Reid Hoffman's Manas AI: A New Contender in AI-Driven Drug Discovery

Reid Hoffman's Manas AI raises $24.6M, a fraction of other AI drug discovery startups

LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and Siddhartha Mukherjee, cancer researcher and author of the book "The Emperor of All Maladies," have co-founded an AI-powered drug discovery startup, Manas AI. The company, which will initially focus on breast cancer, prostate cancer, and lymphoma, has raised $24.6 million in seed funding from Hoffman, General Catalyst, and Greylock. Manas AI's capital haul pales compared with some other startups trying to use AI models to develop novel drugs. Last year, Xaira, which claimed that it was ready to start developing drugs, launched with a massive $1 billion in initial funding. Treeline Biosciences is another company that uses AI for drug discovery and raised $422 million last year, Endpts reported. Manas AI claims it will design molecules with AI, then test them in a wet lab, Hoffman reportedly said during the presentation of his new book "Superagency." Manas says it will use Microsoft's cloud computing platform, Microsoft Azure, and Microsoft's "deep domain knowledge in AI" to develop novel medicines. Hoffman has close ties to Microsoft, which famously acquired his earlier company, LinkedIn, in a blockbuster deal in 2016.

Reid Hoffman enters 'wondrous and terrifying' world of health care with latest AI startup

Reid Hoffman, Partner at Greylock and co-founder LinkedIn, speaks during the WSJ Tech Live conference hosted by the Wall Street Journal at the Montage Laguna Beach in Laguna Beach, California, on October 21, 2024. LinkedIn co-founder and venture capitalist Reid Hoffman became a billionaire from his business social-working company, and has made lucrative bets on companies including Airbnb and Zynga while also backing nuclear fusion startup Helion Energy. Now Hoffman is diving into the health care, which he describes as "wondrous and terrifying," with his latest startup, Manas AI. Hoffman and Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, an oncologist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, unveiled the company on Monday. Manas will use artificial intelligence to try and accelerate the drug discovery process, starting with new treatments for aggressive cancers like prostate cancer, lymphoma and triple-negative breast cancer. Developing new drugs is traditionally a costly and complex process. It can take more than 10 years and cost billions of dollars to develop a single medication, according to a report from Deloitte. Manas said it will use its proprietary chemical libraries and AI-powered filters to identify drug candidates more quickly, ideally reducing the decades-long discovery process to just a few years. "Most people have had friends, family members, etc., who've died from cancer or had serious cancer problems," Hoffman told CNBC in an interview this week. "If we can make a huge difference on this, and this is the kind of thing that AI can make a huge difference in, it's the kind of reason why AI can be great for humanity." Manas raised $24.6 million in seed funding, led by General Catalyst and Hoffman with participation from Greylock, where he is a partner. Hoffman has been deep in AI in recent years. He was an early investor in OpenAI, when the project was still a nonprofit, and he helped start Inflection AI along with DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman. Last year, Suleyman joined Microsoft, where Hoffman is a board member, as CEO of a new unit called Microsoft AI. Several Inflection employees joined him.

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

Hoffman, like many tech billionaires, believe A.I. can significantly shorten the time of drug discovery. 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. Sign Up For Our Daily Newsletter Sign Up Thank you for signing up! By clicking submit, you agree to our <a href="http://observermedia.com/terms">terms of service</a> and acknowledge we may use your information to send you emails, product samples, and promotions on this website and other properties. You can opt out anytime. See all of our newsletters "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.

LinkedIn co-founder raises $25 million to take on cancer with AI

How Nike's new CEO plans to revive the struggling sportswear giant Manas AI will use a proprietary AI-driven platform to help speed up the drug discovery process, from identifying potential drug candidates with "paradigm-shifting speed and accuracy" all the way to clinical trials, Hoffman said in a press release. The company is initially focusing on treatments for breast cancer, prostate cancer, and lymphoma. Eventually, it intends to target other autoimmune diseases and rare conditions. "AI 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 said. "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." Manas AI already has raised nearly $25 million in funding in a seed round led by the investment firm General Catalyst and with help from Greylock and other investors in the life sciences and technology sectors. Hoffman also invested his own money into the company. The startup has also established a partnership with Microsoft to use the tech-giant's cloud computing platform. Hoffman co-founded Manas AI with cancer researcher Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Emperor of all Maladies: A Biography of Cancer. "Our mission is simple yet profound: to transform how we discover and develop life-saving medicines," Mukherjee said in the release. "Through the power of AI and our world-class team, we believe we can drastically reduce the time and cost it takes to bring game-changing new treatments to patients." Manas AI joins a wave of tech companies that plan to use AI for drug discovery. Google DeepMind (GOOGL-3.51%) CEO Demis Hassabis said last week that drugs developed by Alphabet's drug discovery subsidiary and designed by artificial intelligence are expected to head to trial by the end of the year.

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LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman just raised $25 million to take on cancer with AI LinkedIn (MSFT) co-founder and venture capitalist Reid Hoffman on Monday launched an AI startup aimed at discovering new treatments for cancer. Manas AI will use a proprietary AI-driven platform to help speed up the drug discovery process, from identifying potential drug candidates with "paradigm-shifting speed and accuracy" all the way to clinical trials, Hoffman said in a press release. The company is initially focusing on treatments for breast cancer, prostate cancer, and lymphoma. Eventually, it intends to target other autoimmune diseases and rare conditions.

Reid Hoffman-Backed Manas AI Raises $24.6 Million for Drug Development | PYMNTS.com

Called Manas AI, the startup will cover the entire therapeutic development pipeline, from target identification to clinical trials, according to a Monday (Jan. 27) press release. It will initially focus on cancer before expanding to include autoimmune diseases and rare conditions. "Picture Nobel laureates, National Academy members and pioneering researchers who've dedicated their lives to understanding disease working hand-in-hand with advanced AI systems, exploring chemical spaces and analyzing molecular interactions at speeds 100 times faster than traditional methods," Mukherjee and Hoffman wrote in a Monday blog post. "These brilliant minds aren't being replaced by AI -- they're being empowered by it." Manas AI will generate chemical libraries and use AI filters to identify therapeutic candidates with high potential; enable molecular docking at speeds that are 100 times faster than traditional systems; and map the fundamental "rules" of drug binding, according to the release. The company's seed round was led by General Catalyst, per the release. "Manas AI has the potential to compress the timeline to discovery of effective drug candidates while increasing the likelihood of success in clinical trials," Ken Frazier, chairman of health assurance initiatives at General Catalyst and former chairman and CEO of Merck, said in the release. "This is a unique opportunity to dramatically change the drug discovery landscape and make a positive impact on billions of people around the world." AI promises to remake drug discovery, PYMNTS reported in September. The technology has the potential to transform the healthcare space by improving drug discovery, diagnostics and patient care, among other benefits, according to the PYMNTS Intelligence report "Generative AI Can Elevate Health and Revolutionize Healthcare." At the same time, there are challenges to overcome, including the need for further development and public acceptance as well as robust regulation, the report found.