Biosecurity for the Programmable Biology Era

8 Companies 3 Categories

Biology is becoming easier to engineer as AI tools improve and biotechnology becomes more accessible. This creates a need for a new security layer built for programmable biology. This map tracks startups developing technology to reduce biological misuse risk and respond faster when threats emerge.

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Bioengineering Access Control

3 companies

This category covers startups that try to stop dangerous biological work before it happens. They screen biological requests or control access to sensitive capabilities.

Aclid

aclid.bio

Aclid builds software that screens DNA and RNA orders and automates biosecurity and compliance for synthetic biology and gene synthesis providers.

unknown Employees Seed Stage 2021 Founded

Trajectory Maturity Level Emerging

Confidence: Medium

Omnyra

omnyrabio.org

Omnyra is an AI-native biosecurity project that uses function-aware models to detect engineered biological threats and extends screening to cloud-lab workflows.

unknown Employees Unknown Stage 2025 Founded

Trajectory Maturity Level Nascent

Confidence: Low

TwentyTwo

twentytwo.bio

TwentyTwo built AI infrastructure for biosecurity, starting with automated customer screening and function-aware safeguards for modern biological engineering.

3 Employees Acquired Stage 2025 Founded

Acquired

Biological Threat Detection

3 companies

This category covers startups that detect biological threats in the real world. They build systems that identify dangerous signals as early as possible.

Pilgrim

pilgrimlabs.com

Pilgrim builds biotechnology for defense and national security, including an autonomous biosurveillance system that detects airborne biological threats in near real time.

2-10 Employees Seed Stage 2024 Founded

Trajectory Maturity Level Early

Confidence: Medium

Agnos Biosciences

agnosbiosciences.com

Agnos Biosciences builds AirSeq, a rapid DNA air sequencing service that detects airborne pathogens and other biological material for biosecurity, food safety, and cleanroom monitoring.

small team; count not established Employees Unknown Stage 2025 Founded

Trajectory Maturity Level Early

Confidence: Medium

Ave Maria Biotech

avemariabiotech.com

Ave Maria Biotech builds airborne pathogen detection systems that continuously monitor air and alert users to biological threats in real time.

unknown Employees Unknown Stage 2023 Founded

Trajectory Maturity Level Early

Confidence: Medium

Rapid Biological Countermeasures

2 companies

This category covers startups that help respond once a biological threat exists. They use modern biotechnology to shorten the path from threat identification to an effective countermeasure.

Valthos

valthos.com

Valthos builds AI systems for next generation biodefense that identify biological threats and design medical countermeasures in real time. ([valthos.com](https://valthos.com/?utm_source=openai))

9 employees reported Employees Seed Stage 2024 Founded

Trajectory Maturity Level Nascent

Confidence: Medium

Red Queen Bio

redqueen.bio

Red Queen Bio builds an AI powered biodefense layer that aims to design medical countermeasures quickly, manufacture them rapidly, and deliver them where they are needed. ([redqueen.bio](https://www.redqueen.bio/?utm_source=openai))

11-50 Employees Seed Stage 2025 Founded

Trajectory Maturity Level Early

Confidence: Medium

Biosecurity for the Programmable Biology Era competitive landscape summary

Biosecurity for the Programmable Biology Era contains 8 companies across 3 categories. Biology is becoming easier to engineer as AI tools improve and biotechnology becomes more accessible. This creates a need for a new security layer built for programmable biology. This map tracks startups developing technology to reduce biological misuse risk and respond faster when threats emerge.

Bioengineering Access Control

This category covers startups that try to stop dangerous biological work before it happens. They screen biological requests or control access to sensitive capabilities.

Aclid

Website: aclid.bio

Aclid builds software that screens DNA and RNA orders and automates biosecurity and compliance for synthetic biology and gene synthesis providers.

Category: Bioengineering Access Control. Funding stage: Seed. Founded: 2021. Country: United States. Employees: unknown.

