Nvidia invests $50 million in biotech startup Recursion to train AI models for drug discovery

Back in June, we wrote about Nvidia after the chipmaker, along with other tech giants poured $1.3 billion into Inflection, an AI startup founded by LinkedIn and DeepMind co-founders.

Now, with Nvidia boasting a staggering market capitalization exceeding one trillion dollars and billions of dollars in war chest, the chip giant has now set its sight on a biotech startup that aims to train AI models for drug discovery.

Today, Nvidia announced it has invested $50 million in clinical-stage biotech startup company Recursion to accelerate the training of Nvidia’s AI models for drug discovery, with the potential for licensing them out to other parties, Reuters reported.

Recursion, which went public two years ago, operates the Recursion OS platform that provides drug manufacturers access to the necessary datasets for designing and developing therapeutic solutions. Upon the news of Nvidia’s investment, Recursion’s stock experienced a significant surge of approximately 167% during premarket trading.

As part of the funding agreement, Recursion will utilize Nvidia’s cloud platform to train AI models, employing its own vast biological and chemical datasets, which exceed an impressive 23,000 terabytes. Following the training process, Nvidia may proceed to license the AI models to biotech firms through BioNeMo, a generative AI cloud service designed specifically for drug discovery. However, specific details regarding Nvidia’s potential stake in Recursion were not disclosed. Reuters reached out to Recursion for further clarification, but the drug developer has not yet responded.

Recursion, known for its collaborations with prominent pharmaceutical companies like Bayer and Roche, intends to leverage Nvidia’s software to support its own pipeline as well as its present and future partners. The company, which employs AI for drug discovery purposes, is currently conducting human trials for five of its drugs. Among these is a mid-stage trial candidate aimed at treating a particular type of neurovascular disease caused by a malformation in small blood vessels within the brain.

In addition to Nvidia, other notable investors in Recursion include Mubadala, a sovereign investor based in Abu Dhabi, and Baillie Gifford & Co., an investment firm headquartered in the UK. Earlier this year, Recursion, whose advisers include AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio, had also agreed to acquire two companies operating in the AI-driven drug discovery sector for a sum of $87.5 million.