug development timeline, often exceeding a decade, results from extensive testing and regulatory hurdles. Helical’s platform addresses these delays by automating and accelerating the computational steps involved in drug discovery.
Its Bio AI Agents – intelligent, automated AI workflows – are integrated at critical stages of the process. They assist with hypothesis generation, data analysis, and more, reducing the traditional trial-and-error cycle. “Our agents are integrated at critical stages of the drug development process, acting as accelerators that drastically cut down on time,” Maxime says.
Data ingestion is a key component of Helical’s platform. “The main thing that will change is the data ingestion because each pharma company has its own unique datasets,” emphasizes Maxime. The agents can be tailored to these datasets, ensuring effective model application regardless of the context or structure. While it’s difficult to predict exactly how much the platform can reduce research time, Maxime believes that cutting timelines down to 3-5 years is achievable.
“I hope Helical will become the go-to tool for quickly testing and iterating on drug hypotheses, enabling researchers to develop more precise and less toxic drugs.”
Mathieu Klop, CSO of Helical.
Embracing an open-source future
Helical is committed not only to platform development but also to fostering a collaborative, open-source research environment. The company is building a comprehensive library of bio foundation models for various aspects of genomics and drug discovery, all accessible to the scientific community. This transparency ensures that researchers can replicate results, customize models for specific needs, and contribute to the growing library. “Open-source is where the future of AI models is heading,” Maxime states.
To drive platform adoption, Helical has launched initiatives such as hackathons, university collaborations, and detailed tutorials that guide users through their models and tools. These efforts are beginning to pay off, with positive feedback from users and partners validating the platform’s value. Maxime highlights the impact: “By engaging researchers and developers, you will exponentially increase distribution and capabilities, creating a more robust ecosystem for innovation.”
Navigating Luxembourg’s ecosystem
Despite its progress, Helical has faced challenges typical of startups in the regulated biotech and AI industries. A primary obstacle has been the lengthy legal and regulatory processes required when partnering with large pharmaceutical companies. “It’s frustrating when you want to move fast, but approvals and legalities hold things up,” says Maxime.
In Luxembourg, Helical also faces logistical issues such as banking difficulties and setting up employee stock options, which are essential for attracting top talent. “To grow and attract talent, Luxembourg needs to address these administrative barriers,” Maxime stresses.
Despite these challenges, Helical has formed strategic partnerships to overcome initial hurdles. Collaborations with LuxProvide, NVIDIA’s Inception program, and Microsoft’s Founder Hub have provided the startup with advanced computing resources, including supercomputing power, GPUs, and cloud services.
“Most of our projects are currently U.S.-based, which is exciting for us as it shows the demand for this technology abroad.”
Rick Schneider, CEO of Helical.
Virtual cells
Helical’s ambitions extend beyond its current offerings as it explores “virtual cells,” an innovative concept poised to revolutionize pre-clinical testing. These digital models simulate real cell conditions, allowing researchers to conduct experiments virtually before moving to in vitro testing. This innovation could significantly reduce the need for physical tests, lowering costs and addressing ethical concerns.
“If we can build a virtual cell that accurately mimics the real thing, researchers could perform experiments digitally, reducing the number of live tests needed and saving both time and resources,” Maxime explains. While still in development, this initiative supports Helical’s mission of reducing costs and enhancing precision in drug discovery, enabling pharmaceutical companies to predict treatment interactions with human biology more accurately.
A scaleable software
Looking ahead, Helical aims to expand its team to nine employees by the end of 2024 and secure as many partnerships as possible. The company’s growth strategy builds on its platform’s current momentum, enabling Helical to develop new use cases and establish its presence in both academia and the pharmaceutical industry.
Helical’s long-term vision combines open-source innovation with enterprise-grade readiness, ensuring scalability for larger organizations. “We want to offer a scalable software tool that companies can deploy independently,” Maxime explains. This transition positions Helical as a comprehensive platform rather than a service provider, allowing clients to manage the platform autonomously.
To support this growth, Helical plans to launch a subscription-based model, offering users access to its suite of AI tools for integration into their workflows. This approach not only ensures a consistent revenue stream but also solidifies Helical’s position as a sustainable leader in the biotech landscape. “The first preliminary results indicate that our approach is effective and shows promise for long-term scalability,” says Maxime.
This article was published in the special edition on artificial intelligence of Silicon Luxembourg magazine.