Landscape fit: It fits this category because it helps stop risky biological work before it happens by screening sequences and verifying requests against biosecurity and compliance rules.

Funding rounds

seed announced 2023-10-12 : 3300000 USD ; investors: 2048 Ventures, IA Ventures ; source: PR Newswire ; https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aclid-closes-oversubscribed-3-3-million-seed-funding-round-to-advance-biosecurity-and-compliance-301952847.html
pre_seed announced 2021-01-01 ; investors: 2048 Ventures ; source: 2048 Ventures investment note ; https://www.2048.vc/blog/our-investment-in-aclid

Company timeline

2026-09-29: HR snapshot (hr) . The about page identifies Aclid's founder and CEO, VP of Product, and scientific founder. The supplied sources do not support an employee count or a current hiring cluster. Source: About Aclid. https://www.aclid.bio/about
2026-09-29: Product snapshot (product) . Aclid provides biotechnology compliance software. Its current website describes sequence screening, customer risk and identity verification, sanctions and watchlist screening, compliance management, alerts and reporting, and biosafety and biodefense workflows. Source: Aclid homepage. https://www.aclid.bio
2026-09-22: Ansa Biotechnologies case study published (gtm) . Aclid published a case study about Ansa Biotechnologies. The case study says it screened tens of thousands of constructs with turnaround times under three seconds and completed integration and compliance setup in two weeks. Source: Ansa case study. https://www.aclid.bio/case-studies/ansa-biotechnologies
2026-09-22: Agilent case study published (gtm) . Aclid published a case study about its work with Agilent. The case study says the platform screens up to 40 million base pairs in under 30 minutes and was integrated into Agilent's workflows in four weeks. Source: Agilent case study. https://www.aclid.bio/case-studies/agilent
2023-10-12: Seed (funding) . Aclid closed an oversubscribed $3.3M seed round led by 2048 Ventures and IA Ventures. Source: PR Newswire. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aclid-closes-oversubscribed-3-3-million-seed-funding-round-to-advance-biosecurity-and-compliance-301952847.html
2021-01-01: Undisclosed pre-seed (funding) . Amount undisclosed. Investors: 2048 Ventures Source: 2048 Ventures investment note. https://www.2048.vc/blog/our-investment-in-aclid

Omnyra

Website: omnyrabio.org

Omnyra is an AI-native biosecurity project that uses function-aware models to detect engineered biological threats and extends screening to cloud-lab workflows.

Category: Bioengineering Access Control. Funding stage: . Founded: 2025. Country: United States. Employees: unknown.

Landscape fit: Builds function-aware pathogen screening for engineered biological threats and protocol-level screening for cloud lab workflows.

Company timeline

2026-09-29: HR snapshot (hr) . No direct HR evidence for the tracked biosecurity company is established in the supplied sources. Source: HR source.
2026-09-29: Product snapshot (product) . Omnyra's official site describes AI-native sequence screening. Founder-linked OmnyraCloud evidence describes a separate protocol-screening project for cloud-lab workflows. Source: Omnyra · AI-native biosecurity. https://omnyrabio.org
2026-04-27: OmnyraCloud protocol screening published (product) . OmnyraCloud was presented as a live protocol screening project for cloud lab workflows. The page says it accepts Autoprotocol, Opentrons, JSON, or free text and returns an auditable risk report with citations. Source: OmnyraCloud. https://apartresearch.com/project/omnyracloud-g7wh
2025-12-12: Function-aware pathogen screening research published (product) . Research describing Omnyra as a function-based pathogen screening system was published in Briefings in Bioinformatics. The system uses learned functional representations rather than sequence homology alone to detect engineered biological threats. Source: Briefings in Bioinformatics. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12699701/

TwentyTwo

Website: twentytwo.bio

TwentyTwo built AI infrastructure for biosecurity, starting with automated customer screening and function-aware safeguards for modern biological engineering.

