Proximal Ventures, led by former SignalFire investor Sahir Raoof, has raised $27.5 million for its debut fund focused on AI-powered drug development startups. The firm targets pre-seed and seed-stage companies with checks of $500K to $1.5M, already backing seven startups including ChronicleBio co-founded by former OpenAI executive Fidji Simo. Raoof sees AI automating key pharmaceutical service work—from molecular synthesis to clinical trial data analysis—at lower cost and faster speed.
Background
First-time fund managers have faced one of the toughest fundraising environments in recent years, making Raoof's successful raise noteworthy. The intersection of AI and drug discovery has attracted significant venture interest as pharma explores cost-effective automation of traditionally service-heavy workflows.
- Source
- TechCrunch
- Published
- Nov 11, 2026 at 04:47 AM
- Score
- 6.0 / 10