Multiply Labs Raises $75 Million to Automate Drug Manufacturing

Multiply Labs, a San Francisco based robotics startup, announced Tuesday the closing of a $75 million Series B funding round aimed at automating the manufacturing of complex biologics and gene therapies. The round, led by NantWorks, the holding company founded by billionaire Patrick Soon Shiong, also includes investments from AstraZeneca, Lux Capital, and Founders Fund. With this capital injection, the company has surpassed $100 million in total funding since its 2016 founding. Multiply Labs operates at the intersection of artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing, addressing a critical bottleneck in modern pharmaceutical production. While computational models can accelerate drug discovery, the physical fabrication of advanced therapies remains largely manual, labor intensive, and highly susceptible to contamination. According to a 2025 industry analysis, producing a single dose of certain gene therapies can exceed one million dollars. Multiply Labs counters this inefficiency by deploying integrated robotic systems designed to standardize and scale the synthesis of mRNA treatments and cell based therapies. Chief Executive Fred Parietti emphasized that automated production is the only viable path to achieving consistent throughput, quality control, and economic feasibility. The company machines currently reside in specialized warehouse facilities, featuring compact robotic arms and fluid handling modules optimized for closed system processing. Multiply Labs generates revenue through direct equipment sales to pharmaceutical partners, recurring income from proprietary reaction cartridges, and ongoing technical support. While executive leadership declined to disclose exact deployment figures, the current installed base remains in the high single digits. The funding will primarily focus on refining manufacturing workflows, expanding the European supply chain for critical components, and scaling operations to transition from early adopter pilots to broader commercial production. Pharma manufacturers such as AstraZeneca and Legend Biotech are already operating the systems in house, providing real world validation before widespread industry adoption. This capital raise aligns with a broader market shift toward physical AI, where machine learning and robotics converge to automate physical processes previously confined to human dominated laboratories. Investors are increasingly capitalizing on platforms that translate digital intelligence into tangible manufacturing outputs. Multiply Labs immediate challenge lies in reducing per unit costs from multi million dollar capital expenditures to car priced equipment, while simultaneously streamlining maintenance and supply logistics. Success in this transition would effectively decouple advanced drug production from manual laboratory constraints, establishing a new standard for scalable, cost effective biomanufacturing.