Warp Sciences Emerges From Stealth With $215 Million to Build U.S. Chemistry Services for Drug Research

• Founded by leaders from OpenAI, Terremoto Biosciences, Meta, Devoted Health, and the White House, Warp is using AI and robotics to help biotech and pharma discover new medicines faster in the U.S.
• The company is backed by Lightspeed, IVP, Mayfield, Lux, Premji Invest, and Menlo Ventures, among others

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Warp Sciences today emerged from stealth with $215 million in funding to create the infrastructure that enables biotech and pharmaceutical companies to discover new medicines faster. The company is building a U.S.-based chemistry contract research organization (CRO) that brings expert chemists, AI, and robotics together to make and test the molecules research teams need. Its ambition is to make discovery compound: experimental data helps train better AI, better AI powers more capable labs, and scientists gain the capacity to test more ideas.

The founding team’s experience spans AI, data infrastructure, healthcare and drug discovery. Kevin Weil most recently served as Chief Product Officer and VP of Science at OpenAI. Solomon “Sol” Reisberg held medicinal chemistry leadership roles at Terremoto Biosciences. Manohar “Mano” Paluri was a VP at Meta Superintelligence Labs and a founding member of FAIR. DJ Patil was a founding executive at Devoted Health and the first U.S. Chief Data Scientist for the White House. Early hires have added robotics experience from companies including Genesis, Skild AI and 1X, and scientific expertise from Genentech and Lawrence Livermore National Labs.

A promising molecular design is only the beginning. Scientists have to make it, test it, and use what they learn to decide what comes next. Faster access to compounds gives research teams faster answers, more ideas to pursue, and more opportunities to find medicines that change lives.

Where that work happens matters. In a 2024 survey by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, 74% reported contracts with Chinese companies for preclinical and clinical services, according to Reuters. The BIOSECURE Act, signed into law in December 2025, established a framework for restrictions on federal procurement and funding involving designated biotechnology companies of concern.

Warp is building a domestic chemistry partner that scientists can choose for its speed, quality, and close collaboration. Its goal is to shorten the path from molecular design to testing while giving customers more control over where sensitive research takes place. Bringing this critical work back to America is also an opportunity to improve how it gets done—building the capacity to test more ideas and helping scientists discover new medicines faster.

“AI has dramatically accelerated software engineering and mathematics, but it has yet to make the same impact in the physical sciences,” said Kevin Weil, co-founder and CEO of Warp Sciences. “Chemistry and biology move forward when you make something, test it and learn from the result. If we want to build more capable AI for science, we need to generate real-world data at scale. Warp is starting that process by making the research compounds drug discovery needs today, while building the labs and automation to speed the cycle from hypothesis to experiment to answer.”

Warp’s initial service will focus on lead optimization analog synthesis, making variations of molecules that scientists can compare as they search for a drug candidate. Experienced chemists will guide experiments as the lab is increasingly automated by AI and robotics, with AI models trained on data from physical experiments. Warp’s objective is to enable its customers to discover drugs more efficiently and keep that discovery in the U.S.

“I’ve worked with overseas chemistry partners that delivered speed and value, but I still worried about protecting the intellectual property behind our programs,” said Sol Reisberg, co-founder and chief scientific officer of Warp Sciences. “We’re building Warp to give drug hunters that same caliber of chemistry services in the U.S., with IP protection at the center of the relationship, and without the price premium that U.S. boutique CROs currently demand.”

“Warp's services bolster customer-led discovery programs. Our biotech and pharma customers determine which molecules to pursue and retain control of their drug programs,” said DJ Patil, co-founder and COO of Warp Sciences. “We’re not developing drugs of our own. We’re building the infrastructure for the people who do.”

“Our goal is simple: every experiment should make the next one smarter,” said Mano Paluri, co-founder and CTO of Warp Sciences. “AI needs a closer connection to the physical work of chemistry. Closing the loop between designing experiments, executing them, and learning from their outcomes builds increasingly capable systems for deciding what to make and how to make it. We’re building the software, AI and robotics alongside the lab so each part is shaped by what chemists actually need.”

Warp’s funding round was led by Lightspeed, with participation from Premji Invest, Mayfield, IVP, Lux, Conviction, Menlo Ventures, 01 Advisors, Standard, Lowercarbon Capital, Gigascale Capital, Angular Ventures, Scribble Ventures, Uncork Capital, Innovation Endeavors, Matter VP, Zero Shot Fund, SignalFire and Moxxie Ventures.

Angel investors include Brian Armstrong (Coinbase CEO), Mike Krieger (Anthropic Labs co-lead, Instagram co-founder), Milan Kovac (former Tesla Robotics VP), Ion Stoica (Databricks co-founder), Fidji Simo (former OpenAI AGI Deployment CEO), Brendan Foody (Mercor CEO), Mark Chen (OpenAI Chief Research Officer), Sarah Friar (OpenAI CFO), Kate Rouch (former OpenAI and Coinbase CMO), Lulu Meservey (Rostra CEO), Deepak Pathak (Skild CEO), Dylan Field (Figma CEO), and Lachy Groom (Physical Intelligence cofounder and COO).

To learn more about what Warp is building, hear from the founders here. To join the team, visit: https://warp.xyz/careers

About Warp Sciences

Warp Sciences is building scientific infrastructure in the U.S. to help the world discover new medicines faster. It brings AI, robotics, and life sciences together in labs built for increasing automation, designed to run and learn from experiments so each cycle can improve the next. Warp has no proprietary drug pipeline. It builds the infrastructure for the research teams discovering new medicines. Its founders, Kevin Weil, DJ Patil, Sol Reisberg and Mano Paluri, bring experience from OpenAI, Terremoto Biosciences, Meta, Devoted Health and the White House. Warp is backed by Lightspeed, IVP, Mayfield, Lux and Menlo Ventures, among others.

Learn more at https://warp.xyz/