Another star company has emerged strongly in the AI-driven drug development sector. Biotech startup Chai Discovery, supported by OpenAI, announced on Monday that it has successfully completed a $130 million Series B funding round, with a post-money valuation of $1.3 billion, officially entering the unicorn club.

This round was led by General Catalyst and Oak HC/FT, with continued support from existing investors such as Menlo Ventures, OpenAI, Dimension, Thrive Capital, Neo, Yosemite Fund, Lachy Groom, and SV Angel, as well as two new investors: Glade Brook and Emerson Collective. Since its founding in 2024, Chai Discovery's total funding has now exceeded $225 million.

Investment, financing, money

Chai Discovery's core mission is to create a "molecular computer-aided design (CAD) suite." The company focuses on using foundational large models to predict interactions between biological molecules, enabling the de novo design of new drug molecules with therapeutic potential, rather than simply modifying existing structures. This year's release of the Chai2 model has achieved significant breakthroughs in building customized antibodies from scratch—its success rate far exceeds traditional methods, especially in designing molecules for previously "undruggable" targets.

"Our latest model can design molecules that possess the physicochemical and biological properties required for real drugs, and tackle high-difficulty targets that have long been inaccessible," said co-founder and CEO Josh Meier in a statement. Meier has a strong AI background, having worked in research at OpenAI and later joined Meta (Facebook) to lead machine learning engineering. His technical expertise is deeply integrated into Chai's technology roadmap.

Chai's rapid growth is a microcosm of the current AI-driven pharmaceutical trend. Traditional drug development is lengthy, costly, and highly risky, while AI has the potential to transform this process from "trial-and-error experimentation" to "precise design." The "foundation model + molecular science" paradigm that Chai is betting on is attracting global capital and top talent.

With the Chai2 model now in application, this company, which was founded just over a year ago, has moved from theoretical validation to actual drug discovery. With the dual support of the OpenAI ecosystem and top-tier venture capital, Chai Discovery not only saw its valuation soar but may also become one of the defining forces in the era of AI-native drug development—redefining the rules of new drug development with algorithms.