BigHat Biosciences

BigHat Biosciences is a biotechnology company developing antibody therapeutics using an integrated machine learning and synthetic biology platform called Milliner. The platform combines a high-speed wet lab for antibody synthesis, purification and characterization with machine learning models that guide the search for improved molecules, forming a full-stack antibody discovery and engineering system. Each therapeutic program begins with a design blueprint and starting antibodies generated internally or supplied by a partner; models then propose hundreds of variants per cycle, which are built and measured in the lab for biophysical properties and functional/disease activity using cell-based and other assays, and the resulting data updates the models across sequential design-build-test cycles.

The company develops a pipeline of wholly owned and partnered programs focused on oncology, inflammatory disease and immunology, including antibody-drug conjugate and T cell engager modalities in discovery through IND-enabling stages, with disclosed program identifiers BHB810 and BHB299 and design goals such as internalization, avidity, affinity/selectivity/formulation, and AND-gated and NOT-gated logic. At the time of its Series B, five internal discovery programs spanned oncology, inflammation and infectious disease. BigHat is headquartered at 1900 Alameda de las Pulgas, Suite 400, San Mateo, California, and also offers a software product, the Reccy Antibody Design Studio (RADS).

Founding story

BigHat was founded in late 2019 by CEO Mark DePristo, a University of Cambridge biochemistry PhD, former Head of Genomics for Google.AI and co-director of Medical Genetics at the Broad Institute, together with CSO Peyton Greenside, a Stanford biomedical informatics PhD and 2018 Schmidt Science Fellow, along with founding advisor Theresa Tribble, a Harvard MBA and former Chief Business Officer of Everlywell.

Business model

BigHat pursues a dual model of wholly owned internal therapeutic programs and strategic partnerships with pharmaceutical companies, engaging partners on complex protein therapeutic design challenges anywhere along the therapeutic discovery continuum.

Revenue sources indicated by the sources are strategic pharmaceutical collaborations and partnered discovery programs, alongside grant funding such as an SBIR award from the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Traction

By July 2022 BigHat had 37 employees, five internal discovery programs, a ten-fold platform capacity expansion, and completion of the first stage of a research collaboration with Amgen. It has since disclosed collaborations with Synaffix/Lonza, Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Lilly, and recognition including Amgen's 2021 Golden Ticket to MBC BioLabs, Business Insider's list of 24 top biotech companies, a UCSF Health Award and the BioTech Breakthrough Awards' Therapeutics Innovation of the Year.

Latest developments

In November 2024 Lonza's Synaffix announced a collaboration with BigHat on a machine learning-designed antibody-drug conjugate. In March 2025 the company announced a leadership transition with Peyton Greenside as CEO. In April 2025 BigHat and Lilly announced a collaboration on AI-driven antibody therapeutics, followed in January 2026 by a partnership with Lilly through the Lilly TuneLab program. BigHat introduced the Reccy Antibody Design Studio in September 2025, announced completion of its strategic collaboration with Johnson & Johnson in October 2025, appointed Stefan Weigand as Chief Scientific Officer in June 2026, and reported completing three project collaborations with Merck in August 2026.