A two-year old biotech company based in San Francisco, US, completed a $400 million Series C financing round on 14 July to support the use of AI in discovering new molecules for drugs. Chai Discovery Inc is a private company which has been given a valuation of $3.8 billion by its investors which included Index Ventures, Kleiner Parkins, Sequoia Capital and Dimension Capital. The round was additionally supported by 15 other firms.
The scale and speed of the financing are being attributed to Chai’s application of the newest technologies to some of the most intractable drug discovery problems. These include predicting and reprogramming the interactions between molecules. Both Eli Lilly and Co and Pfizer Inc are collaborating with Chai to identify targets for their development work which has not been possible with existing technology. According to Endpoints News, Netherlands-based argenx SE is negotiating a collaboration with the US company as well.
Thus far Chai’s work has focused on antibody development. The latest iteration of the technology has reportedly produced antibodies that bind more tightly to their intended targets than existing ones.
Chai’s co-founder and chief executive is Joshua Meier, a former researcher at OpenAI. He is joined by Jack Dent, also co-founder, and previously with the financial technology company Stripe Inc. Other members of the executive team are Matthew McPartion from Absci Corp, and Jacques Boitreaud, from Aqemia Ltd.
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