AI-Powered Drug Developer Insitro Renews 143K SF San Francisco Lab

AI-powered drug developer Insitro will keep its lab in a life sciences mega-campus in San Francisco. 

The company, which specializes in lab research that is enhanced by machine learning, signed a six-year lease extension with Alexandria Real Estate Equities (ARE) for 143,188 square feet at Alexandria’s life sciences center at 279 East Grand Avenue in South San Francisco, according to the landlord.

Alexandria did not immediately provide the asking rent and the names of the brokers on the deal.

Insitro first signed with Alexandria Real Estate for 36,000 square feet of lab space at the campus, dubbed the Alexandria Center for Advanced Technologies, in 2018, the year the company was founded. Insitro uses technology to decode biological data and discover new medicines and therapeutics for conditions like liver disease, cancer and ALS, according to Alexandria. 

It’s unclear when Insitro expanded to 143,188 square feet in the campus. In 2021, it secured a $400 million Series C fundraising round led by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Fierce Biotech reported.

Alexandria — which has a portfolio of 73.5 million square feet across North America — entered San Francisco in 1998 and has since accrued nearly 3.4 million square feet. That includes the 1 million-square-foot South San Francisco campus, according to the company.

Nick Trombola can be reached at NTrombola@commercialobserver.com.