Two AI‑driven discovery firms highlighted rapid chemistry‑to‑clinic timelines and fresh capital for protein therapeutics. Iambic reported that physics‑informed algorithms and automation have delivered small molecules to the clinic within two years and attracted strategic partners. Separately, AI Proteins closed a $41.5 million Series A to advance de novo miniprotein design across therapeutic areas. Both companies emphasize integrating predictive models with automated wet‑lab execution to compress lead optimization and CMC timelines. Investors and pharma partners are watching whether these approaches can reproducibly shorten development cycles and reduce costs at scale.