Biotech pharma

Abalone Bio

Website

Abalone Bio is tackling challenging undrugged targets underlying diseases affecting millions, focusing first cell-specific antibody drugs to treat obesity and metabolic disease without the GI side effects that cause 25% of GLP-1 drug patients to quit after 1 year. + High throughput experimental measurement uniquely leverages AI/ML: We’ve engin

Founded 2018Origin source ↗Checked 2026-09-15

Overview

Abalone Bio is tackling challenging undrugged targets underlying diseases affecting millions, focusing first cell-specific antibody drugs to treat obesity and metabolic disease without the GI side effects that cause 25% of GLP-1 drug patients to quit after 1 year.

+ High throughput experimental measurement uniquely leverages AI/ML: We’ve engineered cells to measure antibodies for pharmacological activity, not just structure or binding like others, 100 million at a time, 100X+ the throughput of others. With our large, proprietary activity datasets, we uniquely leverage ML to both unlock the discovery of rare hits and generate optimized hits for challenging targets, starting with G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs)

+ Proven success: We have developed antibody agonists (activators) for 2 out of the 8 G-protein coupled receptors ever drugged by biotech.

+ Pharma traction: We’ve secured 3 partnerships with $3M in revenue and $125M in downstream value.

+ Externally validated science: We’ve been awarded $7M in non-dilutive grant funding for platform and program development.

Company description As recorded 2026-11-08
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Founders & team

Previously Abalone Bio, Inc

Company history As recorded 2026-11-08

Richard Yu

Founder

Rich has been in or around biotech startups since 2008, when co-founded GPB, an algae biofuel startup. He was also Scientific and Operations Director at MBC Biolabs, the leading biotech incubator in SF, and Principal at Mission Bay Capital, a life science VC fund. Prior, he was an investigator at The Molecular Sciences Institute studying how cells process information. PhD (2000) Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale BA (1993) Biophysics and Computer Science (AI and Graphics), UC Berkeley

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Founder profile As recorded 2026-09-15
14team members reported
Source-reported As recorded 2026-09-15

Founded 2018 · Source

News & product activity

Sources & observations

Y Combinator

Profile depthverified profile
Website observationwebsite reachable
Last website check2026-11-11
Location · source statedSan Francisco, CA, USA
Pricing evidenceNo pricing page confirmed
Maturity: Not assessed · 3 of 6 areas documented

Source-based assessment · automated evidence rules

The retained text does not establish product availability or customer use.

Maturity is an evidence-based assessment, not a success rating. It may understate the current stage where evidence is limited. Coverage records documented areas, not a complete or independently audited company history.

Stage definitions
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