Somite

Somite (somite.ai), also operating as Somite Therapeutics, Inc. and later presented as Cellular Intelligence, is a Boston-based TechBio company developing artificial-intelligence foundation models for human stem cells in order to produce human tissue for cell replacement therapies. Its central platform, DeltaStem, combines a proprietary capsule-based data generation technology with large-scale model training; the company states the capsule approach generates cell-state transition data at roughly one-thousandth the cost of traditional methods, producing dense causal datasets used to train predictive models of cell differentiation.

The scientific premise rests on the somite, an embryonic structure that gives rise to a broad set of therapeutically relevant cell types, and on computational "digital twins of the embryo" — models constructed from gene-expression and other data-rich sources that simulate embryonic development and guide the design of differentiation protocols. Announced therapeutic programs include beta cells for type 1 diabetes, articular cartilage for orthopedic applications, satellite cells for muscular diseases, and hematopoietic cells for blood disorders; the company has also described potential application to conditions involving loss of somite-derived cell populations such as obesity, muscular dystrophies, incontinence, muscular injuries, severe burns and connective tissue syndromes.

The company's site presents an executive team including CEO and co-founder Micha Breakstone, Chief Scientific Officer Arjun Raj (University of Pennsylvania professor), Chief Development Officer Kristy J. Brown and Chief Medical Officer Nuno Mendonça, a board-certified neurologist, alongside scientific co-founders Allon Klein, Olivier Pourquié, Cliff Tabin and Jay Shendure. Co-founder and CTO Jonathan Rosenfeld is described as Head of the Fundamental AI Group at MIT.

Founding story

According to an investor account, Olivier Pourquié published research in 2015 and 2016 on the use of somites for cell replacement therapy, while Allon Klein and colleagues at Harvard Medical School developed tools for mapping how cells grow into tissues and organs. In late 2023, Pourquié, Klein, Cliff Tabin, Jonathan Rosenfeld and Micha Breakstone met in a lab and decided to combine their expertise to build a cell replacement therapy company based on embryo digital twins. Breakstone previously co-founded and sold Chorus.ai for $575 million.

Business model

The company develops proprietary AI foundation models and differentiation protocols and applies them to its own pipeline of cell replacement therapy programs, taking what it describes as a full-stack approach spanning data generation, model training, and discovery and optimization of cell therapy applications.

Traction

Reported over 12 years of underlying work at Harvard Medical School, pre-clinical data, and a patent position in somite-derived cell production. Funding traction includes a Series A of more than $47 million in May 2025 and a subsequent strategic investment from AMD Ventures, with approximately $60 million raised in total as of August 2025. The company's website announces the acquisition of a Phase 2-ready Parkinson's cell therapy, STEM-PD, from Novo Nordisk.

Latest developments

In August 2025 the company announced a strategic investment from AMD Ventures pairing its capsule-based data generation platform with AMD Instinct GPUs to accelerate foundation model training. Under the Cellular Intelligence name, the company announced the acquisition of STEM-PD, a Phase 2-ready cell therapy for Parkinson's disease, from Novo Nordisk.