Chai Discovery, a biotech startup supported by OpenAI, has secured $130 million in a Series B funding round, reaching a valuation of $1.3 billion. This funding, led by General Catalyst and Oak HC/FT, with participation from various investors including Menlo Ventures and OpenAI, brings the total funding for Chai to over $225 million.
The company focuses on leveraging AI to accelerate drug discovery processes. Chai is known for developing foundation models tailored for drug discovery, particularly in predicting interactions between biochemical molecules to enable potential cures.
Chai aims to create a comprehensive ‘computer-aided design suite’ for molecules. Their latest AI model, Chai 2, has demonstrated significant advancements in designing custom antibodies from scratch, improving success rates compared to traditional methods.
CEO and co-founder Josh Meier, with a background in machine learning and experience at Facebook and OpenAI, highlighted the capabilities of Chai’s latest models in designing molecules with desired drug properties and addressing complex targets previously deemed unattainable.
Source: TechCrunch
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