Tech investor and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman is teaming up with cancer researcher Siddhartha Mukherjee on an artificial-intelligence drug discovery startup that is launching with $24.6 million of initial funding. The company, named Manas AI, will first focus on breast cancer, prostate cancer and lymphoma before broadening its scope to include other illnesses. Hoffman led the funding round with venture-capital firm General Catalyst. Greylock, the VC firm where Hoffman was once a general partner, is also investing. The startup will run its AI systems in data centers owned by Microsoft, where Hoffman is on the board of directors. As it is already doing with written information, generative AI promises to digest and analyze reams of biological data that can confound humans, then point to novel uses of it. Mukherjee, a Columbia professor and author of the book “The Emperor of All Maladies,” about cancer, has co-founded several other biotech startups. He said he was drawn to start Manas when he realized AI could rapidly model the capabilities of different potential drugs.

Full report : Cancer research startup Manas AI, founded by Reid Hoffman and researcher Siddhartha Mukherjee, raised $24.6M to focus on breast and prostate cancer and lymphoma.