Chai Discovery raises $400M at $3.8bn as AI drug discovery moves from promise to deployment
Summary
Chai Discovery raised $400 million in a Series C round that values the AI drug-discovery startup at $3.8 billion. Index Ventures led the round, and several major investors including Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, OpenAI, and Thrive Capital participated. The company says its generative AI models already support drug-discovery work at Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Novartis, and argenx. The article frames the raise as evidence that AI drug discovery has moved from promise to deployment, while noting that clinical and regulatory risk still remains.
Funding
Amount
$400.0M
Total raised
Date
July 15, 2026
Announcement date
Investors
DeepMind Technologies, Recursion Pharmaceuticals, Thrive Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Baillie Gifford, Battery Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, Novartis Venture Fund, Eli Lilly and, Pfizer Venture Capital, SSE Labs
Lead investors
Company
chaidiscovery.com
Funded company
Classifications
industries
No industries detected
applications
Software Design & Development
AskAI Classifications
Labels
Software Development
Blockchain Software
Web3 Technology
Linked Companies
Edenia
$1M to $5M