Chai Discovery, the AI company developing a computer-aided design platform for molecules, has announced a strategic collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company to accelerate the discovery of next-generation biologic therapeutics. Under the agreement, Lilly will deploy Chai’s advanced AI platform to design novel biologics targeting multiple disease pathways. In addition, Chai will create a custom AI model exclusively for Lilly, trained on large-scale proprietary data from the pharmaceutical giant and specifically tailored to fit Lilly’s research and development workflows. This partnership follows a prior evaluation period in which several molecular designs generated by Chai’s existing models were assessed by Lilly’s scientific team, demonstrating strong potential for real-world application. The collaboration brings together Chai’s expertise in developing cutting-edge AI models with Lilly’s deep experience in drug development and clinical translation. “Our collaboration with Lilly combines the strengths of two innovative leaders—Chai’s frontier AI capabilities and Lilly’s proven ability to turn scientific breakthroughs into life-changing medicines,” said Josh Meier, CEO of Chai Discovery. “Beyond access to our core models, training a custom AI on Lilly’s data opens new possibilities for pushing the boundaries of early-stage drug discovery, making it faster, more precise, and more efficient.” A key component of Chai’s platform is Chai-2, the first zero-shot antibody design system to achieve double-digit experimental hit rates while generating molecules with drug-like properties. This capability allows biologic discovery to be completed in weeks—previously a process that could take months. The collaboration comes shortly after Chai Discovery closed its Series B funding round in December 2025, co-led by Oak HC/FT and General Catalyst, which valued the company at $1.3 billion. To date, Chai has raised nearly $230 million in total funding. “Drug discovery is one of the fields most poised for transformation through AI,” said Annie Lamont, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Oak HC/FT. “Chai is at the forefront of building the next generation of AI models to revolutionize this space. Their partnership with Lilly is a powerful example of how innovation in AI and pharmaceuticals can converge to design novel medicines right on a computer—something that could redefine medicine in our lifetime.” Chai Discovery is on a mission to transform biology from a science into an engineering discipline. The company’s team includes researchers and engineers from leading AI and technology organizations such as OpenAI, Meta FAIR, Google X, Stripe, and Meta. It is backed by prominent investors including OpenAI, Thrive Capital, Menlo Ventures, and Dimension. For more information, visit https://www.chaidiscovery.com/. Media Contact: [email protected]