Warp Sciences

Biotech · AI · Robotics

Launch

Ex-OpenAI science lead Kevin Weil launches Warp Sciences with $215M

The startup trains robots to run the wet-lab chemistry drugmakers now outsource to Chinese contractors like WuXi AppTec.

• Warp Sciences emerged from stealth with $215 million in funding at an $865 million valuation, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with IVP, Mayfield, Lux Capital, Premji Invest and Menlo Ventures participating.
• Founded by Kevin Weil, former OpenAI Chief Product Officer and VP of Science, alongside Manohar Paluri (ex-Meta Superintelligence Labs), DJ Patil (first U.S. Chief Data Scientist) and Sol Reisberg (ex-Terremoto Biosciences), the company is building a U.S. chemistry contract research organization.
• Human chemists wearing cameras and pressure-sensing gloves will train robots to synthesize and test drug-candidate molecule variants, starting with lead optimization analog synthesis for pharma clients.
• Warp is starting with roughly 20 employees but has already acquired robotic arms and AI chips to build its automated lab.
• A 2024 Biotechnology Innovation Organization survey found 74% of biotechs had contracts with Chinese firms for preclinical and clinical services, a dependency the BIOSECURE Act, signed into law in December 2025, now aims to restrict.
• The Pentagon named WuXi AppTec, the dominant Chinese chemistry contractor, on a list of firms linked to China's military in June, though a U.S. judge blocked enforcement of that designation in August.
• Warp bets that closing the loop between physical lab experiments and AI models can finally bring AI's software-era speedups to chemistry and biology, while reducing pharma's geopolitical exposure to Chinese contract labs.