# Ridge Bio

> Ridge Biotechnologies is a Bay Area startup using AI-driven enzyme and targeted drug design to build the next generation of precision medicines. Its platform pairs proprietary machine learning models with high-throughput, cell-free wet-lab experimentation to design enzymes and delivery systems for applications spanning antibody-drug conjugates, in vivo CAR-T, targeted nucleic acid delivery, biocatalysis and radiotherapies. The company emerged from stealth in September 2025 with an oversubscribed $25 million seed round led by Sutter Hill Ventures.

- **Founded:** 2024
- **Headquarters:** South San Francisco, California, United States
- **Founders:** Weston Kightlinger (Co-founder & CEO), Michael Jewett (Academic Co-founder & Scientific Advisory Board Chair)
- **Team size:** ~12 employees
- **Products:** NativeLink enzymes, ProTrigger linkers, Catalytic Medicines, AI enzyme-design platform
- **Notable:** Emerged from stealth in September 2025 with an oversubscribed $25 million seed round., Built an AI enzyme-design platform coupling proprietary ML with high-throughput cell-free experimentation., Launched NativeLink enzymes and ProTrigger linkers as initial commercial technologies.

## Products & services

- **NativeLink enzymes** — Designer biocatalysts that site-specifically modify therapeutic proteins and antibodies - attaching payloads, extending half-lives and adding targeting systems without changing the protein sequence, cell lines or upstream manufacturing. NativeLink-AXC enables homogeneous functionalization of antibodies for ADCs.
- **ProTrigger linkers** — Precision, protease-cleavable linkers that conditionally activate or release payloads in a target tissue or disease context, reducing off-tumor toxicity and unlocking new therapeutic targets.
- **Catalytic Medicines** — A new class of highly specific enzyme-based therapeutics with differentiated mechanisms aimed at hard-to-reach or difficult drug targets.
- **AI enzyme-design platform** — Proprietary machine learning models informed by high-throughput, cell-free experimentation that design enzymes and delivery systems for ADCs, in vivo CAR-T, targeted nucleic acid delivery, small molecule biocatalysis and radiotherapies.

## Achievements

- Emerged from stealth in September 2025 with an oversubscribed $25 million seed round.
- Built an AI enzyme-design platform coupling proprietary ML with high-throughput cell-free experimentation.
- Launched NativeLink enzymes and ProTrigger linkers as initial commercial technologies.
- Founded by serial entrepreneur Weston Kightlinger, whose prior company SwiftScale Biologics was acquired by Resilience.

## Latest updates

- **2025-09** — Ridge Biotechnologies emerged from stealth with $25M in oversubscribed seed financing led by Sutter Hill Ventures, with participation from Overlap Holdings.
- **2025-09** — Publicly launched NativeLink enzymes, ProTrigger linkers and the concept of enzyme-based Catalytic Medicines.

## Links

- Website: https://ridgebio.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/ridge-bio

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/ridge-bio
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-03