Here are a couple of analogies for Absci (ABSI):

• Nvidia for biologics: Absci provides the AI-powered platform and tools that accelerate the discovery and design of biologic drugs, much like Nvidia provides the foundational GPU technology that powers AI development across industries.
• AWS for drug discovery: Absci offers an AI-driven synthetic biology platform as a service, enabling pharmaceutical companies to rapidly discover and optimize new drug candidates without building their own extensive AI and wet lab infrastructure, similar to how AWS provides scalable cloud services for businesses.

• AI-powered Drug Discovery Services: Absci utilizes its generative AI and synthetic biology platform to identify and create novel biologic drug candidates.
• Therapeutic Protein Design and Optimization: Absci's Integrated Drug Creation™ platform provides services for designing and optimizing therapeutic proteins to enhance their efficacy and developability.

Absci (ABSI) primarily sells its AI-powered drug discovery and de novo drug creation services to other companies, specifically those in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. While Absci's recent SEC filings (e.g., its 2023 10-K) indicate that no single customer accounted for 10% or more of its total revenue, it has established significant strategic collaborations with major biopharmaceutical companies. These partners represent its major customers in terms of strategic importance and the nature of its business model.

Major customer companies and their symbols include:

• Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK)
• Astellas Pharma Inc. (TYO: 4503)
• IGM Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: IGMS)

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Sean McClain, Founder, CEO & Director

Sean McClain founded Absci in 2011 at the age of 22, starting the company from a basement lab. Under his leadership, Absci has grown to over 200 employees, raised more than $530 million in capital, and successfully completed an IPO on Nasdaq in July 2021. He has also established strategic partnerships with major pharmaceutical companies, including Merck and AstraZeneca. McClain's initial vision for the company stemmed from his earlier work purifying proteins from E. Coli.

Zach Jonasson, Chief Financial Officer & Chief Business Officer

Zach Jonasson was appointed Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Officer in August 2023. He previously served on Absci's Board of Directors from 2016 to 2020, including a tenure as chairman. Dr. Jonasson is a co-founder and Managing General Partner of two venture capital firms, Phoenix Venture Partners (PVP) and Convergent Ventures, where he led their life science investment strategies. Phoenix Venture Partners was an early investor in Absci and its largest shareholder prior to the company's IPO. His entrepreneurial experience also includes co-founding and serving as CEO of Comera Life Sciences, where he built the company from concept and secured multiple collaborations with large pharmaceutical companies. He also co-founded Crop Enhancement, serving as Head of Business Development and establishing numerous partnerships. Dr. Jonasson transitioned from his venture capital roles to a full-time leadership position at Absci.

Andreas Busch, Chief Innovation Officer

Andreas Busch, PhD, serves as Absci's Chief Innovation Officer. He joined Absci from Shire (now part of Takeda) and is also a member of Absci's Scientific Advisory Board.

Shelby Walker, Chief Legal Officer

Shelby Walker, JD, is the Chief Legal Officer at Absci. Prior to joining Absci, she held the role of General Counsel & Corporate Secretary at Korro Bio, Inc. Her experience also includes senior leadership positions such as Senior Vice President, Intellectual Property at CRISPR Therapeutics and General Counsel at Ginkgo Bioworks.

Matthew Weinstock, Chief Technology Officer

Matthew Weinstock, Ph.D., has been Absci's Chief Technology Officer since September 2020. He previously held several roles within Absci, including Chief of Staff, Group Leader of Molecular Sciences, and Senior Scientist. Before joining Absci, from 2014 to 2018, Dr. Weinstock worked at Synthetic Genomics, Inc., where he led initiatives to develop next-generation host platforms for the bioproduction of therapeutics. He is credited with inventing and leading the Vmax™ platform, a microbial factory for producing plasmid vectors and proteins, which was successfully commercialized. His expertise encompasses protein engineering, drug discovery, advanced biomanufacturing, and synthetic biology.

