Latent Labs launches AI Model Latent-X For Protein Design

Latent Labs aims to automate drug discovery, a process that's usually costly, slow, and has a high failure rate. The company came out of stealth in February with $50 million in funding to advance its mission in programmable biology.

The team includes former AlphaFold 2 co-developers, ex-DeepMind leads, and experts from Microsoft, Apple, Stability AI, Exscientia, Mammoth Bio, Altos Labs, and Zymergen.

Traditional drug discovery often involves testing tens of thousands of random molecules, with success rates below 1% and high costs per experiment. Latent Labs is working to change that.

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Latent-X is a powerful AI model built to design protein binders from scratch—even for targets that haven’t been explored before. It solves binding challenges at the atomic level and works over 10 times faster than older methods by generating both sequence and structure at the same time, enabling near real-time design.

Unlike traditional tools, Latent-X goes beyond nature’s limits by creating all-atom binder structures that follow biochemical rules. This unlocks new possibilities in drug development, especially for treatments like nanobodies and antibodies that need precise binding.

In lab tests across seven therapeutic targets, Latent-X showed breakthrough results—achieving 91–100% hit rates for macrocycles and 10–63% for mini-binders. Instead of screening tens of thousands of molecules, researchers can now find strong candidates by testing as few as 30 per target.

The model is available in early access through Latent’s no-code AI platform, where users can upload protein targets and generate cyclic peptides and mini-binders directly in the browser. The platform also lets users explore, score, and select top designs for lab testing—and it includes a free tier for both commercial and non-commercial use.

"We envision a future where effective therapeutics can be designed entirely in a computer, like semiconductors or space missions," said Simon Kohl, CEO and founder of Latent Labs.

"Our platform empowers scientists with lab-validated protein binder design at their fingertips, whether they're experts or new to AI-powered drug design, and without needing AI infrastructure. This is the first step on our mission toward making biology programmable in order to make drug design instantaneous."

The company is now seeking partnerships to apply its expanded capabilities to new drug discovery projects.

About Latent Labs

We’re building frontier AI models to make biology programmable, transforming health and sustainability. Our generative AI empowers partners to design antibodies, optimize enzymes, and advance genetic engineering—offering unprecedented control over molecular biology for breakthrough innovations.