Reid Hoffman Bets on A.I. Drug Discovery with a Pulitzer-Winning Cancer Physician

Armed with $24.6 million in funding, a new startup from LinkedIn (LNKD) co-founder Reid Hoffman and cancer physician Siddhartha Mukherjee is looking to make a splash in the already-crowded world of A.I.-enabled drug discovery. Known as Manas AI, the venture aims to combine A.I. with computational chemistry and innovations in biology to accelerate treatments for cancer and rare diseases.

“Manas AI is breaking down barriers that have slowed medical innovation for decades, which will lead to exponential positive impact in our ability to treat human disease,” said Hoffman, a prominent investor in A.I. in recent years, in a statement. “A.I. will have a lasting and positive impact on humanity, and for years I have been focused on helping realize the potential of this technology.”

Hoffman co-led Manas’ recent seed round alongside the VC firm General Catalyst. Greylock Partners, a VC firm where Hoffman previously served as a general partner, also participated in the round, the startup announced today (Jan. 27). The company will use the seed capital to develop clinical programs, A.I. platforms and its drug candidate pipeline.

Manas AI will host its systems on Microsoft (MSFT)’s Azure cloud computing platform and leverage Microsoft’s “deep domain knowledge in A.I.” for drug development, the startup said. Hoffman is a board member of Microsoft. This isn’t the first time Hoffman has embarked on an A.I. venture with ties to Microsoft. In 2022, he co-founded the generative A.I. startup Inflection AI, which struck a nine-figure licensing deal with Microsoft last year.

Hoffman’s co-founder, Mukherjee is a cancer researcher and associate professor at Columbia University who notably received a Pulitzer Prize for his 2010 nonfiction book The Emperor of All Maladies. “Our mission is simple yet profound: to transform how we discover and develop life-saving medicines,” Mukherjee said in a statement, adding that he believes the company will “drastically reduce the time and cost it takes to bring game-changing new treatments to patients.”

While the company plans to eventually branch out to other diseases and conditions, its initial focus will be on developing oncology treatments for cancers like triple-negative breast cancer, prostate cancer and lymphoma.

Who else is betting on A.I. drug discovery startups?

Hoffman isn’t the only prominent Silicon Valley figure betting on A.I.’s promise in medical research. The new technology is expected to generate between $60 billion and $110 billion annually in value for the pharmaceutical and medical-product industries, according to a McKinsey report released last year.

Startups like Exscientia have already garnered the attention of Bill Gates, who partnered up with the startup in a $70 million deal in 2021 via the Gates Foundation. The drug discovery-focused SandboxAQ is backed by Eric Schmidt, Marc Benioff and Yann LeCunn. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has personally invested in ventures like Formation Bio. And OpenAI has poured money into A.I. biology companies such as Chai Discovery.

One of the largest players in A.I.-enabled drug discovery, however, is undoubtedly Isomorphic Labs, an Alphabet (GOOGL) subsidiary helmed by Google DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis. Established some four years ago, the startup raised around $230 million in 2024 and is hoping to reduce the length of the new drug discovery from an average of five years to two. Earlier this month, Hassabis told the Financial Times that his venture could have its first A.I.-designed drug in trials by the end of 2025.