Chai Discovery's gene-ius launch
Hi Neo family,
Chai Discovery came out of stealth yesterday with an epic announcement in AI for biology. We love this team and it was an easy decision to back them from the start: two of the founders, Jack Dent and CEO Josh Meier have impressed all of us since they were Neo Scholars in 2017.
Chai unveiled a frontier AI model for predicting molecular interactions, reaching the state of the art after just 4 months of work. They staked out a bold vision to transform the biopharma industry from drug discovery to drug engineering -- using AI to save thousands of hours of wasted lab time.
Our investment in Chai came after seven years of supporting Josh and Jack since they were seniors in college. I met them both on September 26, 2017 at the Flour Bakery in Harvard Square, where I interviewed each of them to join the inaugural cohort of Neo Scholars. They blew me away from the start: I remember Jack’s magnetic personality, entrepreneurial ambition, and precocious wisdom; and Josh’s passion for bio and conviction about AI.
We chose Josh to be one of the only Neo Scholars to speak on stage at the first Neo Reunion in 2018, where he presented his recently-published CRISPR research. We mentored him on his job search, which led him to join OpenAI in 2018, then Facebook AI Research in 2019.
Meanwhile, Jack joined Stripe, where he'd previously interned since 2014. He quickly rose to prominence there as an engineering leader, overseeing the creation and launch of multiple flagship products.
We stayed close to both these leaders over the next seven years via countless Neo events, retreats, mentorship sessions, and great conversations over coffee, dinner, and even rafting and skiing.
Our programs help Neo Scholars like Jack and Josh “bond” with us and each other. Investing in their entrepreneurial aspirin-ations is an easy prescription for success. Chai immediately capsuled our attention, and we were quick to er, react. Join us in cell-ebrating their early breakthrough! 💙
Since 2017, I've known that we'd back either Josh Meier or Jack Dent in a heartbeat — let alone both of them together with a brilliant team of other cofounders, scientists, and AI leaders. It’s a dream come true to see two of my most inspiring mentees join forces in tackling one of the great unsolved frontiers in computing.
We’re all in. Where many have tried and failed, we're betting on Chai to succeed.