Boston Startups to Watch in Biotech

Boston doesn’t just show up in biotech rankings, it rewrites what biotech even looks like.

This is a city where AI is designing drugs, biology is becoming programmable, and labs are starting to look a lot more like software companies. And while the usual names get the spotlight, there’s a new wave of startups building just as aggressively - faster experiments, smarter platforms, and entirely new ways to bring medicine to life.

Below are the Boston biotech startups to watch right now, the teams pushing science forward and proving (once again) that the future of healthcare is being built right here.

AI-DRIVEN DISCOVERY & COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY

Lila Sciences

Founded: 2023 | Website

Lila is building fully autonomous “science factories,” where AI and robotics run experiments at scale to accelerate discovery. With one of the largest early funding rounds in Boston biotech history, they’re aiming to compress decades of research into years.

Milestones: secured Series A 

Nervoid

Founded: 2025 | Website

Nervoid transforms cellular imaging into actionable biological insight, using AI to infer signaling pathways and gene expression directly from microscopy data. Their platform accelerates decision-making across preclinical workflows.

Milestones: resident at MIT’s The Engine 

Intertwined Biosciences

Founded: 2025 | Website

Intertwined is building an AI-native discovery engine centered on a “virtual macrophage” to model immune behavior and guide therapeutic development.

Milestones: LabCentral AI BioHub; early funding and compute backing

Reflector Bio

Founded: 2025 | Website

Building an AI foundation model for phenotypic screening, enabling pharma teams to simulate how drugs impact whole cells before entering the lab. By running millions of virtual experiments and unlocking more value from existing data, they can reduce screening time by up to 60x and dramatically increase the number of viable drug candidates tested.

Milestones: backing from Techstars NYC and Pharmstars, their scientific papers has preliminary acceptance into Nature Biology with 10k+ views and generates inbound 

Delineate

Founded: 2024 | Website

Delineate uses AI to extract and structure insights from scientific literature and patents, turning unstructured data into actionable intelligence for biotech teams.

Milestones: went through Y-Combinator in 2025

Maven Bio

Founded: 2024 | Website

Maven Bio provides domain-specific AI tools for biopharma research, helping teams accelerate due diligence, competitive analysis, and asset evaluation.

Milestones: trusted by publicly-traded biopharma companies, investors and global consultancies 

Nervoid inc

Founded: 2025 | Website 

Turns cellular images into actionable biological insight. Our AI platform automates cell phenotyping by inferring signaling pathways and gene expression directly from microscopy data, enabling faster go/no-go decisions across preclinical workflows, from target discovery to toxicology.

Milestones: launched pilots with biotech companies

THERAPEUTICS & DRUG DEVELOPMENT PLATFORMS

City Therapeutics

Founded: 2023 | Website

City Therapeutics is emerging as a new player in Boston’s RNA medicine ecosystem, attracting talent and early attention in a post-Moderna wave of innovation.

Milestones: named the Emerging Company of the Year at the 13th Annual NEVY Awards

Seaport Therapeutics

Founded: 2024 | Website

Seaport focuses on neuropsychiatric diseases, developing novel medicines for depression and anxiety with improved safety and efficacy profiles.

Milestones: their expertise is vied after for numerous speaking engagements and they were nominated for the Powerhouse Healthcare Company of the Year at the 13th Annual NEVY Awards

Sebastian BioPharma

Founded: 2023 | Website

Sebastian is developing a first-in-class dual-payload antibody-oligonucleotide conjugate to overcome immunotherapy resistance in solid tumors. Their approach targets both tumor invisibility and immune exclusion simultaneously.

Milestones: took the stage at SXSW2026 and a MassBio Alumni 

Axonis Therapeutics

Founded: 2019 | Website

Axonis is developing gene therapies for neurodegenerative diseases, including ALS, one of the most challenging areas in biotech.

Milestones: closed a $115 Million Series A

Concordance Therapeutics

Founded: 2024 | Website

Concordance is engineering bacteria-based therapies to address high unmet medical needs.

Milestones: 1st place at the Babson College Shark Night Pitch Competition, 2nd place at the Harvard Biotech X Innovation Competition 

Aleko Therapeutics

Founded: 2025 | Website

Aleko is developing a molecular evolution platform for oncology drug discovery, aiming to accelerate how cancer therapies are designed.

