Palo Alto based family office invests in AI startup Chai Discovery

Emerson Collective, the investment and philanthropic organization of the Laurene Powell Jobs family, has joined a $130 million Series B funding round in Chai Discovery, an AI-focused biotech startup. The round, led by General Catalyst and Oak HC/FT, values the company at $1.3 billion and brings its total funding to over $225 million. Emerson Collective entered as a new investor alongside Glade Brook, joining existing backers including Menlo Ventures, OpenAI, Dimension, Thrive Capital, Neo, Yosemite venture fund, Lachy Groom, and SV Angel. Founded in 2024, Chai Discovery develops foundation models for drug discovery that predict interactions between biochemical molecules to enable the design of novel therapeutics. The company’s latest model, Chai 2, is reportedly achieving significant improvements in de novo antibody design — building custom antibodies from scratch rather than modifying existing ones. The investment reflects growing interest from family offices in AI-driven approaches to accelerating drug development timelines.

About Emerson Collective: The Laurene Powell Jobs family office

Emerson Collective is a Palo Alto-based organization founded in 2011 by Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple and Pixar co-founder Steve Jobs. Operating as a limited liability company, Emerson Collective combines venture capital investing, philanthropy, advocacy, and media ownership under one structure — allowing it to deploy whichever tool is most effective for a given challenge. The organization invests across education, energy and environment, immigration, artificial intelligence, digital health, fintech, and media. Emerson Collective has participated in AI funding rounds totaling more than $1 billion, with notable investments including Mistral, Formation Bio, and Atropos Health. In the climate sector, the organization has backed Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Antora Energy, Zap Energy, and Lilac Solutions. In 2017, Emerson Collective acquired a majority stake in The Atlantic magazine. Named after transcendentalist writer Ralph Waldo Emerson, the organization’s stated mission is to create conditions for human flourishing by supporting entrepreneurs and innovators driven by purpose.

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Article Source: TechCrunch, 15.12.2025