Wrap Sciences, a San Francisco-based startup developing AI- and robotics-powered chemistry research infrastructure, has raised $215 million in a Series A funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.
The round included participation from Premji Invest, Mayfield, IVP, Lux Capital, Conviction, Menlo Ventures, 01 Advisors, Standard, Lowercarbon Capital, Gigascale Capital, Angular Ventures, Scribble Ventures, Uncork Capital, Innovation Endeavors, Matter VP, Zero Shot Fund, SignalFire and Moxxie Ventures, alongside individual angel investors.
The funding, announced on October 22, 2026, coincided with the company’s emergence from stealth. The transaction valued Warp Sciences at $865 million on a post-money basis, according to the company.
Warp Sciences was co-founded by Kevin Weil, DJ Patil, Solomon Reisberg and Manohar Paluri. Weil, the company’s CEO, previously served as Chief Product Officer at OpenAI and led its AI-for-science initiatives. Patil, the company’s COO, previously served as the first US Chief Data Scientist. Reisberg, the Chief Scientific Officer, has experience in medicinal chemistry and previously co-founded Terremoto Biosciences. Paluri, the Chief Technology Officer, previously held senior AI leadership roles at Meta.
The company is building a US-based chemistry contract research organization (CRO) that combines medicinal chemists, artificial intelligence and robotics to support drug discovery for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.
Its initial focus is lead optimization, a stage of drug discovery in which researchers synthesize and test variations of promising molecules to improve their properties and identify potential drug candidates.
Warp Sciences plans to use AI to assist with experimental planning and robotics to automate laboratory processes. Data generated through experiments, including unsuccessful reactions, is intended to support the development of its AI models and improve laboratory operations.
The company operates as a research services provider rather than developing its own proprietary drug pipeline. Its customers retain control over their drug discovery programs and the molecules they choose to investigate.
Warp Sciences plans to use the funding to establish and expand its US chemistry laboratories, develop its AI and robotics capabilities, and recruit researchers, chemists and engineers.
The company’s approach is designed to provide pharmaceutical and biotechnology researchers with domestic chemistry research capacity while progressively increasing laboratory automation.
