OpenAI has acquired Orchestra Bio, a four-year-old start-up that makes AI agents to help biotech companies run drug discovery operations, TechCrunch reports. The terms were not disclosed. Orchestra had reportedly raised about $20 million by 2025 from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Atria and 8VC, and its tools handle tasks such as tracking finances and resolving clinical trial scheduling problems.
The start-up's staff and software will be folded into Rosalind, OpenAI's life sciences model, and into Rosalind Workbench, a companion tool for designing experiments and reviewing their results. OpenAI says customers for Rosalind already include Moderna and Novo Nordisk. TechCrunch notes the deal reflects how the largest AI labs are building more software aimed at big industries such as pharmaceuticals, raising fears among start-ups that they could be pushed aside.
Source: TechCrunch