Ex-OpenAI execs launch Warp Sciences with $215M Series A for AI-driven drug discovery

Warp Sciences officially launched on October 23, closing a $215 million Series A led by Lightspeed, with Lux Capital also announcing its participation. The company was co-founded by former OpenAI CPO Kevin Weil (some posts also describe him as Head of Product or Head of Science).

Confirmed

• The founding team includes Kevin Weil, former U.S. Chief Data Officer DJ Patil, FAIR co-founder Manohar Paluri, and drug development expert Sol Reisberg (this lineup appears in m2, m3, and m4)
• $215 million Series A led by Lightspeed (m3, m5); Lux Capital also announced an investment (m1)
• The company's direction is drug discovery combining AI and robotics: AI designs experiments, robots execute them, and results feed back to the AI in a closed loop (m5, m3)
• The goal is to give scientists AI and robotics capabilities to accelerate scientific discovery (m1)

Not yet confirmed

• Posts differ on Kevin Weil's title: CPO, Head of Product, and Head of Science have all appeared; descriptions of DJ Patil also vary (m4 calls him "a digital celebrity from the Pat Gelsinger era"). Official titles should be taken from official disclosures

Why it matters

This is another case of a former OpenAI executive leaving to start a company, with a team spanning AI product, data science (DJ Patil was the first U.S. Chief Data Officer), and drug development (Sol Reisberg). A $215 million Series A is a considerable amount for the AI drug discovery space, reflecting investor confidence in the "AI designs + robots execute" closed-loop lab model.

2026-10-22 ~ 2026-10-23 · 5 related posts

• Ex-OpenAI CPO Kevin Weil launches Warp Sciences, an AI drug discovery startup, with $215M Series A — AnneliesGamble · 2026-10-22
• [source] Lux backs Warp Sciences from ex-OpenAI and Meta execs to give scientists AI superpowers — Scobleizer · 2026-10-23

3 near-duplicate retellings: syhw · josh_wills · HealthcareAIGuy