AI-Driven Biology: Chai Discovery Raises $130M to Revolutionize Medicine

Chai Discovery, an applied research lab based in San Francisco, announced today that it has raised 130 million dollars in Series B funding. The round was co-led by General Catalyst and Oak HC/FT, valuing the startup at 1.3 billion dollars just two years after its inception. This capital injection will support the company's ambitious mission to transform molecular biology into a predictable engineering discipline through the use of advanced artificial intelligence.

Founded in early 2024 by former OpenAI and Meta researcher Joshua Meier, the company has quickly established itself as a leader in generative biology. The team, which includes talent from top AI labs and software firms like Stripe, aims to build the definitive computer-aided design suite for molecules. This approach treats biological interactions as programmable systems rather than experimental puzzles, allowing for much faster development cycles.

The lab's primary focus is the development of foundation models that can predict and reprogram the interactions between molecules. Their latest breakthrough, Chai-2, is a generative AI platform specifically designed for antibody discovery. Unlike traditional methods that rely on physical screening, these models can design new therapeutics from scratch at the atomic level based solely on a target epitope.

AI performance metrics for these models have significantly surpassed industry expectations. In recent wet-lab validations, Chai-2 achieved experimental success rates between 16 and 20 percent, which is roughly 100 times higher than traditional high-throughput screening. This efficiency allows the team to solve complex design problems in weeks rather than months or years, significantly lowering the barrier to drug development.

The new funding round also saw participation from Thrive Capital, OpenAI, and Menlo Ventures, along with new investors like Emerson Collective. As part of the expansion, Annie Lamont from Oak HC/FT and Hemant Taneja from General Catalyst will join the board of directors. These industry veterans will help guide the company as it moves from frontier research to providing essential commercial infrastructure for pharmaceutical partners.

With this capital, Chai Discovery plans to invest heavily in frontier research and grow its world-class team of scientists and software engineers. The company envisions a future where designing a new medicine is as intuitive as using modern photo-editing software. By bridging the gap between AI and biology, they are laying the groundwork for the next generation of life-saving medicine.