The spinout is building drug discovery technology that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify biomarkers, drug targets and pathways.

Engine Biosciences, a US-based drug discovery platform based on Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) research, has raised $10m in an oversubscribed seed round co-led by DHVC.

DHVC, a venture capital vehicle co-founded by Shoucheng Zhang, professor at Stanford University, and his former student Andrew Gu, co-led the round with 6 Dimensions Capital, formed by pharmaceutical firm WuXi AppTec and venture capital firm Frontline Capital.

EDBI and Pavilion Capital, two Singapore state-owned investment vehicles, also participated, as did WuXi AppTec itself and Baidu Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of internet group Baidu, Nest.Bio Ventures and WI Harper.

Founded in 2014, Engine Biosciences is building a platform that combines massively parallel biological research with artificial intelligence.

The platform tests and maps genetic interactions that drive diseases, using machine learning algorithms to analyse datasets at significantly faster speeds and larger scale than is possible otherwise.

Currently, the platform is targeting four distinct areas: drug repositioning, whereby existing drugs are targeted at other diseases, disease target discovery, precision medicine and pathway analysis.

The spinout already has a range of candidates for cancer, neurodegenerative, autoimmune and skin conditions. The money will allow Engine Biosciences to further develop the platform, drive recruitment in San Francisco and Singapore, and support pre-clinical studies.

Leon Chen, chief executive of 6 Dimensions Capital, and Shoucheng Zhang have joined the board of directors. Engine Biosciences expects the seed funding to last for two years, according to Endpoint News.

The spinout is based on research by scientific co-founders Hu Li, an associate professor of pharmacology at Mayo Clinic, and Prashant Mali, an assistant professor in bioengineering at University of California, San Diego.

Li and Mali worked alongside co-founders ­Timothy Lu, an associate professor of biological engineering, electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, and Jim Collins, who leads a group researching synthetic and systems biology at MIT.

The co-founders also include Jeffrey Lu, who co-founded VC firm Goodman Capital and is now Engine Biosciences’s CEO. Goodman Capital invested an undisclosed sum in Engine Biosciences, though further details could not be ascertained.