Category: Bioengineering Access Control. Funding stage: Acquired. Founded: 2025. Country: United States. Employees: 3.

Landscape fit: Built AI infrastructure for biosecurity. LatchBio acquired the company in June 2026 and its team now leads Latch Biosecurity.

Company timeline

2026-06-29: LatchBio acquires TwentyTwo (acquisition) . LatchBio acquired TwentyTwo, a YC S25 biosecurity startup. TwentyTwo's three founders joined LatchBio and now lead Latch Biosecurity. Source: LatchBio acquisition announcement. https://blog.latch.bio/p/latchbio-acquires-twentytwo-to-form

Biological Threat Detection

This category covers startups that detect biological threats in the real world. They build systems that identify dangerous signals as early as possible.

Pilgrim

Website: pilgrimlabs.com

Pilgrim builds biotechnology for defense and national security, including an autonomous biosurveillance system that detects airborne biological threats in near real time.

Category: Biological Threat Detection. Funding stage: Seed. Founded: 2024. Country: United States. Employees: 2-10.

Landscape fit: It fits biological threat detection because its ARGUS system is designed to sample air and identify pathogens early, before people get sick.

Funding rounds

seed announced 2026-09-24 : 25000000 USD ; investors: Peter Thiel, Fred Ehrsam, Dylan Field, Logan Graham, Sholto Douglas ; source: The Wall Street Journal ; https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anthropic-leaders-back-startup-developing-system-to-detect-biological-threats-88ef9f0a
seed announced 2025-09-01 : 4300000 USD ; investors: Cantos VC, Thiel Capital, Day One Ventures, Refactor Capital ; source: Axios on Pilgrim seed round ; https://www.axios.com/2025/09/10/jake-adler-pilgrim-military-medicine

Company timeline

2026-09-29: HR snapshot (hr) . Pilgrim's official site describes engineering, science, operations, and government as team functions. Supplied job-board summaries identify scientist and biomedical engineer openings in Redwood City. No reliable employee count is established by the supplied evidence. Source: Pilgrim. https://pilgrimlabs.com
2026-09-29: Product snapshot (product) . Pilgrim publicly describes advanced biotechnology for defense and national security. Its named ARGUS platform is an autonomous biosurveillance system for detecting, identifying, and tracking airborne biological threats in near real time. The company also describes hardware for battlefield trauma and preserving lifesaving cargo in transit. Source: Pilgrim. https://pilgrimlabs.com
2026-09-24: $25M Seed (funding) . Pilgrim raised $25M in seed funding at a reported $150M valuation. Backers include Peter Thiel, Fred Ehrsam and Dylan Field, with Anthropic leaders Logan Graham and Sholto Douglas also investing personally. Source: The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anthropic-leaders-back-startup-developing-system-to-detect-biological-threats-88ef9f0a
2026-09-01: Pilgrim posts scientist and engineer roles (hr) . Pilgrim's job postings show active hiring for scientist and biomedical engineer roles in Redwood City. Source: Pilgrim jobs pages. https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/pilgrim/91a2f825-ee99-4193-b9cb-ffa733c9944c
2026-09-01: Founder says ARGUS deployments are underway (gtm) . Jake Adler said Pilgrim's first platform, ARGUS, has initial deployments underway. The post does not identify customers or state whether the deployments are paid. Source: Jake Adler LinkedIn post on funding and CDC work. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jakeradler_spoke-with-the-wall-street-journals-kate-activity-7508583476661727232-zAuI
2025-09-01: Seed (funding) . Amount: USD 4.3M. Investors: Cantos VC, Thiel Capital, Day One Ventures, Refactor Capital Source: Axios on Pilgrim seed round. https://www.axios.com/2025/09/10/jake-adler-pilgrim-military-medicine

Agnos Biosciences

Website: agnosbiosciences.com

Agnos Biosciences builds AirSeq, a rapid DNA air sequencing service that detects airborne pathogens and other biological material for biosecurity, food safety, and cleanroom monitoring.

