2025 Will Be The Year of AI In Biotech

TECH IN THE NEWS

Election 2024 — 1. Trump Media soars to a $10B market cap then crash wipes out 1/4 of it. | 2. 60M+ votes have been cast already. | 3. How the election could impact the Middle East.

Rocket Man — North Korea launched a new Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICB), believed by many to be designed to threaten the US mainland.

OpenAI Chips In — OpenAI is developing its first custom semiconductor with Broadcom and TSMC while expanding its chip supplier base to include AMD alongside NVIDIA.

“Davos in the Desert” — Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund’s annual Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, featured Elon Musk, Masayoshi Son, Ben Horowitz, Travis Kalanick and CEOs from other major firms. AI was a huge focus.

Q3 Earnings — Meta and Microsoft Q3 earnings disappointed as investors sold off on fears of increasing capex and delayed AI earnings. Apple and Amazon reports also both revealed a mix of good and bad news for investors.

COMPANIES TO WATCH

$40B Valuation — Elon Musk’s xAI is in talks to raise more money at $40B, nearly double its last $6B round that included Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia and Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. xAI plans to double its training cluster size.

Silver Cloud — Google’s cloud unit grew 15% y-o-y to $88.3B in Q3 driven by server rentals and AI, helping Alphabet overcome a 1% ad growth slowdown.

Kalshi — The predictions marketplace is booming, trading ~$200M in a month (~50% of it election-related). It has now secured tens of millions in loans from VCs, and is eyeing a $50M+ round.

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THE HOTTEST THING IN TECH
2025 Will Be The Year of AI In Biotech

The Biden administration is hosting the AI-Bioscience Collaborative (AIBC) Summit to explore the use of artificial intelligence in the life sciences. This is an important event as the convergence of AI and the life sciences is already revolutionizing bioengineering, leading to advancements in medicine, sustainability, and more. The life sciences industry is heavily investing in AI to leverage its potential for scope, scale, speed, and human-AI collaboration. However, this presents both risks and opportunities for both companies and investors. Clear risk assessment and frameworks will help to unlock capital and expertise to progress this sector further.  

The AI-Bioscience Collaborative Summit 

The AIBC summit brings together key US allies – and organizations like Microsoft, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine — to address the challenges and opportunities presented by the convergence of AI and biotech. The focus is on unlocking and sharing high-quality, standardized scientific data for R&D and training AI models. 

Discussions are expected to revolve around international cooperation, models for data access, and the development of curated, interoperable datasets. The goal is to create a framework that encourages data sharing among researchers and the private sector, and accelerating AI-driven discoveries in the life sciences. However, it will also discuss biosecurity concerns about potential risks, such as the creation of new or enhanced pathogens, and biotech competition between the US and China. 

A Booming Industry 

MIT just published a technology review on how the life sciences industry is investing heavily in AI. It says this investment is driven by the need to navigate increasing competition, evolving customer expectations, and stricter regulations. AI is helping the industry connect data from various sources, including hospitals and patients, to enhance decision-making processes. This interconnected data is also being used to create personalized experiences for healthcare providers and patients by leveraging AI's ability to tailor interactions based on individual needs and behaviors.

AI is significantly impacting drug discovery and development. Biology-specific foundation models are generating insights and IP, and accelerating the drug R&D process. In 2023, Pfizer introduced an internal gen AI platform expected to deliver up to $1B in value, and Moderna partnered with OpenAI in April 2024, to deploy ChatGPT Enterprise across various business functions as well as in R&D. Exscientia, a UK-based AI drug discovery pioneer, is taking it even further with robotic lab automation in collaboration with AWS and pharma giant Merck. 

Why It Matters

LLMs and biodesign tools can help scientists design new biological systems and automate research processes. LLMs can synthesize information and generate novel text, while biodesign tools can analyze biological data to design molecules or even whole organisms. However, these capabilities also raise concerns about potential misuse. Malicious actors could leverage these technologies to develop harmful biological agents or gain access to information that could facilitate bioterrorism.  

Mitigating such risks is crucial. It may involve implementing guardrails for AI models, strengthening controls where digital designs are converted into physical biological systems, and bolstering pandemic preparedness efforts. Key recommendations include establishing an international forum for collaboration, developing agile governance approaches, and investing in research to explore additional guardrail options. Creating certainty around these factors will lay the foundations for a much more investable life sciences AI sector moving forward.

Footnote: In Biotech in just the last week: Neuralink rival Science Corporation has restored vision in blind patients with eye implants. And, Osmo Labs became the first lab globally to digitize scent, by analyzing and reprinting a plum scent.

Founder of Tech Startup LiveSwitch in Asheville NC has a Go Fund Me to support Asheville Church Network’s efforts to support the worst affected by the hurricane. Funds go directly to an orphan home, single moms, and food banks for the hungry.

TRENDING TOOLS AND BUZZY TECH
Tools

Salesforce — Agentforce low-code/no-code platform to deploy enterprise chatbots.

Google — Gemini AI integrates into mapping apps suite.

OpenAI — Launches ChatGPT Search, AI search engine to take on Perplexity, Google.

LinkedIn — Launches its first AI agent to take on the role of job recruiters.

GitHub — Spark lets you build web apps in plain English, Copilot goes multi-model + adds Claude, Gemini.

Tech

Osmo Labs — The first scent is analyzed, digitized and reprinted in the lab.

Science Corp. — Neuralink rival restores vision in blind patients with implant.

Hyundai — World’s 1st hydrogen-powered military tank.

Nvidia — World’s 1st AI ethernet powers xAI Colossus supercomputer.

ETB — World first artificial island at 3.5 GW can power 3M homes.

FOR INVESTORS
Open Deals

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1. 🔥⏱️ Robotics for Agricultural Efficiency - Pittsburgh - Built & deployed robotic hardware for the largest U.S. tree nurseries, reducing costs and increasing efficiency by 50x. Hardware and AI data layer. Beginning to scale globally. Post-revenue, at capacity. (Seed+)
   

2. 🔥⏱️ Quant Trading Software Company - New Jersey - Large-scale automated day-trading algorithm designed for volatile U.S. equity markets. Profitable through extensive backtesting and live simulation. Seeking equity investment for software company.

3. Cricket for the Modern World - India - Physical and virtual ecosystem fostering cricket experiences for enthusiasts and upcoming pros. Data-driven, locally proven, globally scaling. (Seed)

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1. Struck Capital Venture Associate, ex-West2East (Russell Wilson) Director of Special Projects, ex-Phoenix Holdings Investment Associate. Harvard BA. Vietnamese pro basketball player.

2. Lockheed Martin Software Engineer, ex-Rutgers Junior Full Stack Developer. Secret clearance. Expertise in C++, PHP, SQL. Rutgers BA in Computer Science.

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