Chai Discovery Raises $130M Series B - AI Biotech Funding
Chai Discovery Secures $130 Million in Series B Funding
Chai Discovery, a biotechnology company supported by OpenAI, has announced the completion of a $130 million Series B funding round. This investment brings the company’s valuation to $1.3 billion, as reported on Monday.
Investment Details
General Catalyst and Oak HC/FT spearheaded the funding round. A diverse group of investors also participated, including Menlo Ventures, OpenAI, Dimension, Thrive Capital, Neo, Yosemite venture fund, Lachy Groom, SV Angel, alongside new investors Glade Brook and Emerson Collective.
To date, the total funding accumulated by Chai Discovery exceeds $225 million.
AI-Driven Drug Discovery
Chai Discovery operates within a rapidly expanding sector leveraging AI to accelerate the process of drug development. In August, Menlo Ventures led Chai’s $70 million Series A round.
The investor highlighted Chai’s focus on developing foundation models specifically designed for drug discovery. These models are intended to predict interactions between biochemical molecules, enabling their reprogramming for therapeutic purposes.
Chai’s Vision and Models
The company’s stated goal is to create a comprehensive “computer-aided design suite” for molecules. Last year saw the introduction of the Chai 1 AI model, and the company is now releasing Chai 2, its most recent iteration.
Chai 2 demonstrates substantial improvements in success rates compared to conventional methods for de novo antibody design. This refers to the creation of custom antibodies from scratch, rather than modifying pre-existing ones.
CEO Statement
“Our latest models can design molecules that have properties we’d want from actual drugs, and tackle challenging targets that have been out of reach,” stated Josh Meier, co-founder and CEO of Chai, in an official release.
Leadership Background
Prior to founding Chai Discovery in 2024, Josh Meier, with a background in machine learning, held research and engineering positions at Facebook and OpenAI, as indicated on his LinkedIn profile.
