An accelerator program investing in early-stage biomedical and digital biopharma startups developing innovative technologies for drug discovery, pre-clinical, and clinical development.
About Merck Digital Sciences Studio
Merck Digital Sciences Studio is a venture studio launched by Merck and Co (known as MSD outside the United States) in partnership with academic and entrepreneurial collaborators, designed to spin up early-stage digital health and biopharma-adjacent software companies rather than back independent founder teams in the traditional venture sense. The studio’s orientation is toward generative founders working on problems Merck itself sees from inside pharma operations, drug development, and patient services. Healthcare exposure is total; the entire mandate sits in healthcare and life sciences, with a particular bias toward digital tools that touch clinical trials, real-world evidence, patient adherence, and pharma commercial workflows. AI focus is significant and central, with strong interest in models that improve trial design, evidence generation, and patient engagement. Stage is studio inception through pre-seed, with capital, mentorship, and Merck domain access as the package; check sizes are typically modest by venture standards but accompanied by uniquely valuable strategic collateral. This is the wrong fit for assembled teams already raising priced rounds, for founders who do not want a strategic-pharma relationship at the cap table, or for non-pharma-adjacent digital health. It is a strong fit for technical entrepreneurs willing to co-create inside a pharma-aligned studio model. Entry path is the studio application page and direct outreach to the studio leadership; founders should be candid about how comfortable they are with strategic concentration risk before committing.
Founder reviews
Other portfolio companies
Companies in Merck Digital Sciences Studio's portfolio not currently in our directory.
- Hebbian Bio · 2024
- Gesund.ai · 2022
- Esya · 2024
- Nine Diagnostics · 2024
- Augment Biologics · 2024
- ImYoo · 2024
- Inaedis · 2024
- 9Bio Therapeutics · 2025
- Simmunome · 2025
Team
Pitch / review this investor
Have you raised from Merck Digital Sciences Studio? Founders only — share your honest experience (anonymous OK, moderated before publishing).