BranchLab Raises $26M for Privacy-First Pharma AI Platform

NEW YORK: BranchLab raises $26 million in Series A funding to scale its privacy-first AI platform for pharmaceutical commercialization workflows.

McKesson Ventures leads the round announced on May 13. FCA Venture Partners, Sanofi Ventures, and AIX Ventures also participate. Total funding now reaches $35 million across the company’s history.

The startup builds AI tools across multiple workflows for pharmaceutical commercialization. Coverage spans patient identification, audience segmentation, activation, and real-world measurement. BranchLab targets the operational layer that determines whether new therapies reach patients.

Pharma launches remain fragmented, manual, and slow despite massive scientific progress. Modern therapy markets demand precise targeting and rapid market penetration capabilities. Traditional commercialization approaches struggle to match the complexity of new drug categories.

McKesson Ventures’ leadership signals strategic alignment with pharmaceutical distribution channels. The parent McKesson Corporation distributes roughly a third of American prescription drugs. Sanofi Ventures’ participation brings direct biopharma customer relationships to the cap table.

Privacy considerations dominate pharmaceutical AI deployment decisions across regulated markets. Patient data faces strict HIPAA protection requirements in the United States. BranchLab designs its platform around privacy-preserving techniques from the ground up architecturally.

“Pharma commercialization needs AI that respects patient privacy without sacrificing precision,” says a BranchLab executive about the funding round.

The fresh capital funds expanded engineering hires across the New York headquarters. BranchLab also plans to deepen partnerships with major pharmaceutical and biotech customers. New product modules will target additional commercialization workflows over coming quarters.

The round arrives amid surging healthcare AI investment broadly across the venture landscape. Forus raised $160 million on the same day for prescription access infrastructure. Isomorphic Labs closed $2.1 billion yesterday for AI drug design at scale.

BranchLab plans to grow customer counts significantly through the second half of 2026.