Rivercell raised $25M in seed funding to develop an AI model predicting how human cells respond to drugs and genetic changes. HV led the round, joined by HCVC, Alven and Bpifrance Digital Venture, the company said. Rivercell plans to use the money for data infrastructure, laboratory expansion and its AI Virtual Cell programme.
What will the funding pay for?
The company said the investment will support a data platform and a larger wet lab in Paris. A wet lab is a facility where researchers conduct experiments using biological materials. It also plans to launch AI Virtual Cell, though the source does not provide a launch date.
Rivercell says its model is intended to simulate how a cell changes after treatment. The funding announcement links that aim to a practical issue: the company says available cell data does not capture responses to drugs over time at sufficient scale. It plans to generate data through its own experiments.
How did Rivercell reach this point?
Yann Fleureau started Rivercell in summer 2025, according to the source. He previously co-founded Cardiologs, an AI heart diagnostics company that Philips bought in 2021. The announcement gives no further detail about Rivercell's operations before this funding round.
The company argues that existing data has limitations for building its proposed model. It says much of the available material records associations rather than interventions, and often focuses on one cell feature, one moment or too few cell types. These are Rivercell's stated reasons for developing its own data collection process.
What will the experiments involve?
Rivercell plans to record living cells during each experiment and then measure their gene activity. Its model is expected to select a subsequent experiment for the laboratory to run. The company is also building instruments for this process, which it calls the “GPU for the bio data center”.
The source says Rivercell expects the model to reduce the number of physical laboratory experiments needed. That is a company expectation, rather than a measured result reported with the financing announcement. No performance figures or validated outcomes are provided.
What remains undisclosed?
Rivercell did not disclose its valuation or when it expects the first model to be ready. The announcement also provides no detailed financing terms beyond the amount, seed stage and participating investors. Those omissions leave the company's near-term development timeline and the round's pricing unknown.
The next concrete milestones described are building the data platform, expanding the Paris laboratory and launching AI Virtual Cell. The source does not specify when those steps will happen. Follow-up reporting can assess whether Rivercell publishes a model timeline, experimental results or additional financing details.