Category: Biological Threat Detection. Funding stage: . Founded: 2025. Country: United Kingdom. Employees: small team; count not established.

Landscape fit: It fits biological threat detection because its core product is designed to find airborne biological signals early, including pathogens and other harmful biological material.

Company timeline

2026-09-29: HR snapshot (hr) . The supplied company-page summary describes a small team, and the registry lists four directors. The available evidence does not establish total headcount or a clear public hiring push. Source: Agnos Biosciences LinkedIn company page. https://uk.linkedin.com/company/agnos-biosciences
2026-01-27: Agnos Biosciences launches AirSeq (product) . Agnos Biosciences publicly launched AirSeq as a commercial service for detecting airborne biological material with DNA sequencing. Source: Natural History Museum and Earlham Institute launch AirSeq spinout Agnos Biosciences. https://www.nhm.ac.uk/press-office/press-releases/new-deep-tech-startup-by-natural-history-museum-and-earlham-inst.html
2025-12-22: Agnos Biosciences Limited is incorporated (hr) . Agnos Biosciences Limited was incorporated on 2025-12-22 and the registry record lists four directors appointed that day. Source: Companies House record for Agnos Biosciences Limited. https://www.companiesintheuk.co.uk/ltd/agnos-biosciences

Ave Maria Biotech

Website: avemariabiotech.com

Ave Maria Biotech builds airborne pathogen detection systems that continuously monitor air and alert users to biological threats in real time.

Category: Biological Threat Detection. Funding stage: . Founded: 2023. Country: United States. Employees: unknown.

Landscape fit: It fits biological threat detection because its core product is a real time airborne pathogen detector meant to identify dangerous biological signals before they spread.

Company timeline

2026-09-29: HR snapshot (hr) . Publicly supplied posts identify commercial sales and mission leadership. They do not establish company headcount, active openings, or a broad recruiting effort. Source: Ronald Freeze post on DTRA testing and hiring. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ronald-freeze-6b37616_ave-maria-biotech-airborne-pathogen-detection-activity-7505992296430170112-N_oA
2026-09-29: Product snapshot (product) . Ave Maria Biotech's BD-500 is described as an autonomous airborne pathogen detection system for continuous monitoring and real-time alerts in critical environments. The company describes configurable alert routes and a procurement process that can include a briefing, site assessment, and deployment by certified field engineers. Source: Ave Maria Biotech — Airborne Pathogen Detection. https://avemariabiotech.com
2026-09-22: BD-500 tested in two U.S. government biodefense exercises (milestone) . Ave Maria Biotech said the BD-500 participated in DTRA JSTO's Micro-SCOUT event and the CPE CBRND-sponsored Dragon Shield 2026 experimentation event, providing field feedback ahead of product launch. Source: Ronald Freeze. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ronald-freeze-6b37616_ave-maria-biotech-airborne-pathogen-detection-activity-7505992296430170112-N_oA

Rapid Biological Countermeasures

This category covers startups that help respond once a biological threat exists. They use modern biotechnology to shorten the path from threat identification to an effective countermeasure.

Valthos

Website: valthos.com

Valthos builds AI systems for next generation biodefense that identify biological threats and design medical countermeasures in real time. ([valthos.com](https://valthos.com/?utm_source=openai))

Category: Rapid Biological Countermeasures. Funding stage: Seed. Founded: 2024. Country: United States. Employees: 9 employees reported.

