Chai Discovery Becomes a Unicorn with $130 Million Series B to Accelerate AI-Driven Drug Design

Chai Discovery, a biotechnology startup backed by OpenAI, has announced a $130 million Series B funding round, propelling the company to a $1.3 billion valuation and officially granting it unicorn status.

The round was led by General Catalyst and Oak HC/FT, with participation from existing investors Menlo Ventures, Dimension, Thrive Capital, Neo, Yosemite Venture Fund, Lachy Groom, and SV Angel. New investors Glade Brook and Emerson Collective also joined the round. With this latest raise, Chai Discovery’s total funding now exceeds $225 million.

AI at the Core of Next-Generation Drug Discovery

Founded in 2024, Chai operates in the rapidly expanding field of artificial intelligence–powered drug development. The company aims to dramatically reduce the time, cost, and uncertainty involved in discovering new medicines by using AI as a foundational tool rather than a supporting one.

In August, Chai Discovery raised $70 million in a Series A round led by Menlo Ventures, which described the startup as building fundamental AI models specifically fine-tuned for drug discovery. These models are designed to predict interactions between biochemical molecules, enabling scientists to reprogram them toward potential cures.

Chai Discovery Is Building a Computer-Aided Design Platform for Molecules

Chai’s long-term ambition is to create a comprehensive computer-aided design suite for molecules, similar to how software transformed engineering and manufacturing. In pursuit of this goal, the company unveiled its first flagship model, Chai 1, last year. It has since released Chai 2, its most advanced AI model to date.

According to the company, Chai 2 demonstrates major improvements in success rates for de novo antibody design—an approach that involves creating antibodies entirely from scratch rather than modifying existing ones. This capability is particularly important for targeting complex diseases and biological mechanisms that have historically been difficult or impossible to address using traditional methods.

“Our latest models can design molecules that possess the desired properties of real drugs and address challenging targets that have been out of reach,” said Josh Meier, co-founder and CEO of Chai Discovery.

Before founding Chai Discovery, Meier built a strong background in machine learning through research and engineering roles at Facebook and OpenAI. With substantial new funding and growing investor confidence, Chai Discovery is positioning itself at the forefront of AI-driven biotech, aiming to reshape how medicines are discovered and developed.

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(Featured image by Levart_Photographer via Unsplash)

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