Transforming Pharma Supply Chains with AI Power

Kyrok just shook up the pharma and chemical world with a fresh €3.1 million pre-seed funding round. This Berlin-based startup is on a mission to revolutionize supply chains, injecting AI tech right where it matters most. Imagine ditching clunky spreadsheets and outdated systems for smooth, automated workflows without moving any data around. That’s exactly what Kyrok promises.

AI Meets Pharma Supply Chains

Kyrok’s founders, Daniel Hofinger and Lukas Bierfreund, launched the company in 2025 with a clear goal: modernize Europe’s pharmaceutical and chemical supply chains. These industries face tough challenges today. Manufacturing glitches and heavy reliance on imports from India and China put pressure on the entire ecosystem. Europe’s chemical sector alone has around 31,000 companies employing over 1.2 million people. The pharmaceutical industry adds roughly 950,000 more jobs to the mix.

Kyrok’s software doesn’t replace existing ERP systems. Instead, it layers on top to automate routine tasks. This means companies can skip the headache of migrating data but still reap AI’s benefits. The result? Faster, smarter supply chains that cut down errors and delays. Investors agree this is a game-changer.

Backed by Heavy Hitters and Visionaries

The €3.1 million funding round was led by Speedinvest, a powerhouse in startup investing. Joining the round are Arve Capital and industry veterans like Dr. Marcell Vollmer, former SAP Chief Procurement Officer, Dr. André Heeg, a BCG partner, and Dr. Stephan Rohr, CEO of TWAICE. The founders of Langdock and Rodrigo Martinez via HelloWorld also pitched in. Together, they bring deep expertise in procurement, consulting, and technology.

These investors see Kyrok as a fresh solution to an old problem. The startup’s AI-driven operating system aims to replace outdated spreadsheets and clunky legacy systems that manufacturers still use to manage their supply chains. This upgrade could unlock huge efficiency gains in Europe’s pharmaceutical and chemical sectors.

Parallel Moves in AI and Healthcare

While Kyrok tackles supply chains, another AI startup, Gero, is breaking ground in drug discovery and aging research. Headquartered in Singapore with a U.S. subsidiary in San Francisco, Gero just announced $17 million in new financing. This raises their total equity funding to $34 million.

Gero combines physics-first AI with human longitudinal data to develop medicines that slow aging and treat age-related diseases. Their AI models trained on approximately 10 million curated longitudinal medical records. These models derive insights from over 100 million records in total. Gero’s approach emerged from a decade of research and partnerships, including collaborations with Pfizer in 2023 and Chugai Pharmaceutical, a Roche Group member.

Brian K. Kennedy, scientist and independent director at Gero, highlights the challenge: “Target selection is the critical bottleneck in translating aging biology into medicines, and the field has not lacked ideas, it has lacked human-evidence-grounded targets that pharma is ready to develop.”

Peter Fedichev, Gero’s Co-Founder and CEO, explains the science behind their AI-driven approach: “Countless molecular events happen every second, both in a naked mole-rat and in us — yet over decades our risk of death doubles every eight years while theirs stays almost flat. That gap is a physics problem. We’ve spent a decade building the theory. What’s changed is that we now have the data — tens of millions of longitudinal health records — and generative AI that can extract the mathematics of aging directly from that data, the way physics has always worked but at a scale and complexity no analytical theory could reach.”

They expect this approach to transform medicine much like physics revolutionized aerospace engineering. Aging is the key target since it drives nearly every chronic disease. Slowing it down could be the highest-impact health intervention ever.

The Future of Pharma and AI

Kyrok and Gero show how AI is reshaping different corners of the pharma world. Kyrok zeros in on supply chain automation, tackling inefficiencies that slow production and delivery. Gero pushes the frontier of drug discovery and longevity science, using AI to crack complex biological puzzles. Together, they highlight AI’s power to fuel innovation across the industry.

As Kyrok’s AI layers upgrade supply chains, expect manufacturers to shed old workflows and boost agility. Meanwhile, Gero’s AI models could unlock medicines that change how we age. The next few years will be thrilling. AI is no longer just a tool—it’s becoming the engine driving pharma’s future.