OpenAI-backed biotech firm Chai Discovery raises $130M Series B at $1.3B valuation

Chai Discovery, a biotech startup backed by OpenAI, announced a $130 million Series B round on Monday, valuing the company at $1.3 billion.

The round was led by General Catalyst and Oak HC/FT, with additional participation from Menlo Ventures, OpenAI, Dimension, Thrive Capital, Neo, Yosemite Venture Fund, Lachy Groom, SV Angel, and new investors Glade Brook and Emerson Collective. With this funding, Chai DiscoDiscovery's raised capital now exceeds $225 million.

Chai Discovery is part of a growing biotech industry that leverages AI to accelerate drug development. Earlier this year, Menlo Ventures led the company's million Series A round, emphasising Chai's commitment to building models for drug discovery. The goal is to predict interactions among biochemical molecules that could be reprogrammed for potential cures.

The startup aspires to build a "comp" ter-aided design suite for molecules. Last year, Chai announced its Chai 1 AI model; it is launching ChaiiingChaii. According to the company, Chai 2 has shown significant improvements in success rates for de novo antibody design, which involves creating custom antibodies from scratch rather than modifying existing ones.

"ur latest models can design molecules with the properties we would expect from actual drugs, tackling challenging targets that have traditionally been out of reach," said Josh Meier, Co-founder and CEO of Chai Discovery, in a prepared statement.

Josh Meier, with a background in machine learning, previously worked in research and engineering at Facebook and, before that, at OpenAI, as indicated on his LinkedIn profile. Chai Discovery was founded in 2024.