OpenAI & Thrive Capital Back Chai Discovery in AI-Driven Drug Research

Chai Discovery, a startup focused on artificial intelligence in biology, has raised nearly $30 million in funding just six months after its founding. Backed by major investors such as Thrive Capital and OpenAI, Chai aims to revolutionize drug discovery by leveraging AI to predict the structure of biochemical molecules and reprogram their interactions.

Chai’s Mission: From Biology to Engineering

Chai’s AI foundation models are designed to predict molecular structures and reprogram how they interact, a crucial step in developing new medications. The company’s goal is to turn biology into an engineering discipline. “We want to turn biology from a science into engineering,” said Joshua Meier, co-founder and CEO of Chai.

Seed Round Led by Thrive Capital

The seed round, led by Thrive Capital, also included Dimension Capital, valuing Chai at $150 million. The excitement surrounding AI's potential in drug discovery has been growing, especially since Google DeepMind’s AlphaFold tool made waves in 2022 with its ability to predict protein structures.

OpenAI’s Growing Role in Healthcare

In addition to its investment in Chai Discovery, OpenAI has been steadily expanding its presence in the healthcare sector. In June 2024, OpenAI partnered with Color Health to test AI-generated personalized care plans for cancer patients. Color Health’s GPT-4o assistant has already enhanced cancer screening, improving detection rates and creating tailored care plans for individuals. This collaboration is part of OpenAI's broader mission to bring AI-driven solutions to healthcare.

OpenAI has also joined forces with Thrive Global, Arianna Huffington’s company, to support Thrive AI Health, a startup that aims to build an AI health coach. Launched in July 2024, this AI health coach is designed to promote healthier lifestyles and improve health outcomes by providing personalized advice. OpenAI’s goal is to democratize access to expert-level health coaching, addressing the growing health inequities tied to chronic diseases through behavior change.

Beyond these partnerships, OpenAI is working with companies like Moderna and Oscar Health. Moderna uses custom GPT models to assist with dosage selection, while Oscar Health automates clinical documentation and claims processing using OpenAI's AI tools. Both partnerships are focused on improving healthcare workflows and efficiency, leveraging AI to streamline critical processes.

In February 2024, OpenAI made a significant move by leading a $70 million funding round for Ambience Healthcare, a vendor developing real-time medical note generation solutions. This investment highlights OpenAI's commitment to revolutionizing healthcare documentation.

These partnerships illustrate how OpenAI is making strategic inroads into healthcare. By collaborating with key players across various healthcare segments, OpenAI is positioning itself as a leading AI provider in the industry. While AI adoption in healthcare is still in its early stages, OpenAI’s proactive approach and its work with third-party companies are driving transformative changes in patient treatment and diagnosis.

Chai's First Open-Source Model

On Monday, Chai unveiled its first open-source model, Chai-1, which focuses on molecular structure prediction. Accompanied by a technical report, the model’s performance was compared to Google DeepMind's AlphaFold and EvolutionaryScale’s ESM3. According to Meier, Chai’s model outperformed competitors, showing a 10% to 20% improvement in tasks relevant to drug discovery.

“When we compare to AlphaFold, for instance, we’re finding that our models are consistently better on tasks that are important for drug discovery,” Meier said.

Chai’s Founding and Team

Joshua Meier, who previously served as chief AI officer at biotechnology firm Absci Corp. and held research roles at Meta Platforms and OpenAI, co-founded Chai in March alongside Jack Dent, a former engineer at Stripe Inc. Currently, the startup has fewer than 10 employees, many of whom hail from top tech companies like OpenAI, Google, and Meta.

Free Access to Chai-1 and Future Plans

Chai’s co-founder and President Jack Dent announced that Chai-1 would be made available for free, with no immediate plans to commercialize the technology. The company remains focused on advancing its AI models to tackle challenges in drug discovery.

Growing Competition in the Biopharma AI Space

Venture capital investment in biopharma startups reached nearly $30 billion in 2023, according to PitchBook. Chai faces competition not only from fellow AI startups but also from industry giants like Google, whose AI chief Demis Hassabis sees the business as potentially worth over $100 billion.

Despite the competition, Thrive Capital’s Miles Grimshaw remains optimistic: “The space is big enough for everyone. One thing about working in this field is that getting one thing to be a bit better is very lucrative in and of itself.”