Chai Discovery Raises $130M Series B at $1.3B Valuation to Advance AI Drug Design
Chai Discovery, an artificial intelligence–driven drug discovery company backed by OpenAI, has raised $130m in a Series B funding round that values the company at $1.3bn.
The financing, which comes three months after its previous raise, brings total funding for the startup to $230m and underscores investor interest in applying AI to the development of new medicines.
Chai Discovery was founded to integrate modern machine learning methods into molecular design, aiming to accelerate the identification and optimisation of therapeutic candidates.
Co-founder and chief executive officer Joshua MeierDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and co-founder and president Jack DentDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → said the company’s latest model, Chai-2, expands its ability to generate antibodies and design molecules for diseases that have been challenging for conventional approaches.
Meier characterised recent progress as a shift toward practical application, and Dent framed the coming period as one in which AI tools become embedded in everyday pharmaceutical research workflows.
Investors have echoed the view that AI has a role to play in shortening the lengthy and costly process of drug development. Oak HC/FTDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → managing partner Annie LamontDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → noted the potential for computational design to address gaps in the current system for bringing new medicines from laboratory research to patients.
Chai Discovery plans to use the new capital to further develop its platform, scale its team and deepen partnerships with drug developers.
Sources:
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