Warp Sciences

AI Drug Discovery · Biotech · Robotics

Funding

Kevin Weil's Warp Sciences launches with $215M to automate drug chemistry

The startup aims to reshore lab work pharma companies have outsourced to Chinese contractors like WuXi AppTec for decades.

• Warp Sciences emerged from stealth with a $215 million Series A led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, valuing the company at $865 million post-money.
• The startup is building a U.S.-based chemistry contract research organization where chemists and robots make and test drug compound variations for biotech and pharma clients.
• Co-founders include ex-OpenAI science lead Kevin Weil, former Meta Superintelligence VP Manohar Paluri, ex-Terremoto Biosciences chemist Sol Reisberg, and former White House chief data scientist DJ Patil.
• Western biotechs have long outsourced molecule synthesis to Chinese contractors like WuXi AppTec; a 2024 BIO survey found 74% had such contracts, and the BIOSECURE Act signed in December 2025 restricts federal funding tied to those firms.
• Deloitte estimates the 20 largest drugmakers spent an average of $2.23 billion per approved drug in 2024, with only about 1 in 10 drugs entering trials ultimately winning approval.
• Warp's launch follows a wave of AI drug-discovery funding, including Isomorphic Labs' $2.1 billion raise in May, Chai Discovery's $400 million round, and Enveda's $311 million raise in September.
• By pairing robotic wet labs with proprietary experimental data, Warp is betting that physical science, not just software, is AI's next frontier, and that reshoring chemistry work insulates drug development from geopolitical supply-chain risk.