Milestones: Early investor and pharma interest

BIO PLATFORMS, TOOLING & INFRASTRUCTURE

Pando Bioscience

Founded: 2023 | Website

Pando is revolutionizing enzyme engineering with ultra-high-throughput screening and AI optimization, dramatically improving speed and cost efficiency.

Milestones: went through Y-Combinator in 2023

Dash Bio

Founded: 2024 | Website

Modernizing bioanalysis with a tech-first platform that uses robotics and software to deliver higher-quality assays up to 10x faster than traditional approaches. By automating manual processes across preclinical and clinical stages, they help biotech teams reduce costs, accelerate timelines, and bring therapies to market more efficiently.

Milestones: launched 5 assay platforms: ELISA, MSD, qPCR, ddPCR, and targeted LC-MS and serving a range of customers from early-stage biotechs to large pharma companies

Bramante Biologics

Founded: 2024 | Website

Building a modern, automation-first GMP manufacturing platform designed to help clinical-stage teams move faster without sacrificing quality. By combining robotics for repeatable processes, AI-driven documentation, and software-enabled quality systems, they enable reliable small-batch production while accelerating timelines and reducing operational friction.

Milestones: went through Y-combinator in 2025 

NEXT-GEN MATERIALS, DEVICES & DRUG DELIVERY

Materialize Bio

Founded: 2023 | Website

A Tufts spinout developing next-generation biopolymer-based implants that are safer, more natural, and better integrated with the body than traditional materials. Using scalable 3D manufacturing tailored for biopolymers, their platform unlocks regenerative and antimicrobial properties, starting with advanced, drug-eluting ear tubes and expanding into broader implant applications.

Milestones: awarded cash at UMassM2D2 200K and accepted into MassChallenge 

SUTOL Bio

Founded: 2025 | Website

A MIT Langer Lab spinout, is developing a self-assembling oral capsule that enables once-monthly dosing by continuously releasing medication in the stomach. With validated safety and over one-month gastric residence in preclinical models, and backed by $5M from the Gates Foundation, their platform has the potential to replace daily pills and injections, improving adherence and outcomes.

Milestones: supported by Gates Foundation funding 

Cellsor

Founded: 2025 | Website

Developing a next-generation chemical sensing platform that combines living olfactory tissue with advanced microelectronic chips to detect volatile compounds with extreme precision. By digitizing the power of natural smell, their technology enables highly sensitive, scalable detection across healthcare, security, environmental monitoring, and beyond.

Milestones: graduated from MIT’s The Engine Blueprint and MassChallenge 

Bio + Beyond (Synthetic Biology, Supply Chains, Care)

Foray Bioscience

Founded: 2022 | Website

Foray is rebuilding plant-based supply chains using AI-driven cellular agriculture, enabling production of materials and molecules without harvesting natural ecosystems.

Milestones: 20+ early customers; platform contracts across industries

nucleusRx

Founded: 2019 | Website

Building a virtual care platform that helps providers manage post-acute and chronic medication therapy beyond the hospital. By combining a smart pill dispenser, EHR integration, and real-time patient monitoring, they enable earlier interventions, improve adherence, and reduce readmissions for high-risk populations like heart failure patients.

Milestones: selected to pitch at the UMassM2D2 10th annual Barracuda Bowl

Final Thought

If there’s one thing that stands out, it’s this: Boston biotech isn’t slowing down, it’s speeding up.

We’re watching a shift from breakthrough science → to breakthrough speed, platforms, and scale. AI isn’t just supporting research anymore, it’s driving it. Biology isn’t just studied, it’s engineered. And startups aren’t waiting years to make an impact - they’re building, testing, and iterating faster than ever.

And maybe most importantly? This momentum isn’t coming from one company or one lab,  it’s coming from a network of founders, scientists, operators, and builders all pushing each other forward.

That’s the Boston edge.

So whether you’re a founder, operator, investor, or just biotech-curious - keep an eye on this list. Because a few of these companies won’t just be “ones to watch” for long…they’ll be the ones everyone else is chasing.