InstaDeep, a Tunisian and London-based enterprise AI firm that develops decision-making algorithms for real-world challenges, has agreed to be bought by BioNTech SE in a deal worth up to £562 million ($684 million), giving the German biotech a greater ability to use artificial intelligence and machine learning in its work.

According to Bloomberg, this is BioNTech’s largest transaction to date. It comprises an upfront payment of £362 million in cash and shares, as well as subsequent payments of up to £200 million if certain future milestones are met, according to the business.

BioNTech is forging on after collaborating with Pfizer Inc. to create the world’s best-selling Covid-19 vaccine. Before turning to the Covid injection, the firm focused on cancer, and it has long depended on powerful computation to help it adapt individualised vaccines to patients’ tumours.

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The agreement will enable BioNTech to employ artificial intelligence in other domains, including manufacturing. Last week, the business also committed to collaborate with the UK government to treat 10,000 cancer patients by 2030, a project that will depend on health and genomes data to identify patients more promptly.

“Our aim is to make BioNTech a technology company where AI is seamlessly integrated into all aspects of our work,” Chief Executive Officer Ugur Sahin said in a statement.

BioNTech and InstaDeep, both based in London, began collaborating in 2019, and in November 2020, they committed to a multi-year relationship that included a joint innovation centre. For new Covid versions, the businesses created an early warning system.

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In January 2022, the biotech company acquired an equity position in InstaDeep as part of the company’s Series B financing round. The acquisition will bring roughly 240 new employees to BioNTech. Before US exchanges opened, the company’s American depositary receipts traded little changed.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert. 
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard