• Prolific Machines announced a new investment led by Atoms & Bits and Nant Capital to scale its optogenetics-enabled biomanufacturing platform.
• The company also entered a strategic collaboration with NantWorks to apply its platform across biologics programs within NantWorks’ health and life sciences portfolio.
• Patrick Soon-Shiong, M.D. and James Stewart have joined Prolific Machines’ Board of Directors.

EMERYVILLE, Calif, Oct. 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Prolific Machines, the biotechnology company advancing biologics development and manufacturing through integrated optogenetics-enabled solutions delivering breakthrough yields, superior on-target quality, and precise process control, today announced the initial closing of its $50M Series B2 financing led by Atoms & Bits, a growth-stage fund, and Nant Capital, the investment organization which is part of a portfolio of private and public companies in health and life sciences founded by Patrick Soon-Shiong, M.D. This brings the company’s total funding to over $100 million.

Prolific Machines will use the new capital to scale its optogenetics platform for biomanufacturing, expanding programs with several top-20 pharma companies and multiple biotechs at its San Francisco Bay Area campus and across its CDMO network. The funding will support team growth, further technology development and scale-up across novel biologics, biosimilars and viral vector programs. It will also fund early work toward tissue and organ fabrication.

Prolific Machines and NantWorks also announced a strategic collaboration to apply Prolific’s platform across biologic programs within NantWorks’ portfolio of health and life sciences companies.

“For the last seven years the Prolific Machines team has been creating the field of Optogenetic Biomanufacturing, allowing any process inside of any cell to be controlled with light. Our goal is to provide the lowest cost and highest precision infrastructure to control biology. We have demonstrated that it works, can be scaled, and that people want it. Our biggest issue now is having too much demand and this funding round changes that. We will be rapidly scaling the business over the next 12 months,” said Deniz Kent, Ph.D., CEO and Co-Founder of Prolific Machines.

As part of the financing, James Stewart, founder of Level One Fund and Atoms & Bits, and Patrick Soon-Shiong, M.D., founder of NantWorks, have joined Prolific Machines’ Board of Directors. Existing investors, including Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Mayfield, SOSV, and Fonterra’s venture arm, also participated in the round.

“Prolific Machines is the most exciting advancement I have seen in biopharma manufacturing in decades. Deniz and his team have built the control system that has long been missing from making medicines in living cells. I look forward to NantWorks, its affiliate companies and Prolific working together on multiple fronts,” said Patrick Soon-Shiong, M.D., founder of NantWorks.

“Prolific’s optogenetic platform brings precise, programmable control to cells, with major potential across biopharma and beyond. Its early traction already shows strong commercial promise,” commented James Stewart, General Partner of Atoms & Bits.

About Prolific Machines

Prolific is a biotechnology-driven company advancing biologics development and manufacturing through integrated optogenetics-enabled solutions delivering breakthrough yields, superior on-target quality, and precise process control. Its next-generation integrated platform combines light-inducible cell lines, plug-and-play illumination systems, and AI-driven process optimization to enable dynamic control of protein expression in standard bioreactors. Prolific partners with biotech and pharmaceutical companies and CDMOs worldwide to advance programs from development toward scalable, cost-efficient manufacturing. To learn more, visit prolific-machines.com

About Atoms & Bits

Atoms & Bits is a growth-stage venture capital firm backing companies at the intersection of the digital and physical worlds. Founded by the teams behind Level One Fund and Primal Capital, the firm partners with founders leveraging advances in AI, software and computation to build transformative products and infrastructure in the physical world. Learn more at https://atomsandbits.xyz.

About NantWorks

NantWorks, LLC applies new innovative approaches and new technologies to solving global problems.  NantWorks is focusing on three pillars: health & life sciences; energy & renewables; and connectivity & communications.

Founded by Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, scientist and inventor of the first human nanoparticle chemotherapeutic agent Abraxane, the core mission for NantWorks is convergence: to develop and deliver a diverse range of technologies that accelerate innovation, broaden the scope of scientific discovery, enhance ground-breaking research, and improve healthcare treatment for those in need.

Media Contacts

Miles Fisher-Pollard 
Orientation Marketing 
milesfp@orientation.agency 

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SOURCE Prolific Machines