💥 Introducing Warp Sciences, a new company applying AI and robotics...
Kevin Weil 🇺🇸@kevinweil
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Oct 23, 2026
~4 min read
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💥 Introducing Warp Sciences, a new company applying AI and robotics to help the world develop new medicines faster.
We’ve raised a $215M Series A led by @lightspeedvp to bring frontier AI out of the browser and into the lab, and build scientific capacity here in America.
I co-founded Warp with my long-time friend @dpatil, FAIR co-founder @manohar_paluri, and drug hunter Sol Reisberg. The early team is full of incredible people like @bkspears9, who helped achieve Q>1 fusion at LLNL.
We’ve raised a $215M Series A led by @lightspeedvp to bring frontier AI out of the browser and into the lab, and build scientific capacity here in America.
I co-founded Warp with my long-time friend @dpatil, FAIR co-founder @manohar_paluri, and drug hunter Sol Reisberg. The early team is full of incredible people like @bkspears9, who helped achieve Q>1 fusion at LLNL.
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Here's why we're building @warpsciences:
1. Robotic labs will let us do science at massive scale—and generate the data to train amazing AI models for science.
2. We need to reshore critical scientific capabilities from China, so we don’t lose our pharma industry the way we did solar, drones, and manufacturing.
1. Robotic labs will let us do science at massive scale—and generate the data to train amazing AI models for science.
2. We need to reshore critical scientific capabilities from China, so we don’t lose our pharma industry the way we did solar, drones, and manufacturing.
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On #1: I was previously CPO and VP of Science at @OpenAI, and I couldn’t be more optimistic about the future. Anyone can use AI today to build an idea in minutes, and we’ve just seen models solve Navier-Stokes and make progress on the Riemann Hypothesis.
But the reality is that AI is not yet at the same level in the physical sciences, especially in places like drug discovery where it could do the greatest good.
The reason is simple: these are highly emergent and empirical sciences, and they move forward through data and experiment. The models don’t have access to the type and volume of experimental data they need.
But the reality is that AI is not yet at the same level in the physical sciences, especially in places like drug discovery where it could do the greatest good.
The reason is simple: these are highly emergent and empirical sciences, and they move forward through data and experiment. The models don’t have access to the type and volume of experimental data they need.
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Every experiment competes for time, equipment, and skilled hands. We test only a fraction of the ideas worth pursuing.
We believe that frontier AI and robotics can power labs that run around the clock, testing ideas relentlessly to find new cures and novel solutions.
Scientists direct the questions that matter, AI designs experiments, robots execute the work, and every result makes the entire system smarter.
We believe that frontier AI and robotics can power labs that run around the clock, testing ideas relentlessly to find new cures and novel solutions.
Scientists direct the questions that matter, AI designs experiments, robots execute the work, and every result makes the entire system smarter.
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On #2: Andy Grove once said “abandoning today's 'commodity' manufacturing can lock you out of tomorrow's emerging industry” and nowhere is this more true than in pharma and life sciences.
Over the last 20 years we have shifted much of the drug discovery process to large Chinese contract research organizations (CROs) like Wuxi—a company which was added to the DoW’s list of “Chinese military companies” in June.
We’ve seen this multiple times now. When the work moves overseas, the expertise and infrastructure follow. We're at risk of losing the ability to turn our ideas into medicines. That’s an unacceptable dependency for something so central to our health and our future.
Over the last 20 years we have shifted much of the drug discovery process to large Chinese contract research organizations (CROs) like Wuxi—a company which was added to the DoW’s list of “Chinese military companies” in June.
We’ve seen this multiple times now. When the work moves overseas, the expertise and infrastructure follow. We're at risk of losing the ability to turn our ideas into medicines. That’s an unacceptable dependency for something so central to our health and our future.
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To bring this work back at scale, we have to change the economics.
Robotics and automation are how we make American labs competitive on cost while delivering better speed and quality. We have to build a better way of doing the work.
Robotics and automation are how we make American labs competitive on cost while delivering better speed and quality. We have to build a better way of doing the work.
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That’s where the two parts of our thesis come together: we are building a next-generation preclinical CRO, in America, to make and test molecules for companies developing new medicines.
We’re not developing drugs of our own. We’re building the infrastructure for the people who do.
We’re starting with real chemists doing real work for real customers. We’ll progressively automate that work, with our scientists helping build the tools and proving them in the lab, one workflow at a time.
We’re not developing drugs of our own. We’re building the infrastructure for the people who do.
We’re starting with real chemists doing real work for real customers. We’ll progressively automate that work, with our scientists helping build the tools and proving them in the lab, one workflow at a time.
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More automation lets us run more experiments and generate the data to train better science models. Better models help us design better experiments and automate more of the work. The lab improves the AI, and the AI improves the lab.
We wrote more about this here: warp.xyz/what-we-believ…
We wrote more about this here: warp.xyz/what-we-believ…
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Joining @Lightspeed in the round are @PremjiInvest, @IVP, @MayfieldFund, @01Advisors, @Lux_Capital, @MenloVentures, @standard_vc, @Avenir_Growth, @ScribbleVC, @conviction, @gigascale, @AngularVentures, @lowercarbon, @uncorkcap, @Liquid2V, @iendeavors, @matter_vp, @ZeroShotFund, @westboundequity, @MoxxieVentures, @chapterone, @friendsfamcap, @SignalFire, @500GlobalVC, @kearnyjackson, Formus Capital, and Fifth Down Capital.
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We’re also joined by an incredible group of angels, including @fidjissimo, @markchen90, @mikeyk, @brian_armstrong, @lulumeservey, @zoink, @_milankovac_, @istoica05, @BrendanFoody, @thefriley, @kate_rouch, @deepakpathak, @SebastienBubeck, @paraga, @ssankar, @bobmcgrewai, @reidh, @lachygroom, and many more.
These are people we’ve learned from, built alongside, and admired for years. We’re excited to have them with us.
These are people we’ve learned from, built alongside, and admired for years. We’re excited to have them with us.
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There's a great article about Warp and our mission by @RebeccaTorrenc5 at Bloomberg here: bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
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We have a lot to build and a lot to prove. If you want to create frontier scientific AI models, put robots to work in the lab, do exceptional chemistry, and help the world discover new medicines faster, we’d love to work with you.
Come build Warp with us: warp.xyz/careers
Come build Warp with us: warp.xyz/careers