Landscape fit: It fits rapid biological countermeasures because it focuses on shortening the time from threat identification to an updated medical response. ([valthos.com](https://valthos.com/blog/intro?utm_source=openai))

Funding rounds

seed announced 2025-10-29 : 30000000 USD ; investors: OpenAI Startup Fund, Lux Capital, Founders Fund ; source: PR Newswire ; https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/valthos-raises-30m-from-openai-lux-capital-founders-fund-to-build-next-generation-biodefense-302598583.html

Company timeline

2026-09-29: HR snapshot (hr) . Valthos states that it is actively hiring, and the supplied careers evidence includes roles in forward-deployed engineering and growth operations. Employee and company posts also describe additions to operations and finance, engineering, and research. The supplied evidence does not support dating those hires to exact months. Source: Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-24/openai-backs-a-new-venture-trying-to-thwart-ai-bio-attacks
2026-09-29: Product snapshot (product) . AI biodefense software for government and life sciences experts, focused on identifying biological threats, characterizing biological sequences, and supporting medical countermeasure design. Source: Valthos home page. https://valthos.com
2025-10-29: Valthos launches (product) . Valthos introduced its biodefense platform and public mission. Source: Introducing Valthos. https://valthos.com/blog/intro
2025-10-29: Seed (funding) . Amount: USD 30M. Investors: OpenAI Startup Fund, Lux Capital, Founders Fund Source: PR Newswire. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/valthos-raises-30m-from-openai-lux-capital-founders-fund-to-build-next-generation-biodefense-302598583.html

Red Queen Bio

Website: redqueen.bio

Category: Rapid Biological Countermeasures. Funding stage: Seed. Founded: 2025. Country: United States. Employees: 11-50.

Landscape fit: It fits rapid biological countermeasures because it focuses on shortening the path from threat detection to a medical countermeasure against emerging biological threats. ([redqueen.bio](https://www.redqueen.bio/?utm_source=openai))

Funding rounds

seed announced 2025-11-14 : 15000000 USD ; investors: OpenAI, Cerberus Ventures, Fifty Years, Halcyon Futures ; source: Red Queen Bio launch note republished by Cerberus Ventures ; https://www.cerberus-ventures.com/perspectives/ai-biosecurity-company-red-queen-bio-launches

Company timeline

2026-09-29: HR snapshot (hr) . LinkedIn lists Red Queen Bio at 11–50 employees and shows 16 employees. The supplied careers-page summary indicates no current listed openings, while the work-with-us page invites speculative applications. Source: Red Queen Bio LinkedIn company page. https://www.linkedin.com/company/red-queen-bio
2026-09-29: Product snapshot (product) . AI-powered biodefense approach focused on designing countermeasures and enabling their rapid manufacture and delivery. Source: Red Queen Bio. https://www.redqueen.bio
2026-09-28: $36M total funding reported; first human trials targeted for 2027 (milestone) . The Wall Street Journal reported that Red Queen Bio has raised $36M in total and plans to begin human trials in 2027 for antibodies targeting influenza viruses. Source: The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/health/this-startup-is-using-ai-to-fight-off-a-future-ai-pandemic-aceedf1b
2026-01-08: AbTherx partnership (gtm) . AbTherx announced a therapeutic antibody discovery and development partnership with Red Queen Bio. The agreement gives Red Queen Bio the right to develop and commercialize resulting therapeutic antibodies. Source: AbTherx partnership announcement. https://www.abtherx.com/abtherx-and-red-queen-bio-partner-on-therapeutic-antibody-discovery
2025-11-14: Red Queen Bio launches (product) . Red Queen Bio announced its launch as an AI biosecurity company. The launch note describes a platform for countermeasure design and rapid biologics manufacturing. Source: Red Queen Bio launch note republished by Cerberus Ventures. https://www.cerberus-ventures.com/perspectives/ai-biosecurity-company-red-queen-bio-launches
2025-11-14: Seed (funding) . Amount: USD 15M. Investors: OpenAI, Cerberus Ventures, Fifty Years, Halcyon Futures Source: Red Queen Bio launch note republished by Cerberus Ventures. https://www.cerberus-ventures.com/perspectives/ai-biosecurity-company-red-queen-bio-launches