tech
January 16, 2026
From OpenAI’s offices to a deal with Eli Lilly — how Chai Discovery became one of the flashiest names in AI drug development
The startup has partnered with Eli Lilly and enjoys the backing of some of Silicon Valley's most influential VCs.
TL;DR
- Drug discovery is a time-consuming and difficult process traditionally relying on expensive, less successful methods.
- AI and advanced data technologies are being leveraged by biotech startups to speed up drug discovery.
- Chai Discovery, an AI startup founded in 2024, has raised hundreds of millions of dollars and achieved a $1.3 billion valuation.
- Chai Discovery has partnered with Eli Lilly, which will use its Chai-2 software to develop new medicines, particularly antibodies.
- Eli Lilly is also collaborating with Nvidia on a $1 billion AI drug discovery lab in San Francisco.
- Some industry veterans are skeptical about the impact of new AI technologies on drug development.
- Investors like Elena Viboch of General Catalyst are confident that companies partnering with AI firms like Chai will accelerate the delivery of new medicines.
- Aliza Apple of Eli Lilly's TuneLab program expressed confidence in Chai's product for designing better molecules.
- Chai's origins trace back to conversations between co-founders Josh Meier and Jack Dent with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
- Josh Meier previously worked at OpenAI and Facebook, developing the transformer protein-language model ESM1.
- Chai was founded in 2024 by Meier and Dent, along with Matthew McPartlon and Jacques Boitreaud, with initial seed investment from OpenAI.
- Chai's rapid growth is attributed to its talented team and custom AI architectures, not fine-tuned open-source models.
- Industry experts believe AI adoption in drug discovery will compress timelines and unlock difficult-to-develop medicine classes.