Apr 24, 2024 - Business

Ex-Stanford president's AI biotech startup snares $1 billion

Dan Primack

an illustration of a circuitboard with a red-cross-shaped section illuminated — Illustration: Tiffany Herring/Axios

Xaira Therapeutics, an AI drug discovery startup, has launched with more than $1 billion in funding co-led by Arch Venture Partners and Foresite Capital.

Why it matters: Xaira is the landing spot for CEO Marc Tessier-Lavigne, the former Genentech chief scientific officer and Denali Therapeutics co-founder who last year resigned as Stanford University president after findings of research manipulation in his lab.

Tessier-Lavigne himself was cleared of wrongdoing.

Other investors in the San Francisco-based company include F-Prime, NEA, Sequoia Capital, Lux Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, Two Sigma Ventures, the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, Byers Capital, Rsquared, and SV Angel.

Arch's investment in Xaira is the largest in the venture firm's 39-year history.

Go deeper, per FierceBiotech: "Xaira will combine machine learning, data generation and therapeutic product development to build a platform for drug discovery … Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, Nobel laureate Carolyn Bertozzi, and former Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky are just a few of the who's who of industry veterans who will sit on Xaira's board."

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Ex-Stanford president's AI biotech startup snares $1 billion

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