The key risks to Absci's business include:

1. Clinical Development and Regulatory Uncertainty: As a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, Absci's success is heavily dependent on the successful progression of its drug candidates through clinical trials and obtaining regulatory approvals. The biotechnology industry is characterized by an inherent uncertainty in biologic drug development and stringent regulatory requirements, meaning early-stage pipelines face a high probability of failure. The process is lengthy and costly, and promising preclinical results may not be replicated in human trials.
2. Significant Financial Losses and Need for Future Funding: Absci is currently pre-revenue and operates at a substantial net loss, reporting a net loss of $103.1 million for the full year 2024. The company has a high ongoing cash burn and negative free cash flow, indicating insufficient profitability. This financial profile necessitates continuous external funding, leading to a constant risk of shareholder dilution from issuing new stock to raise capital.
3. Intense Competition: Absci operates in a highly competitive landscape within the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors, particularly in the rapidly evolving field of AI-driven drug discovery. The company faces competition from both established pharmaceutical giants with in-house capabilities and numerous emerging biotech firms specializing in AI-driven drug discovery, some of which may be more advanced in certain areas.

Generate Biomedicines is a clear emerging threat. Generate Biomedicines is pioneering a new class of protein medicines by using its machine learning-powered generative biology platform to design and program novel protein drugs. This directly competes with Absci's AI-powered drug discovery platform focused on identifying and optimizing therapeutic proteins. With substantial funding (over $700 million raised to date) and significant partnerships (e.g., a multi-target collaboration with Amgen potentially worth up to $1.9 billion), Generate Biomedicines is rapidly advancing its platform and moving lead candidates towards the clinic, demonstrating tangible progress and competitive pressure in the generative AI protein design space that directly overlaps with Absci's core business.

Absci (ABSI) is a generative AI drug creation company focused on developing biologics through its Integrated Drug Creation™ Platform. The company also has a pipeline of internal drug candidates targeting specific diseases.

• ABS-101 (Inflammatory Bowel Disease): This drug candidate targets the Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) market, which is a $10 billion market in the U.S.

• ABS-201 (Androgenetic Alopecia): This drug candidate is being developed for androgenetic alopecia (hair loss), a potential U.S. market of approximately $4 billion, affecting around 80 million individuals in the U.S.

In the broader context of their services, Absci operates within the AI in drug discovery market. The global AI in biotechnology market was valued at $3.23 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $14.97 billion by 2033. The AI in drug discovery market itself was valued at $1.88 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 29.8% between 2025 and 2035.

• Expansion and Success of Drug Creation Partnerships: Absci's strategy heavily relies on establishing and advancing collaborations with pharmaceutical and biotech companies. These partnerships are expected to generate revenue through upfront payments, research funding, and significant milestone payments upon achieving specific development and commercialization goals. For instance, the expanded collaboration with Almirall includes potential milestone payments of up to $650 million. The company also anticipates signing one or more new partnerships, including with a large pharma company, in 2025. The strengthening of these collaborations, as seen with Almirall's election of a second target for dermatological indications, directly contributes to future revenue potential.
• Advancement of ABS-101 in Clinical Trials: The progression of Absci's lead internal program, ABS-101 (an anti-TL1A antibody), into first-in-human Phase 1 studies marks a significant transition for the company to a clinical-stage biotech. While direct commercialization revenue for this drug is beyond the 2-3 year horizon, successful interim data readouts, expected in the second half of 2025, and subsequent advancement through clinical phases, can unlock substantial value through additional partnership milestones, licensing agreements, or increased attractiveness for co-development deals.
• Progression of ABS-201 for Androgenetic Alopecia: Absci's ABS-201 program, targeting androgenetic alopecia, is rapidly advancing towards clinical trials, with an accelerated initiation of Phase 1/2a trials expected in early December 2025, ahead of previous guidance. This program has the potential to establish a new category of therapy, which, upon achieving key clinical milestones and demonstrating efficacy (with an interim readout anticipated in the second half of 2026), could significantly enhance Absci's valuation and lead to lucrative future partnerships or eventual commercialization, contributing to long-term revenue growth.

Share Issuance

• Absci completed an underwritten public offering in July 2025, raising approximately $50 million.
• In July 2025, the company also utilized its at-the-market (ATM) facility to raise an additional approximately $14 million.
• Following these offerings, Absci filed a prospectus in August 2025 for a $400 million mixed securities shelf offering.

Inbound Investments

• AMD made a $20 million equity investment in Absci in January 2025 as part of a strategic collaboration to deploy AMD Instinct™ accelerators and ROCm™ software for AI drug discovery workloads.

Capital Expenditures

• Absci's gross use of cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments was approximately $75 million for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, and approximately $72 million for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024.
• For the fiscal year ending December 31, 2024, the expected gross use of cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments was approximately $80 million, including costs associated with completing IND-enabling studies for ABS-101.