OpenAI researcher Miles Wang exits to build $200M drug discovery startup

Miles Wang, a researcher who joined OpenAI in 2024 after dropping out of Harvard, is leaving to launch his own AI drug discovery startup. Four people familiar with the plans say several other OpenAI researchers are expected to follow him out the door. The venture is already making the fundraising rounds in a serious way — Wang is in talks to raise roughly $200 million at a $2 billion valuation, with Lightspeed in discussions to lead the round. When reached for comment, Wang disputed the funding figures and the description of the company but did not offer corrected details. Lightspeed did not respond.

The move lands at a moment when investor appetite for AI-driven biology is voracious. Just this week, two-year-old Chai Discovery announced a $400 million raise at a $3.8 billion valuation — and its co-founder, Josh Meier, is also an OpenAI alum. Isomorphic Labs, the Google DeepMind spinout, pulled in a $2.1 billion Series B in May. These aren’t isolated bets. They signal a conviction that AI models capable of predicting molecular interactions can dramatically shorten the brutal timelines of drug development.

According to a couple of sources, Wang’s new company may zero in on finding new applications for existing drugs, including compounds that previously flamed out in clinical trials. The logic is straightforward and financially compelling. Repurposing an FDA-approved drug means skipping the years of safety testing that a novel molecule requires, creating a much faster path to revenue. It’s the kind of pragmatic approach that makes VCs reach for their checkbooks, even for unproven founders.

The willingness to back a college dropout with a nine-figure valuation says a lot about the current mood. Wang co-authored papers at OpenAI on using AI to automate scientific discovery, giving him the kind of pedigree that, for better or worse, now substitutes for a diploma in the eyes of Sand Hill Road. Whether the science holds up is a separate question — and one that won’t be answered for years. But the talent exodus from frontier labs into commercial bio ventures is a trend worth watching closely. It suggests the researchers closest to these models see biology, not chatbots, as the real moneymaker.