Reid Hoffman’s Manas AI Raises $24.6 Million

Manas AI, an artificial intelligence-driven drug discovery startup, has secured $24.6 million in seed funding led by Reid Hoffman, General Catalyst, and Greylock Partners. Initially, the company aims to focus on developing treatments for breast cancer, prostate cancer, and lymphoma.

“We are closer than we’ve ever been. Today, we announce the launch of Manas AI, and setting out to shift drug discovery from a decade-long process to one that takes a few years, bringing life-saving treatments to patients years faster than ever,” Hoffman further said on Linkedin.  

According to him, the funding will be used to speed up drug discovery, reducing development time from 10 years to just a few years. Manas AI will use AI to analyse molecules 100 times faster than traditional methods, which will help researchers explore more possibilities in less time. The funding will also support collaboration with top scientists, including Nobel laureates and National Academy members, to accelerate the search for new treatments.

While Manas AI’s funding is modest compared to other AI biotech startups, it aims to design new molecules using AI and test them in wet labs. In contrast, Xaira Therapeutics, another AI drug discovery startup, launched last year with $1 billion in funding, while Treeline Biosciences raised $422 million.

Manas AI will use Microsoft Azure for cloud computing and leverage Microsoft’s AI expertise to accelerate drug development. Hoffman’s links to Microsoft are well established, with the tech giant acquiring LinkedIn in 2016. The announcement was made during a presentation for his latest book, ‘Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right with Our AI Future’.

Despite having less funding than its competitors, Manas AI aims to make a major impact in AI-driven medicine, focusing on precision-designed molecules for cancer treatment.