Xaira Therapeutics, a San Francisco, CA-based integrated AI biotechnology company, launched with more than $1 Billion of committed capital.
Backers included ARCH Venture Partners and Foresite Capital, F-Prime, NEA, Sequoia Capital, Lux Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, Two Sigma Ventures, the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI), Byers Capital, Rsquared, and SV Angel, among others.
Led by CEO, Dr. Marc Tessier-Lavigne, former Chief Scientific Officer of Genentech and former President of Rockefeller and Stanford Universities, Xaira Therapeutics is an integrated biotechnology company applying product development, biological and clinical data generation, and AI methods research, both translational and fundamental, to all steps of the drug discovery and development process.
The executive team also includes co-founder Dr. Hetu Kamisetty, formerly of Meta and the Institute for Protein Design; Dr. Arvind Rajpal, formerly of Genentech; and Dr. Don Kirkpatrick, formerly of Interline and Genentech
Xaira was also co-founded by Dr. David Baker, Professor of Biochemistry and Director of the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
The board of directors currently includes:
- Vikram Bajaj, Ph.D, Co-Founder and CEO, Foresite Labs; Managing Director, Foresite Capital
- Carolyn Bertozzi, Ph.D., Baker Family Director of Sarafan ChEM-H; Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor; Professor (by courtesy) of Chemical and Systems Biology and of Radiology, Stanford University; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Nobel Prize (2022)
- Kaye Foster, M.B.A., Senior Advisor, The Boston Consulting Group, and former SVP, Global Human Resources, Onyx Pharmaceuticals, former CHRO, Johnson & Johnson
- Alex Gorsky, M.B.A., Former Chairman and CEO, Johnson & Johnson
- Scott Gottlieb, M.D., Former FDA Commissioner, Partner, NEA
- Stephen Knight, M.D., President & Managing Partner, F-Prime
- Mathai Mammen, M.D., Ph.D., Chairman and CEO of FogPharma and Former EVP, Pharmaceuticals R&D, Johnson & Johnson
- Robert Nelsen, M.B.A., Co-Founder and Managing Director, ARCH Venture Partners
- Richard Scheller, Ph.D., Chairman of R&D, BridgeBio; former Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Therapeutics at 23andMe, and the former Executive Vice President of Research and Early Development at Genentech; Lasker Award (2013)
- Marc Tessier-Lavigne, Ph.D., CEO Xaira; former President, Stanford University & Rockefeller University; former Chief Scientific Officer, Genentech
- Bryan White, M.B.A. Chair, Advisory Board, the Institute for Protein Design; Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer, Sahsen Ventures; former CIO Quadra/Quellos and Blackrock Alternative Advisors
Commenting on the news Marc Tessier-Lavigne said: “Now, witnessing how AI is impacting other industries and the considerable progress in applications of AI in biology, I believe we are poised for a revolution. Xaira is in a strong position to both advance fundamental AI research and translate these advances into transformative new medicines, and I am excited to have the opportunity to lead the team.”
FinSMEs
24/04/2024